Brussels, Belgium is set to gain a third European Sleeper train service in addition to its existing Brussels to Berlin and Prague routes, and this time it’s a really special one, promising to take rail passengers from the heart of Europe’s capital to one of the world’s favourite cities: Venice.
Alpine skiing and Carnival by train
Operating throughout February and March, the route will tap into both the Alpine ski season and the iconic Venice Carnival, which is on from 14 February to 4 March next year.
With an easy to remember launch date, the inaugural train will depart Brussels at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, 5 February 2025. It will head north first of all, calling at the Dutch cities of Rotterdam and Utrecht, before turning east towards Cologne, south to Munich in Germany, then visiting Innsbruck in Austria, and two further stops in Italy, the southern Tyrolean town of Bolzano, as well as Verona, before reaching its terminus, famous lagoon city, just after lunch at 2:00 pm the following day.
The return is scheduled to leave Venice at 3:00 pm and arrive in Brussels in time for one of the city’s famous brunches, at 11:00 am. There will be two services in both directions per week.
Tickets and pricing available in September
Tickets and pricing details will become available from September 2024, but in other European Sleeper models the cheapest option usually means booking a seat for the entire journey, while medium pricing involves a couchette in a compartment shared with four to six bunks, and the deluxe version is a cabin with its own private bathroom and a desk.
Set yourself a calendar reminder, since the Venice route is bound to attract a lot of interest. “Passengers will be able to board our train from Belgium and the Netherlands, and relax in the comfort of the restaurant car, while the train transports them through Germany and Austria, and across the Alps, ending in the historic cities of Verona and Venice the following day,” said European Sleeper’s co-founder Chris Engelsmen.
The rebirth of sleeper train travel across Europe, providing a sustainable and chilled out way to get from city centre to city centre instead of flying to far-flung budget airports, has proven popular, but harder to scale up than anticipated, due to complex intra-European regulatory frameworks and difficulties in procuring rolling stock.
Still, another new route is in the pipeline too: the Amsterdam to Barcelona service will be boardable in Brussels too. Watch this space.
