First we heard about the plans for a night train linking Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague, then a whole new ‘hotels on rails’ company launched. Now, in the latest sign sleeper services are the hottest trend in 2022 travel, a brand-new route is about to link Sweden and Germany, making European overnight travel a whole lot easier.
The EuroNight service from Swedish operator SJ will cover the 670 miles from Hamburg to Stockholm, stopping off at Copenhagen along the way. You can bed down in either a standard seat, a ‘six-bunk couchette’ or a private compartment. The latter have a pillow, duvet and bed linen included, plus a bathroom with toiletries and towels. Oh, and they’ll serve you breakfast, too. Dreamy, dreamy stuff.
Best of all, it’s truly climate-friendly: SJ’s trains use totally renewable energy, and the drivers are encouraged to let the trains freewheel (i.e. not use their engines to drive them forward).
The new route will act as a missing link for travellers from the UK to Sweden. You’ll now be able to get the Eurostar from London to Brussels, a train from Brussels to Hamburg and then the 9pm service to Stockholm, where you’ll arrive at 10am – roughly 24 hours after you first set off.
That's the London-Stockholm page updated with the new Hamburg-Stockholm sleeper option. London to Stockholm in 24 hours, starting 1 September! https://t.co/oPMxhZ2Mn0 pic.twitter.com/JfbZeSeFpl
— The Man in Seat 61 (@seatsixtyone) May 4, 2022
Sound like your kind of thing? Well, the trains are slated to launch on September 1. It’s unclear exactly how much tickets will cost, but SJ has a rep as a pretty affordable operator – so we’ve got our hopes up. Keep an eye out for new developments on the official EuroNight site.
Did you see that you can now travel by train all the way across Sicily?
Plus: Spain is getting a load of new mega-cheap high-speed train routes.