{"id":1521,"date":"2026-04-01T16:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/1521\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:00:07","slug":"we-travelled-on-european-sleepers-first-paris-to-berlin-night-train-this-is-what-it-was-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/1521\/","title":{"rendered":"We travelled on European Sleeper\u2019s first Paris to Berlin night train. This is what it was like"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a huge year for train travel in 2025, marking 200 years since the birth of the modern railway<\/a>. Numerous new routes<\/a> were launched, but the rail renaissance shows no signs of slowing down in 2026<\/a> with many more on the way.<\/p>\n

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Dutch-Belgian railway company European Sleeper is among those leading the charge, having launched its debut Brussels to Berlin night train route in 2023.<\/p>\n

On 26 March, the inaugural journey of its second permanent service \u2013 from Paris to Berlin<\/a> \u2013 took place, and Euronews Travel was among the first passengers on board.<\/p>\n

\u00d6BB and SNCF had been operating sleeper trains between the two European capitals since 2023, but announced the service would end in mid-December.<\/p>\n

European Sleeper decided to take on the route, with trains travelling from Paris on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and from Berlin on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.<\/p>\n

The journey takes around 14 hours from Paris to Berlin, departing Gare du Nord at 6:03 pm, arriving at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 9:02 am. The return leg takes slightly longer, leaving Berlin at 6:31 pm and arriving back in Paris at 11 am.<\/p>\n

Why choose a night train over short-haul flights?<\/p>\n

Sleeper trains are more efficient for passengers in terms of both time not wasted in the airport, and money not spent on a hotel night, says Chris Engelsman, one of the company\u2019s co-founders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing is, of course, that it\u2019s a nice way of travelling,\u201d Engelsman told Euronews Travel. \u201cIt\u2019s not just going from A to B \u2013 it\u2019s also enjoying the ride, sitting with friends and family and getting to know each other on the train.\u201d<\/p>\n

We can certainly attest to that, as the inaugural service was filled with families, friends and couples travelling together chatting to others sharing their compartment.<\/p>\n

While sharing a room with strangers is off-putting for some \u2013 Berlin-based start-up Nox<\/a> has promised to launch sleeper trains with entirely private cabins from 2027 \u2013 for us, it\u2019s all part of the fun.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not the only ones who think so, either, with 25,000 bookings on the Berlin to Paris route made before the inaugural journey even departed Gare du Nord.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will never be for everyone, and it doesn\u2019t have to be,\u201d Engelsman added. \u201cBut it is important that there\u2019s an alternative to flying.\u201d<\/p>\n

We felt that the timings worked out perfectly \u2013 while you\u2019ll have to have an early dinner in Paris, you won\u2019t have to cut your day short like you would with a flight, and you\u2019re ready to hit the ground running on the other side come 9 am.<\/p>\n

The different compartment types \u2013 and their prices<\/p>\n

European Sleeper\u2019s fleet of trains date back to the \u201890s, and are best described as functional rather than fancy.<\/p>\n

There are four category types for compartments: Budget, classic, comfort standard and comfort plus. There are some variations from train to train, so while this is what we saw on board, what you experience may be slightly different.<\/p>\n

In budget, compartments feature six seats that do not turn into beds. The seats are arranged so there are three seats on each side of the compartment directly facing each other with a small table and some plug sockets by the window, making it rather\u2026 cosy. Luckily, stewards on board have playing cards available for purchase, so you can definitely make some friends if you\u2019re in a compartment with strangers.<\/p>\n

Fares start from \u20ac39.99, and while we don\u2019t think you\u2019ll get the greatest night\u2019s kip, we suppose any train can be a sleeper train if you\u2019re tired enough. <\/p>\n

Next up, classic compartments can sleep between four and six people. During the day, the majority of the bunks are folded up so the bottom row can be used as regular seating. A bed in a classic compartment starts at \u20ac59.99, and includes bed linen, blankets and pillows.<\/p>\n

Both the comfort standard (from \u20ac99.99) and comfort plus (from \u20ac129.99) sleep three, with the main difference between the two being that the beds in the latter are slightly more comfortable (no prizes for guessing that!), there\u2019s a wash basin in the compartment, and the price includes a welcome drink plus breakfast in the morning.<\/p>\n

Women-only compartments are available, and you can also book out an entire sleeper compartment from \u20ac279.99.<\/p>\n

While some compartments have USB-A charging ports, the majority just have one or two standard European plug sockets. There\u2019s no wifi on board, so make sure you bring a book \u2013 or buy the aforementioned playing cards to keep yourself entertained.<\/p>\n

Every carriage has two wash basins in, as well as one toilet. There are stewards assigned to each carriage, and so while a few of the toilets were out of service on the inaugural service, those that weren\u2019t always had soap, toilet paper and hand towels.<\/p>\n

There are no size or weight restrictions on luggage, however, we wouldn\u2019t recommend bringing more than one large suitcase or backpack if you want to make sure your belongings fit under the seat in your compartment. It\u2019s also a very tight fit along the corridors beside the compartments.<\/p>\n

Eating and drinking on board<\/p>\n

European Sleeper trains do not have a dining car, but you\u2019re more than welcome to bring your own food and drink on board.<\/p>\n

You can also order food and drink from the steward in your carriage by scanning the QR code in your cabin, with last orders before 11:30 pm. <\/p>\n

A 330ml can of beer comes in at a fairly reasonable \u20ac4, with glasses of wine from \u20ac6.75. You can also grab a coffee for \u20ac3, or a soft drink for \u20ac3.50. Food-wise, you can grab crisps, nuts or instant noodles from \u20ac3.50. <\/p>\n

Breakfast is served from around 7 am, and includes coffee, juice, yoghurt with granola, and bread with spreads for \u20ac14.50.<\/p>\n

Can you actually get a good night\u2019s sleep?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re someone who struggles to sleep on planes, or in any bed other than your own at home, you probably already know that a sleeper train isn\u2019t likely to work for you.<\/p>\n

As someone who has regularly slept in hostel dorms with 24 bunks, and someone who used to live on a boat, I had no problems nodding off. <\/p>\n

Bed size may be an issue if you\u2019re on the taller side of things, as beds are around 60cm in width and between 175cm and 185cm in length.<\/p>\n

Rules on board include staying quiet between 11 pm and 7 am, and the rocking motion of the train is quite comforting. <\/p>\n

If anything, I was more likely to be woken up by the train stopping, which thankfully doesn\u2019t happen too often after pulling into the last station before Berlin (Li\u00e8ge) just before midnight.<\/p>\n

According to my Apple Watch, I managed 57 minutes in REM, four hours and 11 minutes in core, and 24 minutes in deep sleep. Not bad.<\/p>\n

Other European Sleeper routes<\/p>\n

After launching its inaugural Brussels to Berlin service in 2023, the route was extended further in 2024 and now operates all the way to Prague.<\/p>\n

Come September, passengers will be able to travel between Brussels and Milan<\/a>, stopping in Cologne, Z\u00fcrich and Como along the way.<\/p>\n

In July, the Paris to Berlin service will get an additional stop along the way: Hamburg.<\/p>\n

According to Engelsman, other routes in the pipeline would run between Amsterdam and Italy, as well as between Brussels and Barcelona. Other potential destinations being looked at include Stockholm and Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

While the company has been approached about creating sleeper trains in Australia and the US, for now, it has plenty to focus on within Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a huge year for train travel in 2025, marking 200 years since the birth of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1461,1462,30,1463,1464],"class_list":{"0":"post-1521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-paris","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-international-travel","10":"tag-paris","11":"tag-train","12":"tag-trains"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}