Tonight, I'm going to be taking you on Norway's innovative overnight train. From Bergen, in the
heart of the fjords, to the country's capital, Oslo. But this isn't just any normal sleeper,
as I'll be travelling in the brand-new PlusNight carriage,
spending my night in a lie-flat reclining seat. This is a super unique experience,
and I can't wait to try it, so join me as I travel through Norway on the overnight train.
Hello and welcome back to another video, today I'm here in Bergen in Norway,
and I'm going to be catching a very unique overnight train. I'll
be travelling on the Bergensbanen over to Oslo, and I'll be travelling in one
of the PlusNight carriages. This is a new experience for me - let's go!
Welcome to Bergen Stasjon, a spectacular building dating back to 1903, which has
seen little in the way of structural modifications since that year.
The station serves as the terminus of the railway line from Oslo, the capital city of Norway.
As well as these long-distance routes, Bergen also sees local
regional trains to nearby cities, such as Arna, Voss, and Myrdal.
All trains here are operated by Vy,
the national operator of Norway, who won the contract to operate these routes until 2031.
But before we travel, let's take a look around the station's facilities.
The main entrance leads to this rather grand hall, which features a little bit of seating,
as well as more importantly at this time of year, heating.
While here, you can't miss out on the beautiful art up above, which features various sculptures
of the surrounding area's best views, as well as a mural depicting the city of Bergen's history.
This is also where you can find one of the station's two shops,
which were thankfully open until my train's scheduled departure.
Though if you do get hungry,
there is a café carriage on-board, which we'll take a look at later!
Bergen station itself is an incredible construction,
and easily the country's best in my opinion - just look at this spectacular canopy!
Bergen is a world heritage city, with UNESCO status,
so it only makes sense for the station to represent this accolade too.
Unfortunately, the facilities are a bit lacking, with a ticket office featuring very limited hours.
Seating is plentiful, though with subzero temperatures,
you wouldn't want to be sitting here for long.
There are also luggage lockers,
convenient if you wish to explore this stunning city without your bags.
With well over an hour until departure on tonight's exciting ride,
I was looking for somewhere warm to wait.
Luckily, Vy has partnered up with the nearby Terminus Hotel,
across the road from the station, where you can relax before your journey.
This classic hotel, of a similar vintage to the main station,
is a welcoming place to wait before the train.
Whilst there's not much in the way of comfortable seating, or anything like that, you can find a
room with complimentary tea and coffee. A warm beverage was definitely appreciated.
And if you haven't already eaten,
then your ticket entitles you to a 25% discount on meals in the restaurant here.
But after waiting here for a while, it's soon time to head back to the station ready for boarding.
The train is opened up for passengers around 20 minutes before departure,
so at 22:40 it's finally time to get on and find my seat for tonight.
I'm travelling in Coach 1, at the rear of the train.
This is one of the brand-new PlusNight carriages, consisting of just 23 reclining flatbed seats.
We'll take a proper look around the carriage and the experience in one of
these seats very soon, but first let's see what else the train has to offer.
Tonight's locomotive is a Norwegian type El18.
These powerful locomotives are capable of putting down 7200hp, with a top-speed of 200km/h (125mph).
The cheapest form of accommodation on this train is the Standard seating. Whilst this is
a great way to travel during the day, I really cannot recommend it for an overnight journey.
Next to the seated carriages, you can find the on-board café.
This features a variety of snacks and drinks, even pizza if you fancy it!
Lastly, there's a few sleeper carriages, featuring private compartments with a proper bed.
And that brings us back to PlusNight. These huge seats are in a 1+1 layout,
and are packed with all the features you could need for an overnight trip as I'll soon show you!
In fact, this looks more like an airline Business
Class seat than anything I've ever seen before on a train.
Anyway, I'll be travelling in seat 7 tonight,
which wasn't a great choice, but we'll get on to that later.
For now, time to sit back, relax, and await our departure.
We leave a few minutes behind schedule, at 23:05.
As we depart, let's take a look at the route we'll be taking tonight.
The route consists of the entire length of the Bergensbanen, heading east through isolated
mountain towns only accessible by train, on the way to Norway's capital. The journey is
scheduled to take 7 hours and 27 minutes, to cover the 488 kilometres, or about 303 miles.
Oh, and by the way, this is one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world,
so don't make the rookie mistake of missing all the scenery. Make sure you subscribe,
as I'll have a video out showcasing this stunning railway in the future.
So, our journey starts running through the City of Bergen,
running alongside the frozen over bay of the city.
Just minutes after departure, we enter the new Ulriken Tunnel,
opened in 2020 to provide extra capacity and decrease journey times.
We'll take a look around the interior in just a second,
but before that, our first station stop of Arna.
This is a suburb of Bergen, and the train is by far the fastest way of getting here,
taking less than ten minutes, compared to half an hour or more by road, thanks to the fast tunnel.
Now on to the main event, which is of course the seat (or bed, depending on your point of view).
In the fully upright position, this seat is like a throne. It's a comfortable place to sit,
thanks to the great padding and ergonomics.
You can find a large armrest on each side,
with the one on the aisle side swinging out for a more comfortable position.
While the one by the window contains a folding table. There's also a cupholder on this table,
which slides forwards to allow access to the aisle even when you're using the table.
As for legroom, it's practically unlimited! No complaints here.
In front of the seat, you can even find a footrest to rest your feet on while sitting down.
Beside the seat, there's a small storage area. This is also where
you can find the complimentary bottle of water.
It's also a convenient place to store your phone,
as it's located right next to the power sockets, and easy to reach.
Every seat gets a single European style power socket...as
well as some USB sockets, both regular and USB-C variants being catered to.
Passengers in PlusNight are provided with a small night kit.
This features a soft blanket, or bed sheet. It's up to you how you use it.
You can also find an eye-mask, particularly useful during high summer, when the sun never sets.
There are some earplugs too, and lastly an inflatable pillow.
Now perhaps it's just me, but this thing really was a challenge to inflate.
After enough hard work and determination,
I did finally manage. But considering how small it is, it wasn't worth the effort.
Now on to the best part about this seat: the recline.
This is unlike any other train seat in Europe, in that it doesn't just recline a few degrees
to enhance comfort, but actually continues all the way to form a flat surface for sleeping on.
The entire process takes just 30 seconds, and is completely automatic.
The seat connects with the footrest in the footwell to provide a decently sized bed.
For those wondering, the bed is 203cm long,
and has a maximum width of 81cm. That's actually a surprisingly good size!
But before I make my bed and go to sleep, let's take a quick look at the toilets.
As you probably expected, there are no showers in the carriage...but
stick around to the end to find out where you can have a shower.
The PlusNight carriage has two toilets, one located at each end. These were in a
good condition throughout the journey, of course with the soap and water working perfectly fine.
There was also a hand dryer, however this wasn't working.
I said earlier on that choosing seat 7 was a bad idea, and here's why.
Whilst the carriage's lighting is dimmed to a low level during night time,
this seat isn't fitted with a window blind.
I can't imagine this would be very nice in summer, where this overnight train would run in daylight.
The provided eye-mask would certainly be useful in situations like that!
This seat also lacks overhead luggage storage,
meaning you have to rely on the fairly limited space beneath and beside the bed.
I'd recommend picking a seat closer to the centre of the carriage,
but otherwise, this is a great innovative product!
With my bed made up, of course featuring the inflatable pillow
I put so much effort into, I decided to get some rest.
Much like in the upright position, this was a fairly well padded place to spend the night.
But I was looking forward to the true test, this being how well I would actually sleep.
And as the train pulls out of Voss, at half-past midnight, I decided to get some rest.
I awoke on the approach to Asker, just a few minutes after six.
I slept fairly well on the journey, managing five and a half hours of sleep with only a few
interruptions, which isn't bad considering the relatively short length of the trip.
By this point, we're only a few minutes out of Central Oslo,
which is looking incredible after what was clearly a heavy night of snow.
So let's take a look at how much this journey costs. For this trip,
I bought a one-way PlusNight ticket at a cost of 929 Norwegian Krone.
I think this is a good value option, the price being half of what a regular sleeper
compartment would cost, and still allowing for a good night of sleep.
It's especially good when you remember that Norway is an expensive country to visit!
You have the option of purchasing a light breakfast on-board from the café carriage,
but personally I'd recommend this other option.
Simply head to the Thon Hotel Opera, just across the road from the station,
where you can purchase a filling buffet breakfast for 195 Norwegian Krone.
This is also where you can take a shower in the gym for an additional charge,
but be warned, they aren't very private!
We arrive into Oslo Sentralstasjon on-time at 06:27.
I'm actually feeling pretty refreshed and honestly impressed by the Vy PlusNight experience.
Whilst it will never be as good as a proper sleeper room for me,
if I was on a budget or the sleeper rooms were sold out, I wouldn't hesitate to book this again.
But as always, let me know what you think! Would you try a lie-flat seat
instead of a sleeper bed? Tell me your thoughts in the comments,
and to check out one of Europe's BEST sleeper rooms, then click up here now.