The best new European sleeper trains we can’t wait to ride in 2025

Nightjet – the ‘sleeper’ branch of Austria’s national rail company ÖBB – is a prolific operator when it comes to exciting sleeper trains, and on top of existing services such as between Venice and Hamburg which launched over the last year, brand new ones are on the roster for us to enjoy in 2025. From September 2024, services between Munich and Bologna, Salzburg and Florence and Vienna and Rome will launch. 

👀 Our take: ‘These new-generation Nightjet sleepers have one major USP: comfort. Sure, you can get from Munich to Bologna or Vienna to Rome on a quick budget flight, but why do that when you can stay in your own little mini apartment for the night and watch the countryside roll by?’ – Grace Beard, Travel Editor.

The seasons will of course affect how and when you want to travel, and one sleeper train we’re most excited for is the mega-service by European Sleeper set to connect Brussels and Venice via five other cities. Its inaugural journey is set to take place on February 5, 2025, and its aim is to provide more sustainable access to winter sport destinations. 

👀 Our take: ‘European Sleeper hasn’t been around for long – its first sleeper service, a long-awaited route between Brussels and Berlin, only made its debut in May last year. But it’s quickly become a major player in the Big European Train Revival, and this new winter service is the perfect way to combine your skiing trip with a city break.’ – Grace Beard, Travel Editor. 

Criss-crossing the continent by night train became more doable than ever in 2023 with the launch of new train start-up European Sleeper, whose highly-anticipated Brussels to Berlin service set off on its first journey in May. Excitingly, the route expanded even further in spring 2024. On March 25, the service from Brussels began linking to Prague, with an additional stop in the historic German city of Dresden – roll on 2025!

Not long after European Sleeper announced their service between Brussels and Berlin, NightJet followed suit, kicking off their service between these two European capitals at the end of 2023. It’s set be strong competition for the young rail start-up, as NightJet offers a much more packed timetable, with daily services shuttling passengers from one city to the other.

After ÖBB’s Nightjet launched a service from Hamburg to Vienna and Innsbruck on December 10, 2023, the 12-hour overnight route extended to include the the Austrian city of Bregenz in early 2024. 

Italy’s exciting new roster of revamped vintage trains is kicked off with this sleeper train, which will ferried visitors from Rome to the Dolomites during the winter ski season. Departing the Italian capital on Friday evenings, the Espresso Cadore train trundles through knock-out mountain views and arrive in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Saturday mornings, just in time for a weekend of skiing.

It’s taken a decade for two of Europe’s mightiest capitals – Paris and Berlin – to be linked by night train. Another route from sleeper train kingpin NightJet, this overnight route took off on its first sold-out journey in December 2023. The service began with running three times a week, taking off from Paris at 7.12pm and arriving in Berlin the next morning at 8.26am – but come autumn, the Paris-Berlin sleeper will start running daily services. These were temporarily suspended due to engineering works throughout France and Germany, but should be up and running again October 28

This overnight service between Paris and Aurillac, a commune in south-central France, has made a comeback for 2024 after being out of service since the 2000s. The Intercités night train will set off from Paris at 7.27pm and arrive in Aurillac at 7.30am. It’s all part of an initiative from the French government to strengthen rail travel across the country.

Another new service from ÖBB’s NightJet that launched for 2024 connects Munich in Germany with Warsaw in Poland. It passes through Rosenheim, Sazlburg, Linz, Vienna and Krakow on its way. City-hopping through Europe, here we come!