As eco-friendly travel becomes more popular, new train routes across Europe were announced in December. From day trains to night trains, here are the cities you can easily explore in 2023 according to The Guardian.
⋙ Night train to start in May between Brussels and Berlin
Discover several European cities by train via Stuttgart
Formerly served by theOrient-Express, the German city of Stuttgart has re-launched a daily night train departing at 20:29. It carries passengers in sleeping cars to Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Ljubljana and Zagreb.
Even better, during the 2022 Christmas and 2023 Easter holidays, the train will continue to Rijeka, Croatia, for a total journey time of 15 hours. The train will then run between the two cities from mid-May to early October 2023.
Since Stuttgart is within easy reach of cities such as Paris, Brussels and London, there's no excuse to take the train and embark on a sumptuous journey around the Adriatic this summer, exploring the hills of Istria or the Gulf of Kvarner, known for its many islands.
Travelling from Oslo to Stockholm in the blink of an eye
The train service between Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm, Sweden, already existed, but it has been significantly improved in recent weeks, reports the Guardian. "The number of direct trains has been increased to five a day and comfortable, modern SJ3000 trains have made their debut on the rails," she says.
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Another important point is that travel time has been reduced, with the fastest trains running from Oslo to Stockholm in just over five hours. All this for just over thirty euros!
Munich to Cinque Terre by night train
Austria's national rail operator, ÖBB, announced in November that the Munich Nightjet will continue beyond Genoa, Italy, as originally announced: it now serves the Cinque Terre, to its final destination, La Spezia.
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After a late-afternoon dinner in Munich, passengers can board a comfortable overnight train from the beginning of December, and wake up the next morning in the village of their choice - in Rapallo at 10.14am, or in Levanto at 10.46am, for example.
From the vineyards of Bordeaux to the mountains of the Black Forest in Germany
While all eyes were on the SNCF's traffic forecasts for the Christmas and New Year holidays in December 2022, the French rail group has quietly announced the launch of a weekly service from Freiburg, Germany, to Bordeaux.
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In less than 8 hours, it will therefore be possible to reach the Black Forest region of Germany from the capital of the flute... not without stopping in Freiburg to observe, among other things, its Gothic cathedral Notre-Dame and its impressive 116-metre high spire.
Good news for thrill-seekers in Bordeaux, who know that this region is home to Europa-Park, one of the most visited theme parks in Europe. The park now has its own station, Ringsheim/Europa-Park, accessible by a weekly train from Bordeaux, but also by a direct TGV from Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy, where Disneyland Paris is located.
So you can kill two birds with one stone and discover Europe's two main theme parks in one trip, with a single ticket from Freiburg or Ringsheim to Bordeaux from €59.
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Travelling to Lithuania by train from Poland
Despite the fact that Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city and the Baltic States' most important river port, was named European Capital of Culture 2022, European authorities were alerted last year to the fact that the country was particularly poorly served by train from border countries.
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Action, reaction: from 1 July, the Polish and Lithuanian authorities jointly introduced a twice-weekly local service between Białystok and Kaunas. This was subsequently expanded, and Intercity trains now provide daily travel between Lithuania and Krakow or Warsaw.
For your information, a single ticket for the nine-hour journey from Warsaw to Vilnius (or vice versa) costs from 120 złoty - about €25.
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Which train lines will be discontinued in Europe in 2023?
On the other hand, if you were planning to travel by train between Dresden and Vienna, Marseille and Madrid or Lyon and Barcelona, bad news: these routes have been discontinued at the end of 2022.
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