Europe just may be experiencing a rail-travel renaissance as 2024 has brought adjusted timetables with more night trains, including some big new direct connections. Here’s looking at you, Berlin to Paris.

For years, rail travel seemed to be in a state of slow but steady decline. Huge fuel subsidies for airlines made plane tickets significantly cheaper than their train ticket alternatives. Meanwhile rail passengers complained about delayed trains and missed connections, especially in Germany.

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But recently European travellers seem to be increasingly interested in train travel. Be it for reducing carbon emissions, avoiding airport check-in and security lines, or simply for more leg room – there are plenty of reasons to opt to travel by train.

Here are the direct connections you can reach by night train from Berlin:

Berlin to Brussels (soon also Prague)

European Sleeper, a popular night train from Brussels to Amsterdam to Berlin, will soon be extended to Prague – allowing those in Germany’s capital to catch a sleeper train in either direction. 

The extension from Berlin will continue south and slightly east, stopping in Dresden and the picturesque spa town of Bad Schandau on its way to Prague. The first train to make the extended journey is scheduled for March 25th.

Trains headed to Prague are scheduled to depart from Berlin’s central station (Hauptbahnhof) at 6:20 am. So for Berliners it’s really more of an early morning train, but if you stay up the night before you can sleep for four and half hours and wake up in the Czech Republic. Seats from Berlin start at €24.

Trains headed to Amsterdam or Brussels depart Berlin at 10:56 pm, so you can experience an overnight sleeper train if you’re headed east. Tickets from Berlin to Brussels start around  €49 for a seat, €79 for a couchette or €139 for a sleeper.

Find more information and book tickets here.

Overnight to Paris

Germany’s Deutsche Bahn (DB) and France’s SCNF celebrated 15 years of cross border railway partnership by opening up a high speed direct connection between Paris and Berlin, as of December 2023.

Departures from Berlin’s central station are scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:18 pm. They arrive in Paris at 10:24 am the next day, after about 14 hours of travel time – so plenty of time for sleeping, reading, and drinking a few glasses of German beer or French wine.

Tickets start at €34.90 for a seat, or €79.90 for a sleeper in a six-person cabin.

More information and tickets at Nightjet’s website.

Night trains to Scandinavia

Sweden’s Snälltåget train operator connects Stockholm to Central Europe, extending as far south as the Alps, and offers night trains that connect directly to Berlin. Trains between Germany and Sweden’s capital cities also stop in Hamburg, Copenhagen and Malmö.

Trains depart Berlin’s central station at 9:10 pm, arriving in Copenhagen at 7 am the next day or in Stockholm at 1:20 pm. 

Coming the other way, trains depart Stockholm at 4:20 pm, arriving in Copenhagen at 10:55 pm and then in Berlin at 7:46 am the following morning.

More information and tickets are available at the Snälltåget website.

Nightjet trains to Zürich, Vienna or Budapest

Nightjet, operated by Austrian railways (ÖBB), has a number of lines directly connecting Germany’s capital city to other major capitals, as well as some smaller stops on the way that are worth a visit.

One line connects Berlin to Zürich via Basel, making it your go-to overnight option to Switzerland. Trains depart Berlin at 8:45 pm and arrive at Zürich’s central station around 9 am. Seats start at €29, or couchettes from €49, and sleepers from €89.

Another line connects Berlin to Vienna, and then continues on to Graz – Austria’s second largest city that achieved some international news coverage for electing a Marxist mayor. Trains depart Berlin at 7:20 pm and arrive in Vienna at 7 am or Graz by 10 am. Seats start at €49, or couchettes from €78, and sleepers from €98.

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Or for travellers looking to go further east, there is a direct nightjet train from Berlin to Budapest. Trains depart Berlin 7:21 pm and arrive in Hungary’s capital city by 8:29 am the following morning. Seats start at €29, or couchettes from €54, and sleepers from €79.

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More information about all of these trains can be found at the Nightjet website.