{"id":603069,"date":"2025-11-30T09:27:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T09:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/603069\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T09:27:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T09:27:24","slug":"two-of-the-most-spectacular-train-stations-in-the-world-are-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/603069\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Of The Most \u2018Spectacular\u2019 Train Stations In The World Are In London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that the two most gorgeous train stations on Earth are right here in London<\/a>? At least, that\u2019s what the Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0said in its\u00a0latest\u00a0list of the world\u2019s 20 \u2018most spectacular\u2019 stations.<\/p>\n

The newspaper\u2019s ranking was curated by its travel writers and experts, and spanned 17 nations across almost every inhabited continent (sorry South America, better luck next time).\u00a0Top of them all, however, was a central London hub: St Pancras International<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The red-brick terminus originally opened in 1868. The Telegraph described it as \u2018magnificent [and] gothic\u2019,\u00a0and as\u00a0a physical embodiment of all the \u2018splendour and deep pockets\u2019 of the early Victorian railway investors. St Pancras got a facelift at the turn of\u00a0the 20th century, with renovations creating dedicated space for new cross-Channel train services.<\/p>\n

These days, St Pancras is the only place in the UK where you can get on a Eurostar train, although campaigners have been trying to change this for some time<\/a>. Plans have been proposed to upgrade the station<\/a>\u00a0ahead of Virgin launching its competing international service<\/a>, but even without any further work, St Pancras still clearly shines bright.<\/p>\n

The silver medal went to Paddington<\/strong> \u2013 just five tube stops away. Designed by renowned British architect Isambard Kingdom Brunel, this station opened its doors in 1838, making it the fifth oldest in the capital.<\/p>\n

The Telegraph praised Paddington\u2019s \u2018grand, wrought-iron and glass barrel-vaulted roof\u2019, which creates a bright, spacious feel in the station. Plus, it deserves extra points just for inspiring its cartoon namesake-turned-national-treasure (soon to get his own West End musical<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"Paddington
\nPhotograph: Shutterstock <\/p>\n

In third place was the Gare de Lyon<\/strong> in Paris<\/a>, which is home to Le Train Bleu; \u2018the finest station restaurant in the world\u2019. All of the top ten stations were in Europe, with two each in Paris and London, then the rest split across various nations.<\/p>\n

The most stunning train stations in the world<\/p>\n

Here are the\u00a010 most impressive railway terminals in the world, according to the Telegraph:<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n
  1. St Pancras International<\/strong>, London, UK<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  2. Paddington<\/strong>, London, UK<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  3. Gare de Lyon<\/strong>, Paris, France<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  4. Antwerpen-Centraal<\/strong>, Antwerp, Belgium<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  5. Amsterdam Centraal<\/strong>, Amsterdam, Netherlands<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  6. S\u00e3o Bento Railway Station<\/strong>, Porto, Portugal<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  7. Helsinki Central Railway Station<\/strong>, Helsinki, Finland<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  8. Madrid Atocha<\/strong>, Madrid, Spain<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  9. Villejuif-Gustave Roussy<\/strong>, Paris, France<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  10. Hungerburgbahn<\/strong>, Innsbruck, Austria<\/li>\n

    \n<\/ol>\n

    You can read the full list here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    The most beautiful train stations in the world, according to Time Out<\/a>\u00a0and London\u2019s most stunning hubs ranked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Did you see that this affordable coach provider is launching more services to one of London\u2019s major airports<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Plus:\u00a0A Harry Potter themed Christmas tree has been unveiled at King\u2019s Cross station<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke \u2013 from news and reviews to events and trends. Just\u00a0<\/strong>follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Stay in the loop: sign up for our\u00a0<\/strong>free Time Out London newsletter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did you know that the two most gorgeous train stations on Earth are right here in London? At…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,11648,393,4884,257,11649,183,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-603069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-categories-travel","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-news-transport-travel","14":"tag-travel","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115637940898997643","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}