Trivia; best hotels for rail views?

[Howardh]

Having booked the Jury's Inn in Brighton (not the one on the sea front) I have found out it overlooks the station and you get great views of the trains! When booking I didn't know that and might have asked for a station-facing room if I had?

So which hotels are reccomended for rail fans/enthusiasts to get views of the trains, in the UK or overseas?

NB a search revealed this thread which is closed; https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trivia-railway-station-hotels.123445/page-3 but i think was more concerned with (railway) hotels attached to stations themselves?

 

[Merthyr Imp]

The Novotel London Paddington gives a good view of the approach to Paddington station. You have to be on the west side of the building though. This photo was taken in 2013 from our 10th floor room:

 

[Philip Phlopp]

Jurys Inn in Glasgow has a splendid view of Glasgow Central.

 

[Dr Day]

Sleeperz, Clayton and Radisson Blu in Cardiff (seem to keep changing their names but that’s what they were last time I was there)

 

[Merthyr Imp]

If you were in the right room in the MacDonald Manchester Hotel you'd probably get a good view of Manchester Piccadilly. I had to take this photo of it FROM the station as our room in 2017 was way over to the left as you look at it and the station was a bit distant.

 

[Howardh]

The Novotel London Paddington gives a good view of the approach to Paddington station. You have to be on the west side of the building though. This photo was taken in 2013 from our 10th floor room:

View attachment 82559

Tube as well, that's a win!!

If you were in the right room in the MacDonald Manchester Hotel you'd probably get a good view of Manchester Piccadilly. I had to take this photo of it FROM the station as our room in 2017 was way over to the left as you look at it and the station was a bit distant.

View attachment 82560

Ask for a top floor room! I want to stay in that hotel, even if for just one night!

 

[YorksLad12]

Not attached to stations, but: Leeds Doubletree is just south of the station. Go up to the Sky Lounge and watch everything on the western approaches to your heart's content. A high floor at the Premier Inn might give you a view from the north of the station.

And the Novotel Southwark overlooks the lines west of it (around Waterloo and Waterloo East). There's a Premier Inn even closer.

 

[eoff]

It's a bit annoying I can't add to that other thread mentioned because some of the information about Edinburgh Waverley's hotel connection to the North British is wrong.

Anyway I can't vouch for the quality and scope of available views because of the rooms I got but the Greenwich Novotel is adjacent to the station track.
Also the iBIS Amsterdam Central straddles tracks of the central station.
The Balmoral hotel must have great views of Edinburgh Waverley.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Outside the UK, but the Hotel Bahnhof in Zermatt is worth a mention. The rooms at the back of the hotel have views of two stations. Right outside is the lower terminus of the Gornergratbahn, the unusual line electrified on 3-phase, whose summit is the second highest railway in Europe (after the Jungfraubahn). Across the road is the terminus of the Mattertal line, which connects Zermatt with the Rhone Valley, Simplon and Lotschberg routes at Brig. That station is very busy, not only with the service to Brig, but the busy park-and-ride service from the roadhead at Taesch, further down the valley (Zermatt itself is a car-free zone) and the Glacier Express.

Of course, if trains aren't your thing, you can have a room at the front of the hotel, but all there is to see there is the Matterhorn!

 

[peters]

Another outside the UK is Westin Harbour hotel in Toronto, the hotel is two tall towers and it's very close to union station.

 

[DarloRich]

The glasgow one mentioned above is a good bet.

Also the Royal York offers some views of the scarborogh and north approach to the station

 

[JamesT]

The Jurys Inn in Nottingham overlooks the station there if you have a room on the right side.

 

[AlbertBeale]

I've ended up in hotel rooms overlooking the railway in various places in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland over the years - but I can't off-hand remember the names of any of the actual hotels. I do know the one in Menton (last town on the south coast of France before the Italian border) was in the rue Albert 1er, and the one in Hamburg was in Holzdamm. The one in Brig, in Switzerland, was - I think - in Viktoriastr, with multiple track gauges to see out of the window!

And as a kid I stayed in a B&B in Folkestone, where (if I leanded out of the window when my parents weren't keeping an eye on me) I could see the steep tracks up from the harbour station, steam engines and all.

 

[Halish Railway]

The Premier Inn at Edinburgh Park gives some alright views if you get a room on the southern side.

 

[Romsey]

The best has to be Hotel Griscuna at Filisur in Switzerland overlooking the RhB station.

Webcam Filisur: Filisur Station

Filisur Station: Webcam in Filisur, Switzerland. Check yourself what's up in Filisur right now!

www.webcamgalore.com

At the other end of the scale Travel Lodge Eastleigh where some rooms have a view across Eastleigh station. Yes I have seem people with binoculars watching trains from the windows at almost any hour of the day or night!

 

[dk1]

Grand Hotel Torquay. I never request a sea view

 

[30907]

Premier Inn Portsmouth City Centre has some rooms overlooking the through platforms at Portsmouth and S.

 

[InOban]

And the Premier Inn in Oban overlooks the station, not that there's a lot of action to observe.
Jury's Inn on Jeffrey st in Edinburgh probably has a better view of the East end of Waverley than the Balmoral previously the North British).

 

[Edgeley]

The Kimpton Clocktower Hotel (formerly Principal, formerly Palace) in Manchester has a seminar room from which you can virtually touch trains leaving Oxford Road station for Piccadilly. I imagine some of the higher floor rooms in the same footprint are bedrooms.

 

[raetiamann]

The Swiss have quite a few hotels overlooking stations.
My favourite is the Grischuna, which stands on platform 1 at Bf Filisur.
Next is the Hotel Aramis on the southern end at Olten
Two others worthy of mention are the Hotel Ritterhof at the western end of Sargans platforms and Hotel Sedartis at the western end at Thalwil.
Right now I'd like to be at any one of those (in a Co-vid free world of course.)

 

[FQTV]

The Balmoral hotel must have great views of Edinburgh Waverley.

Like a lot of actual railway hotels at bigger stations, The Balmoral doesn’t have a great view of the trains owing to the scale of the canopies below.

So, for example, Castle View rooms:



Old Town View rooms:



The same goes for The Grand Central at Glasgow:

 

[MCSHF007]

Some rooms at Leeds Central Travelodge have great views of the eastern end of Leeds station - one floor at just above track level.

 

[Midnight Sun]

Bodo Youth Hostel in Norway is located in the station building, The main downside is that the three platform station only see two arrivals and departures per day plus the odd goods train. In the summer months you will see shunting action in the evening when the sleeper coaches are added to the daytime train to form the night sleeper and in the morning when the sleeper coaches are removed from the night train.

 

[Mag_seven]

Next is the Hotel Aramis on the southern end at Olten

I stayed there last year - room had a balcony so was able to sit out on it and watch train after train go by!

 

[Glenmutchkin]

The Best Western Plus Rio Grande in Durango has great views of the southern end yard of the Durango & Silverton in Colorado.

 

[daodao]

Bodo Youth Hostel in Norway is located in the station building, The main downside is that the three platform station only see two arrivals and departures per day plus the odd goods train. In the summer months you will see shunting action in the evening when the sleeper coaches are added to the daytime train to form the night sleeper and in the morning when the sleeper coaches are removed from the night train.

For curiosity, I searched with difficulty for train services to/from Bodo on the Internet. I couldn't find the timetables on the NSB (Norwegian State Railways) website, but eventually found that these rail services, along with all others in Norway to the north of Oslo beyond its metropolitan area, are now run by SJ (Swedish Railways). I suppose this is no different from Deutsche Bahn running many rail services in GB via its ownership of Arriva, but at least in GB the timetables can be found via the National Rail website.

There are actually additional shorter-distance trains from Bodo, mostly on weekdays only, as well as the 2 daily trains to Trondheim.

 

[bussikuski179]

Hotel Torni in Tampere, Finland has amazing views out onto the station and... well, it’s mostly a construction site right now, but usually it’s great.

 

[eoff]

Like a lot of actual railway hotels at bigger stations, The Balmoral doesn’t have a great view of the trains owing to the scale of the canopies below.

I know, you have hotels really close (Balmoral, Scotsman, Market St. (newly opened) then a bit further away (Jury's Inn, Old Waverley).
Great photos by the way, do you have any of the view looking E/SE from the Balmoral. I'm assuming you can just catch the entrance to the tunnels.

The best view of Waverley track must be from the Council HQ building, followed by St Andrew's House and then for the brave the Scott Monument from which I once took the following photo (probably using a 135mm lens).

 

[eastwestdivide]

In Germany, the Ibis at Heidelberg has half the rooms facing the busy station.

 

[FQTV]

I know, you have hotels really close (Balmoral, Scotsman, Market St. (newly opened) then a bit further away (Jury's Inn, Old Waverley).
Great photos by the way, do you have any of the view looking E/SE from the Balmoral. I'm assuming you can just catch the entrance to the tunnels.

The best view of Waverley track must be from the Council HQ building, followed by St Andrew's House and then for the brave the Scott Monument from which I once took the following photo (probably using a 135mm lens).

View attachment 82609

That’s a great photo from push-pull days!

I don’t have any from the Calton side of The Balmoral, I’m afraid; I’ve never stayed on that side.