7 of the best European sleeper trains for 2026

The joy of the journey and the pleasure of slow travel has mixed with increasing eco-consciousness to set off a new era of train travel. Sleeper trains are catching up with the expansion in high-speed rail, providing intriguing travel opportunities across Europe and beyond that mix convenience with scenic and memorable rides on the rails. Here are new routes worth booking this year and beyond.

1. The InterCity Notte 1955

From: Rome to Palermo
Miles covered: 265
Duration: 13 hours

Departing Roma Termini at 8.20pm, the Italian InterCity Notte takes its time to gather pace. It’s worth spending the first hour peeking into the warmly lit homes flashing past, where TVs flicker, residents tidy up kitchens and kids clamber into bunk-beds. It’s a smooth, quiet journey — but one with a twist.

Around 3am, light sleepers are most likely the first to notice as the carriages are shunted back and forth at Port Villa San Giovanni, then uncoupled and lined up side by side on a ferry that crosses the Strait of Messina. It’s worth pulling coats over pyjamas and going up on deck for the 20-minute journey. With lungfuls of fresh sea air, passengers can look down upon their compartments, where the occasional bewildered face of a fellow rider will peer back around a curtain. Recoupled on the other side, the train barrels along the northern coast of Sicily to Palermo, the trackside blooming with wisteria and lemon trees, the sea closing in on the tracks.

2. The Norrland Night Train

From: Stockholm to Narvik
Miles covered: 900
Duration: 19 hours

Pulling out of Stockholm just after 6pm, the Norrland journeys up the backbone of Sweden and over the border to the Norwegian port city of Narvik. Populated mostly by young Swedes and active retirees, at weekends it’s heaving with large groups stashing their skis and snowboards on their way to the city of Kiruna (known for its Northern Lights). Others stay on for the full ride, with a view to continuing by ferry to the Lofoten Islands or by bus to Tromsø.

Students in hoodies sleep in seats all night, their socked feet leaving prints on the windows, while the mixed couchette compartments turn into mini house parties where anyone is invited in for a beer or two. In the dining car, gravlax is unwrapped, reindeer stew steams and empty wine bottles clink on the tables. Few passengers remain for the final leg of the journey along the Ofoten Line, but it’s the most magnificent stretch of scenery: the fjords emerge like an ocean wrapping itself around cliffs, down which waterfalls have frozen mid-fall.

3. Sofia-Istanbul Express

From: Sofia to Istanbul
Miles covered: 360
Duration: 14 hours

With one of the cosiest compartments on any sleeper train, the Sofia-Istanbul Express is an ideal service to take with a group of friends. House music and loud movies are a common feature as the train clacks out of the Bulgarian capital. Once the farmland, tethered horses and houses have faded from view, passengers prop up laptops and binge-watch box sets, pulling out chocolate bars, apple juice and bottles of water from the carriage’s well-stocked fridge.

The journey is interrupted for a midnight passport check at the border town of Svilengrad. An hour later, passengers have to slope off the train with their luggage at the Turkish city of Edirne, where passports are given a cursory scan and stamped again. It’s entirely worth it, though, for the final hour and the approach to Istanbul’s Halkalı station. Minarets sharpen the skies and the distinct sound of the call to prayer drifts across the rooftops.

4. The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

From: Paris to Portofino
Miles covered: 850
Duration: one night on board

The Golden Age of Travel has been brought to life on the Venice Simplon-Orient Express, a Belmond train — all mahogany compartments with lacquered marquetry gleaming in the light of vintage lamps. There are a number of services around Europe but the one between Paris and Portofino is unrivalled for its views.

As the train clatters through the French countryside, passengers in black tie make their way to one of three dining cars where musicians, TV stars and a quietly observant novelist or two can be found propping up the bar. Guitarists thrum around the tables, and meals feature golden-edged John Dory and ‘choo-choo martinis’. To ensure a good night’s sleep, the train stables from midnight to 5am in Avignon before setting off again along the French Riviera, granting guests a wake-up to the sunrise twinkling across the sea. On arrival in Italy’s Portofino, guests are welcomed to the Splendido Mare hotel to spend two nights tucked away on a clifftop.

5. The Intercité de Nuit

From: Nice to Paris
Miles covered: 426
Duration: 13 hours

If only all of Europe’s trains had the design and comfort of the Intercité de Nuit. The service was originally terminated at the end of 2017 but, thanks to the twin powers of French outrage and climate crisis concerns, it was returned to the tracks in December 2022. Rolling out of Nice Ville at 7pm, the Intercité de Nuit runs past the backs of villas, where bougainvillea pour down the walls and the Ligurian Sea flashes blue in between.

Compartments are spacious, berths can be elevated at one end and the bedding is cleverly made: a sleeping bag with a duvet on one side and a sheet on the other, which can be flipped depending on the season — and a proper big pillow to boot. Running along the coast for the first few hours, this is a meditation on the Mediterranean — a gentle, soulful ride with sloping fields and towns rising then receding beyond the windows. In the morning, passengers wake to the sun blazing red on the Seine.

6. Nightjet NJ491

From: Hamburg to Vienna
Miles covered: 462
Duration: 13 hours

The Nightjet between Germany and Austria is a service that takes passengers from one destination to another with minimum fuss. The excitement lies in the innovation, with Austria’s state railway (ÖBB) spearheading a resurgence of sleeper trains in Europe when it released cabins purpose-built for sleeper trains in 2023. Catering to solo travellers in search of privacy, the couchette compartments are separated into ‘mini-cabins’; long and narrow, the individual slots feel much like lying inside a bread bin. The new-generation Nightjet also features four-person private carriages and comfort-plus en suite compartments.

Once inside, you won’t see a soul until morning — with the exception of an attendant, summoned at the push of a button to deliver microwaved bolognese, cans of Stiegl lager and bags of Haribo. It’s a quiet ride with no rocking so passengers should sleep deeply, waking to deer grazing in misty fields and the sun just creeping up the Alps.

7. The Lovćen Train

From: Belgrade to Bar
Miles covered: 296
Duration: 11 hours

A marvel of engineering inaugurated by President Tito in 1976, this line was a symbol of Yugoslavia’s national glory. Although now fallen into disrepair and often overlooked by travellers, the train still runs year-round and the scenery is as rugged and beautiful as ever.

The Lovćen sleeper service departs the Serbian capital at 8pm and rumbles south, passing through 254 tunnels and crossing 435 bridges along the way. Passengers in four- and six-couchette carriages peer down into canyons and valleys where farms dot the landscape and green rivers unwind like wool. It’s worth waking at dawn for the final stretch: after crossing into Montenegro, the train runs through the Durmitor and Bjelasica mountain ranges, with their blade-like peaks, dense forests and lakes winking in the sun. On its last breath towards Bar, the Lovćen trundles along the Adriatic Sea, a blast of its salty scent billowing in through the open windows.