You might disagree if you are reading this pressed against someone’s armpit on an overcrowded commuter train, but rail travellers have never had it so good. In Europe at least.
The Continent’s burgeoning rail network has continued to expand in 2024, with new high-speed trains and sleeper services offering travellers more choice. Fares on some key routes have come down – journey times, too.
Engineering works may have put the brakes on Europe’s rail renaissance over the summer, when some routes were forced to take a break. However, the revival looks set to continue into winter, with new services bringing the Alps, Andalucia and Venice – among others – that bit closer for overland travellers.
Here are six journeys to look forward to this winter…
Paris-Berlin, SNCF/Deutsche Bahn
Like buses, you wait aeons for a direct train between Paris and Berlin, then two come along at once. After the successful launch of a night train between the cities last December, a new high-speed day service is set to get going from mid-December.
Run by the French operator SNCF and its German counterpart, Deutsche Bahn, the service will run once a day in both directions between Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Paris Gare de L’Est, via Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt. The journey will take a little under eight hours, with single fares starting from €59 (£49).
The lack of a direct train between Paris and Berlin was a long-lamented missing link in Europe’s rail network. Austria’s state-run operator, OBB, plugged the gap with its overnight service last December (suspended until 26 October due to engineering works). But travellers wishing to make the journey by day have hitherto had to change at least once, with the total journey time clocking in at over nine hours. That’s all set to change from 16 December. sncf-connect.com, int.bahn.de/en
Where to stay: Just behind Paris Gare de l’Est, Bloom House Hotel opened recently with tropical-inspired décor and a spa with a pool. Doubles from €153 (£128), bloomhouse-hotel.com.
In Berlin, the Hoxton hotel in Charlottenburg offers a “Good Rate” for guests arriving by train. A discount of £20/ €20 is applied per stay. Doubles from €125 (£105), thehoxton.com/charlottenburg.
Brussels-Venice, European Sleeper
Hot on the heels of its Brussels to Prague night train, which launched to a great fanfare in March, European Sleeper will add a seasonal Brussels-to-Venice night train to its network in February.
The winter service is a major coup for the Dutch-Belgian start-up. It means that British travellers will be able to get from London to Venice overland in less than a day with just one change of train.
Departing Brussels Midi/Zuid at 7pm, the service will rattle across central Europe by moonlight, arriving in the Austrian Alps around dawn, before darting across northern Italy for a 2pm arrival in Venice. The service is set to launch on 5 February, with couchettes costing from around €119 (£100) one way.
The route will be a high point in what has been a challenging year for European Sleeper. Not only has its long-awaited Amsterdam-to-Barcelona night train been delayed until 2026, but there are now doubts over its Brussels to Prague sleeper. Planned engineering works and timetabling issues in Germany are putting the service in doubt in 2025, the company warned last week, though it said that it is working to find a solution. europeansleeper.com
Where to stay: Between the Grand-Place and Brussels Midi, the comic-inspired Yooma Urban Lodge has fun doubles from €126 (£106), as well as single, family and group rooms, yooma-brussels.com.
On arrival at Venice Santa Lucia, take vaporetto no 2 down the Grand Canal and alight at Accademia. A short walk away, Hotel Galleria has doubles from €134 (£112), hotelgalleria.it.
Vienna-Rome, Nightjet
Vienna’s reputation as the “night train capital of Europe” was further enhanced in September with the launch of a sleeper train to Rome. Using OBB’s sleek new rolling stock, the route is the latest nocturnal service launched by the Austrian operator, which is spearheading Europe’s night-train revival.
“A game-changer for night-train travel” is how OBB’s chief executive Andreas Matthä immodestly described the carriages, which feature Japanese-style sleeping capsules for budget-conscious travellers. At the other end of the scale, “comfort plus” cabins offer private rooms with en suite bathrooms.
Rome’s 2025 Jubilee or Holy Year will begin on Christmas Eve – 35million pilgrims are expected to visit the Eternal City for the Catholic celebration that happens every 25 years.
The Vienna-Rome night train is another vote of confidence in Europe’s sleeper network, which has faced various setbacks in 2024. Frustratingly, OBB had to suspend several flagship services over summer due to engineering works in France and Germany. Routes such as Vienna to Paris were halted, foreshadowing similar problems for European Sleeper in 2025.
June’s announcement that Midnight Trains – a French start-up that promised to redefine the sleeper concept – failed to secure enough funding to get going is a reminder of the challenges newcomers face. nightjet.com
Where to stay: Adina Apartment Hotel Vienna Belvedere is a two-minute walk to Vienna Central station, and five minutes to the leafy Schweizergarten. Doubles from £128, adinahotels.com.
B&B Domus Aurea is an hour’s walk or 20 minutes by taxi from Rome Tiburtina station, and less than 10 minutes’ walk from the Colosseum. B&B from £142, bbdomusaurea.com.
Rome-Assisi, Treni Turistici
Capitalising on the trend for slow travel, Italy’s rookie state-run rail operator Treni Turistici Italiano is launching two scenic routes this autumn.
The first, Espresso Assisi, has just started whisking passengers through pretty Umbria – “the green heart of Italy” – between Rome and Assisi, the medieval hill town where Italy’s patron saint, St Francis, was born.
A restaurant carriage will evoke rail’s bygone golden era, albeit briefly – Espresso Assisi runs until 1 December. The journey takes about two and a half hours, with fares from €22 (£18.50).
The operator’s other new service, the Espresso Langhe-Monferrato night train, is even more limited. Scheduled to run just twice – on 25 and 31 October – it will meander from Rome to Alba, the Unesco-listed town in Piedmont famous for its wine. Fares from €56 (£47).
Treni Turistici Italiano launched in 2023 promising “sustainable tourism that’s attentive to the riches of Italy”. It has subsequently introduced a series of scenic trains, including Espresso Salento, a summer service between Rome and Puglia, alongside more than 300 historic trains in areas of “historic and landscape interest”. fstrenituristici.it
Where to stay: Walking distance from Rome Termini station and Villa Borghese, Lilium Boutique Hotel has doubles from €153 (£128), liliumhotel.it
Fifteen minutes by car from Assisi station, Il Palazzo has characterful doubles from €200 (£168), hotelilpalazzo.it.
London-Alps, Eurostar Snow Train
Green pastures in the Alps last winter offered a stark reminder of the need to travel more sustainably. Yet, while climate change wrought havoc at low-lying resorts, the future of flight-free ski travel looked in doubt after Eurostar axed its Snow Train in 2020. Now it is back following a successful trial last year.
There is a catch, however: the service is no longer direct. Passengers must now change at Lille, where they jump aboard a red, ex-Thalys, now Eurostar train calling at Chambéry, Albertville, Moûtiers, Aime-la-Plagne, and Bourg-Saint-Maurice. The journey from London to Bourg-Saint-Maurice takes around eight hours, which, once you have factored in airport drudgery and transfers, isn’t much longer than flying. Plus, Eurostar’s luggage allowance is more generous than you will get with the low-cost carriers.
However, the change in Lille means the Snow Train has lost its competitive edge over SNCF’s seasonal Saturday night train from Paris to Briançon in the lower French Alps. It leaves Paris Austerlitz at 8.51pm and arrives the following morning at 8.21am. Eurostar’s Snow Train will run every Saturday from 21 December to 1 March, returning Sunday mornings. Fares cost from £99 one-way.
Where to stay: Next to St Pancras station, the Great Northern Hotel has doubles from £230, marriott.com.
In Paris, a new base near Austerlitz station is the high-rise Too Hôtel, which has doubles with views of the city’s icons from £182, as well as a spa with outdoor Jacuzzi and rooftop bar, toohotel.com/en.
Barcelona-Málaga, Iryo
Southern Spain will feel that bit closer for no-fly travellers from 15 December, when a new high-speed, low-cost train launches between Barcelona Sants and Málaga’s Maria Zambrano station.
The north-south service, run by Iryo, will do the schlep in five hours and 50 minutes – an improvement on Renfe’s existing service, which typically takes around six and a half hours.
Iryo will also undercut its rival where fares are concerned: one-way tickets will cost from around €24 (£20), compared with around €65 (£55) with Renfe.
Málaga is is an ideal winter city break destination – temperatures reach an average 18°C so you can still stroll its bars and restaurants in T-shirts, and enjoy Nativity scenes and Christmas lights at the Cathedral and art at the Picasso Museum.
Spain-bound overland travellers are also set to benefit from increased competition on the Paris-Barcelona route (journey time: six hours and 45 minutes). Renfe is due to start running trains on the line by the end of the year, going head-to-head with French operator SNCF. Fares currently start from around £69 but expect them to start coming down once Renfe enters the fray.
Longer-term, there will be even more choice when European Sleeper’s delayed night train from Amsterdam to Barcelona (via Brussels) finally gets going in 2026. That will mean it is possible to travel overland from London to Málaga in a day. Salud to that.
Where to stay: In Barcelona, H10 Itaca is a five-minute walk from Sants train station. It has a terrace with a plunge pool and sunlounger area for when the weather warms up. To see a quieter side of the city, walk for half an hour to the hillside neighbourhood of Poble Sec, which has a village-like feel and plenty of places for pintxos stops. Doubles at H10 Itaca from €90 (£75).
In Málaga, the Icon Malabar is a boutique hotel in the Soho district, around 15 minutes’ walk from Maria Zambrano station. Doubles from €112 (£94), iconmalabar.com.
