Back on Track: 8 Destinations to Discover by Train in Europe This Autumn

In 2010, more than 200 overnight rail routes crossed Europe. By 2016, budget airlines had cut that number to fewer than 50. This year, for the first time in a generation, the trend has reversed properly. New sleeper services are launching, old routes are reopening and a continent that spent two decades quietly closing itself off to slow travel is opening back up. Here are eight places worth reaching this autumn without setting foot in an airport.

Berlin

European Sleeper has revived the Paris to Berlin night train, a route that seemed lost for good when French subsidy cuts forced the previous ÖBB Nightjet service to close in December 2025. Falling asleep on the Seine and waking up near the Spree is, again, something you can actually book. Berlin in autumn means gallery openings in Mitte, long dinners in Kreuzberg and a museum quarter that never asks you to queue in the rain the way it does in July.