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Paris and Berlin – for everything from culture and history to eating, drinking and nightlife – are two of Europe’s mightiest capitals. And yet, these two great cities haven’t been linked by overnight train in almost a decade – until this week.
One of Europe’s most hotly-anticipated sleeper services to launch this year, the Paris-Berlin night train (owned by NightJet, the sleeper arm of Austrian national rail operator ÖBB) set off on its first sold-out journey on Monday.
Train maestro The Man in Seat 61 posted details of the timetable for the Paris-Berlin route back in August. Trains will depart from Paris’s Gare de l’Est at 7.12pm and will stop at Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Erfurt and Berlin Südkreuz before arriving at Berlin’s main station at 8.26am.
In the opposite direction, the train will not stop at Berlin Südkreuz, but will make a stop in the city of Halle. The Berlin-Paris train will run slightly later, leaving at 8.18pm and arriving at 10.24am the next day.
What’s more, Gare de l’Est’s proximity to Gare du Nord means the new services will be an easy connection for those arriving on the Eurostar from London. It’s only a ten-minute walk between the two Paris stations.
And if you’d rather travel to Berlin via Brussels, you can do that instead. Leaving Brussels at 7.03pm and stopping in Cologne, a second ÖBB sleeper train will link up with the Paris-Berlin service in the middle of the night, arriving together at 8.26am. On the return journey, you’ll leave Berlin at 8.18pm, split off during the night, and arrive back in Brussels at 9.56am. (Here’s the full timetable.)
The Paris/Brussels-Berlin sleeper train will initially run three times a week, with a daily service planned from autumn 2024.
Ticket prices start at around €50 for a berth in a 6-bed cabin. That’s a little cheaper than the European Sleeper night train from Brussels to Berlin, and with more modern carriages.
So, as of yesterday (December 11), you’re officially able to fall asleep in Paris and wake up in Berlin. Anyone for Christmas in Germany?
Did you see that this European capital has been named the world’s best city destination in 2023?
Plus: Paris is getting a massive new metro system.
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