Case Study: UK to Selva Val Gardena by train

In March 2025, Iain travelled by train from the UK to Selva Val Gardena in the Dolomites in Italy.

Brighton-London-Brussels

I live in Brighton, so my journey started at 11:02 on a direct train to London St Pancras, arriving at 12:20 for a 13:01 Eurostar.

It’s just my opinion, but I’m never going to turn up at St Pancras 90 minutes before my train as Eurostar recommend. All that happens is that you are trapped in a relatively small departure lounge, with relatively high prices for longer than you need to be.

It’s my experience that arriving 40 minutes or so before departure is ample as it typically takes 5-10 minutes to get from check in to the departure hall. This was again this case and I had plenty of time to buy a cup of tea and catch up on some emails before boarding.

Brighton to London

The European Sleeper: Brussels to Venice

I arrived in Brussels at 16:06, which left me plenty of time to connect to the European Sleeper overnight service departing at 17:16. This service started in January 2025 and goes from Brussels, via the Netherlands, Germany and Austria into Italy (finishing in Venice).

It’s just a short walk from the Eurostar terminal to the departure platform for the European Sleeper, so I had enough time to visit the supermarket within the station to stock up on supplies. I highly recommend this as there are no significant stops along the way and it’s a long journey!

The European Sleeper is a new service for winter 24/25, which only operated with six rotations. The crowd-funded company are hoping to add more dates to their timetable for 2025/26. You can watch Iain’s interview with co-founder Chris Engelsman here.

European Sleeper arrives in Brussels

What are the couchettes like? 

The cheapest option on the European Sleeper is a seat-only, but that is a VERY long journey without being able to lie down, so I booked a place in a six-person couchettes.

If you’ve never seen a couchette before, it looks like a regular compartment of two banks of three facing each other during the day, but which converts to triple bunk beds for the evening.

it’s important to mention that the European Sleeper carriages are not new. The only main significance of that is there is no wi-fi and the electric sockets in the cabin did not work. However, the phone signal was good throughout the journey (way better than the useless reception you get on Eurostar) and you could charge your phone/laptop in the sockets in the aisle.

All passengers are given a bottle of water, pillow, blanket and sleeping sheet.

European Sleeper couchette

Upgrade to a sleeper (or 5 berth couchette)

There is an option to pay more and sleep in a 5-berth couchette. These are slightly newer, but in my four journeys so far on the European Sleeper so far, I have shared with three to five people in my 6-berth, so I’m not sure of the value.

If you prefer more privacy, they upgrade to a sleeper. These accommodate up to three people and give you more space to yourself, including your own washbasin (but no toilet).

sleeper compartment

Take supplies (even if there is a dining car)

When I travelled on the inaugural European Sleeper service, the train was equipped with a dining car, but it had gone to ‘be repaired’ on this service, which was disappointing.

It was possible to buy snacks and drinks from the stewarts (one per three carriages), but I would recommend taking plenty of food and drink with you. You can pre-book breakfast and have it delivered to your couchette in the morning.

European Sleeper dining car

Sense of community

The European Sleeper has a real sense of community on board. It’s multi-national, with travellers mainly from the UK, Brussels and Belgium, but I met Italians, Americans, Germans and Chinese on board as well. Most were travelling to Paris, but quite a few of us were off skiing, mainly to the Dolomites, but also to Austria (the train stops in Worgl and Innsbruck en route).

There were some spectacular views over the lowlands of Belgium and the Netherlands before the bunks came down and we settled in for the night. Our first stop in the morning was Munich at around 07:00, where a few people got and off.

No need to change trains at Innsbruck 

You may have heard that European Sleeper had issues on their first few services which meant that passengers had to change trains in Innsbruck. While this wasn’t an issue to me, I’m delighted to report that they have now secured the relevant permissions to continue the same European Sleeper train into Italy.

The locomotive does still need to be changed at every border. I don’t know the exact reason for this, whether it’s due to legalities or the electric system in each country, but it means you’re often standing still for long periods.

At Brenner, our connecting locomotive was delayed and that put us 40 minutes behind schedule, but that didn’t turn out to be significant. Passengers excited to see some snow simply started some impromptu snowball games while we waited…

Ponte Gardena to Val Gardena

We pulled in to Ponte Gardena at around 12:50 – about forty minutes later than our scheduled arrival at 12:11.

Ponte Gardena station

Free bus service to Selva Val Gardena

I was very kindly picked up by a taxi arranged by the tourist office to take me on the 30-minute journey to Selva Val Gardena.

However, I later discovered that there is a free bus service from Ponte Gardena to Selva Val Gardena, which has been introduced by the area to encourage more people to travel by train.

The bus stop is about 50 metres to the right of the station as you arrive and I have included a copy of the timetable for 2024/25 below:

How much did my journey cost?

Fares cost from €189 each way for a place in a couchette, or from €799 if you want to book a whole couchette for a group of six.  The hardy can book a seat-only from €89. My return Eurostar to Brussels was £99.

Possibly you could fly for less, but make sure you factor in the cost of luggage and getting from Innsbruck/Bolzano/Venice to Val Gardena. Also bear in mind that you have two nights’ accommodation included in your travel, plus you can ski on the final day (we left Val Gardena at 15:45 and our hotel allowed us to leave our bags during the day while we skied).

Evidently the carbon cost is hugely reduced if you travel by train, but more importantly the joy of travelling is significantly higher!