The Case for Taking the Night Train

There is a particular moment on a night train that I have never found anywhere else. The cabin lights are low, the city has fallen away behind you, and the window fills with dark fields and the occasional lit-up farmhouse. You are going somewhere, and for once there is nothing you need to do about it.

Sleeper trains spent decades fading from the timetables. Now they are coming back, with new routes, refurbished carriages and a generation of travellers who would rather arrive rested than rushed. Here is why I take one whenever I can.

You gain a day instead of losing one

A short flight is never really short. There is the trip to the airport, the security queue, the waiting at the gate and the long transfer from a runway far outside the city. A night train leaves from the centre, travels while you sleep and delivers you to the centre of somewhere else in time for breakfast. The journey replaces a night in a hotel instead of eating into your daylight.

The journey becomes part of the trip

On a plane, the distance between two places collapses into a few hours of recycled air. On a train, you feel the map. The language on the station signs changes. The architecture shifts. You fall asleep somewhere flat and wake up to mountains. By the time you arrive, you have a real sense of where you are.

Slow travel is not about going less far. It is about noticing the distance.

It is gentler on the planet

For most journeys of a few hundred kilometres, the train produces a fraction of the emissions of flying. It is not the only reason to choose it, but it is a good one, and it is a choice you get to feel good about while lying in a bunk listening to the rails.

How to make the most of it

• Book a private compartment if you can. Couchettes are cheaper and perfectly comfortable, but a cabin of your own turns the journey into a small adventure.
• Pack a picnic. Dining options vary wildly between routes. Bread, cheese, fruit and something good to drink make any carriage feel civilised.
• Bring layers and earplugs. Carriages can run warm or cold, and some stations are noisy in the middle of the night.
• Keep your valuables close. Lock the door and keep your passport and phone with you in the bunk.
• Set no alarm. The attendant will knock before your stop. Waking up slowly is part of the point.

Where to start

If you have never taken a sleeper, choose a route of around ten to twelve hours, so you board after dinner and arrive in the morning. Vienna to Venice, Stockholm to the Arctic north and London to the Scottish Highlands all make wonderful first journeys. Book directly with the operator, reserve early for the best cabins and leave the rest to the rails.