Today I'm going to be taking you on Europe's BEST overnight train, from Vienna in Austria
all the way to Milan in Italy. For this amazing 12 hour trip, I'll be riding in a
PRIVATE Deluxe suite with shower, as we travel by night between two of Europe's most famous cities.
I'll even show you the included goodies and top-rated breakfast service. So join me,
as I show you what it's like on-board Europe's greatest sleeper train.
Hello and welcome back to another video. Today I'm at Vienna main station (or Wien Hauptbahnhof),
and I'm going to be travelling with the Austrian Railways ÖBB Nightjet train all
the way down to Milan Porta Garibaldi in Italy. For this journey, I've booked out a deluxe room,
so I'm really looking forward to getting the full experience on-board Nightjet. Let's go!
Good evening from the modern main station here in Austria's capital, Vienna.
This station first opened in 2012, to replace multiple older stations in the city,
and is everything you could possibly want out of a major railway hub.
Before we even go inside, you'll notice the station is very well connected to
the city's local transport service, including frequent commuter trains through the centre.
Anyway, let's head inside this major station.
Tucked away inside the station's main entrance, look out for the Markuslöwe. This is the symbol
of Venice, Italy, which served to mark the introduction of direct trains from
Vienna to Venice, over many of the same tracks we'll be travelling on tonight.
Wien Hauptbahnhof has a massive selection of shops and eateries,
as well as a well-sized ticket office of course.
These shops can be found beneath the tracks on two seperate levels,
while most food options are found in the main concourse area.
This also continues downstairs, where you can find a few popular chains.
The station is very colourful too. Okay, whilst most of the building is grey and white,
there's an endless variety of trains from different countries and companies on display.
You can even see a daily train all the way to Kyiv in Ukraine, taking 24 hours. What a journey!
I count a total of thirteen operators at this station, leave a comment if you can name them all.
Time to find my ride for tonight on the departure board. This station is very busy,
so it might not show up until relatively close to departure.
My train today will be Nightjet 233 to Rome and Milan.
It's worth mentioning that passengers with tickets in the sleeper car normally
get access to the lounge, but this was unavailable at the time of recording.
So instead, I decided to head over to platform 8 and await my train.
A beautiful sunset was on offer this March evening,
and I just love how it beams right through the centre of the station's platform area.
Around half an hour before departure, the train reverses in from Matzleinsdorf depot.
The train is formed of nine carriages today. Of these, only four will actually reach Milan.
The remaining five will be split off at Villach in southern Austria, where they
will then head to Rome. This will happen in the middle of the night, so you won't even notice.
I'm travelling in the sleeping car today,
but first let's have a look around the rest of the accommodation on offer.
The locomotive for the first section of the trip will be one of these powerful
'Taurus' electric locomotives. This is just one of nearly 400 of this type built for ÖBB,
which can be found in service all over Austria and abroad.
As for on-board accommodation, first up is the seating carriage, which is the cheapest way to
travel on the Nightjet. Now I've long believed that travelling in a seat overnight is a bit of
a false economy - sure you save money, but it also costs you the next day while you try to recover.
Instead I'd recommend getting a couchette, where you'll share a
lockable compartment with a few fellow travellers.
I've done this a few times before, and it's a perfectly comfortable way to travel.
But today I've reserved one of the private sleeper compartments, the most luxurious way to travel.
So let's get on-board and find my room for tonight!
These carriages have twelve rooms, each sleeping up to three adults.
I'll be travelling in compartment ten, which is one of the deluxe suites. These are generally
the same as a regular room, but with one BIG difference that we'll check out later tonight.
While I sit and wait for departure into the sunset, let's take a look at today's route.
Today we'll be heading south from Vienna, eventually running along the
world famous Semmeringbahn, before crossing through the Alps into Italy. From here,
we'll run west across the top of the country into Milan. The journey is scheduled to take
twelve hours and 47 minutes, to cover 864 kilometres, or about 537 miles.
We leave Wien Hauptbahnhof on-time, at 19:23.
Our epic journey through the night begins, as we head into the Viennese sunset,
leaving behind the bright lights of this modern transport hub.
I've said this before, but I love the contrast on display here. The classic
buildings of Vienna really stand out compared to the recently built railway infrastructure.
Only a few minutes after setting off, we come to a halt at our first station, this is Wien Meidling.
The station here served as one of the main stations in the capital city,
whilst construction works took place at the present Wien Hauptbahnhof. Nowadays, the station
remains as one of the capital's busiest hubs, and sees most trains on the route make a stop.
After departure from Wien Meidling,
all passengers are welcomed on-board by the automated announcement system.
[Dear Passengers, a very warm welcome to your Nightjet service to Milan via Klagenfurt
and Verona!]
But don't worry, this doesn't play all through the night.
Anyway, as it's already getting dark, let's take this time to look around the room.
The room is equipped with two locking mechanisms,
which provide extra security and peace of mind during the night.
Your personal key can be found above the door handle when you enter the room.
Make sure you don't lose this though, as it's needed whenever you want to get back in.
These deluxe rooms are actually fairly spacious as far as sleeper trains go.
You'll find plenty of room for luggage up above the wall and corridor,
while your heaviest items can remain on the floor.
By day, each compartment is set up in seating mode. This features three seats,
one for each bed in the room.
This offers a comfortable way to travel,
but of course this isn't the main focus of a sleeper train - we'll get to that later.
When you board the train, a complimentary bottle of Söhnlein sparkling wine will be
waiting for you on the table, alongside a bottle of water and a few other goodies.
The goodybag features plenty of useful accessories for a good night of travel.
This includes some disposable slippers.
As well as a hand towel.
There's another bottle of water, resulting in a total of two per passenger.
And a set of ear plugs, one for each ear.
Lastly, there's a couple of small healthy snacks.
After around half an hour of travel, we arrive at Wiener Neustadt.
Don't be confused by the name though, we're not still in the city of Vienna. Wiener Neustadt
actually translates as 'new town in the region of Vienna', and is even Austria's 11th largest city.
Now let's take a look at the on-board food.
Whilst you get a few limited snacks included,
anything more substantial is available at an additional charge.
There's a good selection on offer here,
and to be honest the prices are fairly reasonable - for on a train at least.
I decided to get a sandwich and a drink, for the promotional price of €5.90.
Now I really like how they do breakfast on the Nightjet. You simply fill in the
breakfast card after boarding, and it's brought to your room in the morning.
Six items are included with your ticket from
this expansive list of typical continental breakfast items.
There are also two special options for dietary needs.
Anyway, as we leave Bruck an der Mur at around half-past nine,
I think it's time to get ready for bed.
The carriage attendant will help you to convert the room into sleeping mode,
by way of folding down the seats to make way for the bunks.
The beds on the Nightjet are comfortable,
with a well padded and reasonably sized mattress making for a good night of sleep.
Full bedding is of course provided, with a pleasant duvet and a soft comfy pillow.
The higher bunks come with a net to prevent you from accidentally rolling out of bed in
the middle of the night. Definitely a good feature, as it's quite high up!
You'll find the lighting control above the carriage door, one for the room's main light,
as well as one for the dim night light.
By the light controls, you'll also find the individual temperature control for the room.
You'll also see a volume control for the on-board announcements,
but I find these almost NEVER work on trains.
If you need more light during the night, then each bed has an individual reading light.
These also provide a really cosy atmosphere, which is of course
helped by the relaxing ambient noise of the train working its way south.
One aspect I found disappointing on the Nightjet is the provision of power sockets.
Just one of these European style sockets can be found in the room, right next to the door.
Now on to what really makes these Deluxe rooms special. They each contain a private bathroom
with shower. We'll have a proper look at this in the morning, but it is worth noting that there's
another power socket in here. It's intended for razors, but it worked fine for charging my phone.
This station is Knittelfeld, and at this point I think it's time to hop into bed.
I awoke briefly in the Italian city of Padova, before finally waking up
properly at around 6am, with about 8 hours of decent sleep behind me.
We're passing through Rovato station now,
one of the commuter stations here in the region of Lombardia.
By my estimates, this puts us at around one hour away from Milan. Looking north in the morning,
you can get views of the Alps, the very same mountain range that we spent the night crossing.
Anyway, let's take a look at that shower before breakfast!
As I mentioned last night, there's a power socket in here that you can use to power a razor.
There's also this dial, which didn't seem to do anything.
Hand soap, as well as shampoo and body wash are provided and kept on a shelf.
I've not seen this before, but it's quite clever.
The sink in here doesn't actually have a tap, instead you just use the shower head to get water.
The shower took a bit of time to get going, but once it did,
I found this to be highly refreshing, with good pressure and temperature.
Unlike some other night trains, towels are provided, and found on a rack on the door.
Lastly, there's a modern and clean vaccuum toilet in here too.
If you're travelling in one of the standard compartments without an en-suite,
then you can still find a communal shower and toilet facility at one end of the carriage.
As we pass through the station of Treviglio, breakfast is served!
I chose a cup of hot chocolate, orange juice,
two bread rolls, butter, cheese, and a yoghurt. A good start to the day!
We're now in the City of Milan, running a few minutes early.
Due to this, we wait at a commuter station for about 20 minutes,
while our platform is freed up at Milano Porta Garibaldi station.
So now on to how much this trip cost. For this trip, I booked a
Double Deluxe room (as I was travelling with someone else), at a cost of €254.80.
By no means is this the cheapest way to travel between these two cities,
but for value I think you'll struggle to go wrong here. This is accommodation in a prviate room,
as well as a twelve hour train journey for two, and considering the high standards of
comfort and service on-board, this was a great experience on Nightjet.
For overall quality, I think this is Europe's best sleeper train, excluding luxury private
tours of course, and I highly recommend you give it a go should you have a chance.
Our arrival into Milan is towards the end of rush hour,
so there's plenty of regular commuter traffic to fit in between.
The train terminates in Milano Porta Garibaldi,
which is the city's main station for commuter traffic and second busiest overall.
We end up arriving just four minutes late, at 08:14.
So that was my experience on Nightjet, Europe's best sleeper train.
As always, let me know what you thought of the Nightjet service in the comments section,
and for a special look at the NEW upgraded interior of Nightjet, then click up here now.