The New Sleeper Train from London to Berlin Is Open for Business
Starting today, head out on a Friday afternoon and arrive bright and early Saturday morning.
Forget breakfast in bed. I want breakfast on board while traveling to Germany. Luckily, that's exactly what you can get with European Sleeper's latest offering. Its newest overnight route—which takes passengers between London's St. Pancras and Berlin Hauptbahnhof—will deliver you to the capital of pints and pretzels in under 16 hours.
Starting today, on May 25, the Dutch-Belgian rail company will bring travelers from Brussels Midi to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and it will feature nine stops along the way, including Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Hanover. And where does London fit into all this? Well, passengers in London will actually start their trip on an Eurostar train from St. Pancras in the afternoon, scheduled to get to Brussels just in time for them to transfer onto the European Sleeper.
Passengers will board the train at St. Pancras for departure at 3:30 pm before arriving in Brussels at 6:04 pm. The train will make its way into Berlin by 6:48 am, but not before you're served that promised breakfast, of course. For now, the train will operate three times a week, but there are plans towards a nightly expansion beginning in 2024, Lonely Planet reports.
As for pricing, seats start at €49 (about $53 as of this writing), while a couchette will run you €79 ($85) and a berth in a sleeper compartment is €109 ($117). Interrail/Eurail passes are not valid for European Sleeper service though, FYI. Tickets are now on sale. Meet you at the beer hall?