What's the best first class service in Europe?

[JP]

As many of you, I like the occasional railway journey, and every now and then I treat myself to first class. But right now I don't have a specific destination in mind, I'd just like to try some of the best first class services in Europe. So in your opinion, what is it? It might even be in the UK.

Criteria: it must be a standard scheduled service, nothing like the Orient Express or other special services.

In the UK VTEC is probably the best I've used. I've never tried the Pullman service on GWR but it seems that might beat it.

In Europe, DSB and SJ first class isn't much better than standard. While on Italo there's a good difference as you go up the cabins. I don't think I've tried others yet.

 

[cactustwirly]

As many of you, I like the occasional railway journey, and every now and then I treat myself to first class. But right now I don't have a specific destination in mind, I'd just like to try some of the best first class services in Europe. So in your opinion, what is it? It might even be in the UK.

Criteria: it must be a standard scheduled service, nothing like the Orient Express or other special services.

In the UK VTEC is probably the best I've used. I've never tried the Pullman service on GWR but it seems that might beat it.

In Europe, DSB and SJ first class isn't much better than standard. While on Italo there's a good difference as you go up the cabins. I don't think I've tried others yet.

It depends on what you call 'service'.
In terms of ambience/seats the Austrian/Czech Railjet business class is one of the best.
However the UK is quite unique in having 'freebies', in Europe its uncommon to have this, and as such the fares are a bit lower.

In terms of journey suggestions, I suggest you take a Railjet across Austria, for the best stock and by far the best scenery.

 

[317666]

I've always found first class on DB's ICEs very good - large reclining leather seats, excellent legroom, and you can order food from the restaurant car to be served on proper china at your seat (and beer on tap served in a glass!). No freebies apart from newspapers and a little packet of sweets though - on the other hand, you can often find 'Sparpreis' (advance purchase, booked train only) first class tickets for only €20 more than second class.

As far as a journey suggestion goes however, it has to be a first class compartment on an old-fashioned IC from Cologne to Mainz down the Rhine Valley! I've found it varies on the ICs whether you get served at your seat or have to go up to the buffet yourself, but the refurbished coaches aren't far off of ICEs comfort-wise - arguably better if you get a compartment, which most ICEs apart from the 1s are lacking.

 

[Bletchleyite]

In terms of journey suggestions, I suggest you take a Railjet across Austria, for the best stock and by far the best scenery.

But only in business class. The regular first class seating has air pressure controlled recliners and they don't work properly - the seats flop back when you lean back - an awful design feature that almost made me self-downgrade to 2nd (where you will find the good old Grammer IC3000).

 

[30907]

It depends on what you call 'service'.
In terms of ambience/seats the Austrian/Czech Railjet business class is one of the best.
However the UK is quite unique in having 'freebies', in Europe its uncommon to have this, and as such the fares are a bit lower.

In terms of journey suggestions, I suggest you take a Railjet across Austria, for the best stock and by far the best scenery.

The lounges at large DB and OeBB stations offer drinks and decent snacks and are worth paying a bit extra for (only a few DB ones run to a separate First Class bit though, these have a superior offer), but you need to timetable that in!
The SBB Panoramic cars which operate on EC Transalpin Zurich-Graz are definitely worth it (they are also on Zurich-Munich and the 2 Zurich-Rhine Valley-Hamburg ECs).

 

[Puppetfinger]

Swedish (SJ) first class from Gothenburg to Stockholm was very good, complimentary hot meal, alcohol and soft drinks, and very good service from the on-board staff. Seating was similar to the previous GWR first class iteration.

 

[James James]

Swedish (SJ) first class from Gothenburg to Stockholm was very good, complimentary hot meal, alcohol and soft drinks, and very good service from the on-board staff. Seating was similar to the previous GWR first class iteration.

I took an X2000 from Gothenburg to Copenhagen, and it was decent. The breakfast was however cold and unexciting. Maybe it's route or time of day dependent what you get?

I must concur on the SBB panorama being quite a unique experience - I don't believe there's any special "service" (although an increasing number of SBB trains now have at-seat dining service available, with the normal restaurant menu, at least within the country). In addition to the routes mentioned above, they occasionally appear on random domestic conventionally hauled services (there aren't many of those, most trains are push-pull or multiple units after all).

I've seen photos of some fancy first class in certain Italian high speed trains, but I've got no idea which ones.

 

[Bigchris]

I have to agree regarding 1st class on DB ICE services, I do enjoy a long journey sat back in those huge seats. Out of interest, this week I booked a week trip around Germany for the week after next, with all the journeys in 1st class. There's some bargains to be had if you play around with the intermediate stops option on the DB app, Cologne-Oberhausen-Munster-Bremen 1st class was €34.90 and Bremen-Hamburg-Hannover the next day was €39.90. And obviously this includes reserved seats and you can choose where you sit when you book it.

 

[Jamesrob637]

I have to agree regarding 1st class on DB ICE services, I do enjoy a long journey sat back in those huge seats. Out of interest, this week I booked a week trip around Germany for the week after next, with all the journeys in 1st class. There's some bargains to be had if you play around with the intermediate stops option on the DB app, Cologne-Oberhausen-Munster-Bremen 1st class was €34.90 and Bremen-Hamburg-Hannover the next day was €39.90. And obviously this includes reserved seats and you can choose where you sit when you book it.

I've seen said fare Hamburg to Frankfurt (Flughafen) in September. Would I get a lounge access in Hamburg? Bitburger at the ready

 

[Bigchris]

Not 100% sure about the lounge access I'm afraid, I prefer to spend as much time as possible out photographing so I probably don't get the full value of the ticket. Last time I was over there I did Bremen-Hamburg-Wurzburg and I'm sure if I recall correctly that I got that for €39 too. If you plan intermediate stops into your journey (I like to stop off on route) you can get all manner of different prices depending on the times you put in to the booking app. I think the most expensive variation for the Cologne-Bremen journey was almost €100!

 

[Jamesrob637]

Not 100% sure about the lounge access I'm afraid, I prefer to spend as much time as possible out photographing so I probably don't get the full value of the ticket. Last time I was over there I did Bremen-Hamburg-Wurzburg and I'm sure if I recall correctly that I got that for €39 too. If you plan intermediate stops into your journey (I like to stop off on route) you can get all manner of different prices depending on the times you put in to the booking app. I think the most expensive variation for the Cologne-Bremen journey was almost €100!

Thanks. No it's part of an itinerary to Madrid involving a LATAM Dreamliner Frankfurt-Madrid (but that bit is probably best left to the aviation thread). In any case I hope it'll be an ICE1 as they've not got as long left in them

 

[Tunnel Bore]

On Southern you get an antimacassar on your seat ... well a seat at all is a bonus on Southern, in fact, a train at all is a bonus on GTR.

 

[squizzler]

Booking agent Loco2 recently ranked the rail operators for various different categories of traveller in a recent publication "Great Train Comparison". In terms of "Business Traveller" the top three were Trenitalia, .italio. and OBB.

 

[30907]

I've seen said fare Hamburg to Frankfurt (Flughafen) in September. Would I get a lounge access in Hamburg? Bitburger at the ready

Hamburg is an oddity, because the first class lounge is only for full-fare or Bahn Comfort Card travellers (apparently for space reasons) so you'd only get the ordinary lounge offer there.
Frankfurt Hbf has the full offer, and, assuming you build in a margin for delays I'd break the journey there and continue by regional train for flexibility (you might prefer the extra time at the airport, though).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I travelled Belgrade-Vienna this week in a MAV 1st class coach (EC344 Avala, a train of just 3 coaches for the whole run).
I had a compartment to myself as far as Budapest, and the aircon worked which was the crucial facility.
But the notional wifi and power sockets didn't. No hint of any extras, of course.

While I'm here, some notes on the journey.
As a senior, and therefore with "free" (2nd class) travel in Hungary, I thought I would be clever with the ticketing.
I bought the Kelebia-Budapest-Gyor sector as a domestic e-ticket (€6), and a regular Gyor-Vienna Sparpreis ticket (€19) online from MAV.
The booking engine was quite happy to book me on the EC service, with appropriate supplements.
That left the Belgrade-Kelebia section, which I bought over the counter at Belgrade for €19.
So €44 for the whole trip rather than the €105 through 1st class fare quoted by Serbian Railways if I'd picked this up in Belgrade.

No problem until Subotica, where MAV staff took over the train.
I was told my ticket combination was not valid for an international journey (though perfectly valid individually), and a new ticket of €52 was needed.
But then a "Plan B" was mentioned. If I paid €20 cash, no questions asked, and no new ticket needed.
I just had to re-present the domestic MAV ticket and not the cross-border ones, to the same conductor in Hungary!
So at Kelebia the same conductor scanned my ticket without batting an eyelid. Lots of smiles all round.
I think the term for this is backsheesh!
Loads of Hungarian police and customs at Kelebia, plenty of guns on display, and the customs guys had ladders and torches for searching the coach roof spaces.
It felt just like the Iron Curtain border between East and West Germany, circa 1980.

Belgrade station seemed on it's last legs by the way.
Completely unkempt, grass growing right into the station, seemingly a 5km/h speed limit for a long way out.
Can't be long before the railway is evicted to Beograd Centar, a new station (with new bridge over the Sava) but a long way from the city centre.
The new bridge over the Danube in Novi Sad was in use.
A new route is under construction from Stara Pazova (where the Zagreb/Novi Sad lines diverge) to Novi Sad, with double track and new tunnels.
But the general standard of infrastructure in Serbia is very poor, with long stretches of 60-70km/h running.

 

[JonasB]

I took an X2000 from Gothenburg to Copenhagen, and it was decent. The breakfast was however cold and unexciting. Maybe it's route or time of day dependent what you get?

Hot breakfast isn't really a thing in Scandinavia, apart from tea and coffee. But I agree that it is not very exciting.

 

[dutchflyer]

@LNW-GT; the conductor WAS right and this often surprises foreigners caught out. but it really is all to the rules. But of course the conductors working that line/trains also know very well about this fenomenon. So you often see them named as ''MAVia''.
The FREE senior travel is ONLY for people from the EU (so count of the time till brexit, you Brits) for purely domestic trips, ONLY in 2nd cl. and as such only on the basics all-stops szemely trains-the supplmts. for IC or gyors (fast) trains have to be paid for, same for ditto buses/coaches.
In SK/ZSR they are nicer and the free senior travel there is accepted as part-payment till last/from 1st actual trainstop, normal fares apply for the onward trip to foreignersland.

 

[Iskra]

Executive class on a Trenitalia Frecciarossa. Unrivalled seats, ridiculous legroom, each coach has a board room, there is a complimentary drinks trolley service and meals served on some services. Fares can be quite cheap if you book in advance too.

Also I enjoyed my trip in 1st on an SJ Pendletag and the sleeper, although Swedish on train catering isn’t my cup of tea.

 

[BahrainLad]

Surprised nobody has mentioned the AVE. Preferente on certain Madrid-Barcelona services gets you a hot meal similar to what you might have expected from a European airline’s business class a decade or so ago, big leather seats, free drinks including sparkling wine, lounge access and so on...

 

[paolo]

Executive class on a Trenitalia Frecciarossa. Unrivalled seats, ridiculous legroom, each coach has a board room, there is a complimentary drinks trolley service and meals served on some services. Fares can be quite cheap if you book in advance.

Yep. I did Venice to Milan for £50. For a 2.5 hour journey on a fast modern train... massively cheaper than the UK.

If I had one criticism... the seats are so spacious, with armrests etc, one’s window seat is actually a short distance from the window. I reckon the 1st class seats were slightly nicer in that regard.

The boardroom is impressive. Even has HDMI ports so you can do a presentation on the big screen.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Surprised nobody has mentioned the AVE. Preferente on certain Madrid-Barcelona services gets you a hot meal similar to what you might have expected from a European airline’s business class a decade or so ago, big leather seats, free drinks including sparkling wine, lounge access and so on...

Yes, I was going to mention them, they do seem to have a good repuation for on board 1st class service.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Hamburg is an oddity, because the first class lounge is only for full-fare or Bahn Comfort Card travellers (apparently for space reasons) so you'd only get the ordinary lounge offer there.
Frankfurt Hbf has the full offer, and, assuming you build in a margin for delays I'd break the journey there and continue by regional train for flexibility (you might prefer the extra time at the airport, though).

I probably will break my journey in Frankfurt Hbf; many thanks for the tip!

 

[duesselmartin]

Often cheap first class fare mean people use it who would otherwise not, making it noisy, difficult to work taking the advantage of the extra fare.

 

[MarcVD]

In Germany and Austria, many trains have a restaurant car. Restaurant car attendants will frequently visit the first class cars to ask travelers whether they want to order something to eat or drink, and then will bring it to the passenger's seat. Very neat, because this way you don't need to leave your luggage unattended...

 

[jon0844]

On Southern you get an antimacassar on your seat ... well a seat at all is a bonus on Southern, in fact, a train at all is a bonus on GTR.

"We regret to inform passengers that first class is not in operation on the next service. Unfortunately, neither is standard class."

 

[eastwestdivide]

The Austrian Railjets offer online ordering of food that is then brought to your seat. Connect to their wifi, go to the link mentioned in the (paper) menu, choose from the (electronic) menu, and a little while later, your meal arrives. It worked one time out of two for me a couple of weeks ago. The other time it didn't get "confirmed" according to the restaurant car guy. Whatever that means - it was confirmed on my phone.