The Man in Seat Sixty-One is a

travel website A travel website is a website that provides travel reviews, trip fares, or a combination of both. Over 1.5 billion people book travel per year, 70% of which is done online. Categories Categories of travel websites include: ;Travelogues and blo ...

written and maintained by Mark Smith, a former rail industry worker. The website focuses almost exclusively on train-based travel, with occasional ferry recommendations. The site has won several awards, including 'Best Travel Website' in the ''Guardian & Observer'' Travel Awards in 2008.Travel Awards 2008 Winners - The Guardian
/ref> The Man in Seat Sixty-One provides information on the best routes, fares and times for journeys from the UK to most of Europe, and for rail travel within most countries in the rest of the world, including exhaustive coverage of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

and the

Russian Railways Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both manag ...

History

The site is a personal project run by Mark Smith, formerly a manager in the rail industry.The Man in Seat 61 - About Me
/ref> The site is called Seat 61 after his preferred seat in First Class on the

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operate ...

. He began the site as a hobby in 2001,Great European rail journeys: Your carriage awaits
/ref> after frustration with the difficulty he perceived in finding how to book rail tickets within

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. In September 2007 he gave up his job working for the Department for Transport to run the website full-time.Guardian - Me and My Travels
/ref>

Current

The site now receives more than one million visitors a month and Smith has released a book, also titled ''The Man in Seat Sixty-One'' offering advice based on his travels. Nearly all of the information compiled in the site is based on his own travels and experiences, and it includes in-depth guides on booking rail tickets within Europe, as well as information on booking rail travel to and within other areas of the world. The success of the site has led to Smith being interviewed for various travel media, including

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's Traveller's Tree,BBC Radio 4 - Traveller's Tree - Series 6, Rail Holidays
/ref> ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

''The Sunday Times - Four great rail journeys across Europe
/ref> and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Smith opposes airline transport as part of travel, citing the increased environmental friendliness of train travel, as well as the ability to view scenery, such as the

Austrian Alps The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent ...

, up close whilst travelling. He also prefers slow compartmentalised sleepers to high-speed trains but regularly travels in both ways, and believes they are the future of international travel. He has recommended travelling from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

by train and ferry (via Holyhead) instead of flying, and has promoted SailRail tickets as a more affordable way to travel between the two cities. In 2010, Guerrilla Films planned a TV series based on the website. A pilot episode featuring actor

Kenneth Cranham Kenneth Cranham (born 12 December 1944) is a Scottish film, television, radio and stage actor. Early life Cranham was born in Dunfermline, Fife, the son of Lochgelly-born Margaret McKay Cranham (née Ferguson) and Ronald Cranham, a London-bor ...

was released covering the journey from

to St Petersburg by rail as far as

Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo (, ; wa, Waterlô) is a municipality in Wallonia, located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium, which in 2011 had a population of 29,706 and an area of . Waterloo lies a short distance south of Brussels, and immediately north-east ...

. In 2021, Smith was one of the first passengers on

Lumo In chemistry, HOMO and LUMO are types of molecular orbitals. The acronyms stand for ''highest occupied molecular orbital'' and ''lowest unoccupied molecular orbital'', respectively. HOMO and LUMO are sometimes collectively called the ''frontie ...

's East Coast Main Line services.

Awards

The Man in Seat Sixty-One has won several awards, including: * Best Travel Website Guardian &

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

Travel Awards 2008 * Best Personal Contribution First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards 2006First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards 2006
/ref> * 14th Best Travel Website

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

's 50 Best Travel Websites50 Best Travel Websites - The Independent
/ref>

References

External links

The Man in Seat Sixty-One
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man In Seat Sixty-One British travel websites