OP we need more requirements, what best mean for you ? What are your needs ?
I did the Nightjet from Vienna to Rome once and that was great.
Just did Zurich to Budapest and loooved it. Was kinda a bucket list to do a night train and it was great. Bit disappointed with the cleanliness, but I didn’t expect much.
4-5x the price of a flight but was a cool experience nonetheless
It’s night time though so don’t expect to see much haha
If you want a scenic night train experience take the train from Stockholm-Narvik to experience the midnight sun in the summer or have a chane to see the Nothern lights during the journey during the winter.
It depends how much you want to consider this European, but there’s a very popular night train from Sofia to Istanbul. One night train I have not tried but want to is from Bucharest to Chisinau. It’s on a very old Soviet-era train and looks pretty fun.
Budapest – Split
Budapest – Berlin
Budapest – Brasov
The best train routes are the ones that take you from A to B without delay.
My favorite from the ones I’ve done was Budapest – Bucharest, waking up in the middle of Transylvania was beautiful. The border check at like 1 AM kinda sucked, but now with Romania in Schengen that’s not an issue anymore.
The cars weren’t the nicest or newest, but still plenty comfortable, and more importantly the trip was long enough to wake up leisurely; I took a night train more recently from Warsaw to Česká Třebová and even though the accommodations were really nice and a lot newer I still slept like shit, partially from the route having a lot of turns, but also from knowing I’d have to be up and getting ready to go at like 5 AM. A lot of night train routes in the EU aren’t that long, and I wouldn’t consider any less than 9-10 hours to be a fun experience.
Paris – Latour de Carel. Through the Pyrenees in the morning.
Milan – Palermo/Syracuse. Train gets shunted onto a ferry for the crossing to Sicily.
Did Paris-Narbonne which was fun and scenic in the morning. The *Inside No. 9* episode set in a berth on a French overnight train is very accurate viewing
The two services in Britain (London-Penzance and London-Scotland with several end points) are both aimed at the premium tourism market and don’t have much in common with continental night trains. I can’t speak for them but the Fort William service in particular gets good reviews as a travel experience.
In the spirit of the question, overnight sailings on the Channel (I have done Portsmouth to St Malo and Hull to both Zeebrugge and Rotterdam) are immense fun as well, especially a windowless cabin in a brisk North Sea after a few drinks
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OP we need more requirements, what best mean for you ? What are your needs ?
I did the Nightjet from Vienna to Rome once and that was great.
Just did Zurich to Budapest and loooved it. Was kinda a bucket list to do a night train and it was great. Bit disappointed with the cleanliness, but I didn’t expect much.
4-5x the price of a flight but was a cool experience nonetheless
It’s night time though so don’t expect to see much haha
If you want a scenic night train experience take the train from Stockholm-Narvik to experience the midnight sun in the summer or have a chane to see the Nothern lights during the journey during the winter.
It depends how much you want to consider this European, but there’s a very popular night train from Sofia to Istanbul. One night train I have not tried but want to is from Bucharest to Chisinau. It’s on a very old Soviet-era train and looks pretty fun.
Budapest – Split
Budapest – Berlin
Budapest – Brasov
The best train routes are the ones that take you from A to B without delay.
My favorite from the ones I’ve done was Budapest – Bucharest, waking up in the middle of Transylvania was beautiful. The border check at like 1 AM kinda sucked, but now with Romania in Schengen that’s not an issue anymore.
The cars weren’t the nicest or newest, but still plenty comfortable, and more importantly the trip was long enough to wake up leisurely; I took a night train more recently from Warsaw to Česká Třebová and even though the accommodations were really nice and a lot newer I still slept like shit, partially from the route having a lot of turns, but also from knowing I’d have to be up and getting ready to go at like 5 AM. A lot of night train routes in the EU aren’t that long, and I wouldn’t consider any less than 9-10 hours to be a fun experience.
Paris – Latour de Carel. Through the Pyrenees in the morning.
Milan – Palermo/Syracuse. Train gets shunted onto a ferry for the crossing to Sicily.
Did Paris-Narbonne which was fun and scenic in the morning. The *Inside No. 9* episode set in a berth on a French overnight train is very accurate viewing
The two services in Britain (London-Penzance and London-Scotland with several end points) are both aimed at the premium tourism market and don’t have much in common with continental night trains. I can’t speak for them but the Fort William service in particular gets good reviews as a travel experience.
In the spirit of the question, overnight sailings on the Channel (I have done Portsmouth to St Malo and Hull to both Zeebrugge and Rotterdam) are immense fun as well, especially a windowless cabin in a brisk North Sea after a few drinks