European Sleeper, the rail company, has announced a new sleeper train service linking Brussels with the Italian city of Venice.
This new route will operate twice weekly during February and March of next year. Besides its final stop in Venice, the train will also make stops in Munich, Innsbruck, and Bolzano, the Italian Alpine ski resort, Schengen.News reports.
The ticket prices for this winter service will be disclosed soon, and travellers can begin booking their trips starting September 1. The Venice sleeper train will depart Brussels at 5 pm and arrive in Venice at 2 pm the next day. The return trip will leave Venice at 3 pm, returning to Brussels at 11 pm.
We are pleased to introduce this new night train connection from the North Sea to the Mediterranean.
The first train will depart Brussels on February 5, 2025, with the service running roughly twice a week throughout February and March. This timing caters to school holidays and the winter sports season while offering a sustainable travel option to Venice’s renowned carnival, Travel Tomorrow explains.
The new service addresses the growing demand for winter sports travel and city trips, providing a solution to the lack of convenient train connections. This overnight journey will traverse Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria before reaching Italy, enhancing the accessibility and appeal of cross-continental night travel.
European Sleeper’s New Routes & Future Amsterdam-Barcelona Train Amidst Industry Struggles
Since May 2023, European Sleeper has operated its first-night train service, running from Brussels and Amsterdam to Berlin and Prague thrice a week. This new Venice service expands European Sleeper’s network, offering more comfortable and efficient overnight travel options. Additionally, European Sleeper is planning a new daily night train route between Amsterdam and Barcelona, supported by the European Commission.
European Sleeper launched in March 2023 a new service from Brussels to Berlin too, and expanded its network to include a route from Brussels to Prague ten months later. Some have seen these introductions as part of a revival of sleeper trains across the continent. However, the industry has been challenging.
Midnight Trains, a rival startup aiming to launch “hotel trains” across Europe by 2025, announced in June that it had to abandon its ambitious plans, citing the “death of a dream.”
