A peek inside Europe’s luxury new sleeper bus

Night buses probably bring to mind “images of cramped seats and constant jolting”, said Time Out. But Twiliner’s new offering is far more “bougie”.

The Swiss operator has launched two overnight routes – Zurich-Basel-Luxembourg-Brussels-Rotterdam-Amsterdam and Zurich-Girona-Barcelona – and is already planning more stops across Europe. Each bus is kitted out with 21 reclining seats that double as beds, plenty of USB ports, and a sizable toilet and changing room. Tickets don’t come cheap, though, with prices starting at around £140 for each journey.

While sleeper buses are popular in Asia and South America, they have been “less successful” in Europe, said Rhiannon Batten in The Guardian. Twiliner is keen to change this by offering a service that is both “comfortable and sustainable”. The buses run mostly on hydrotreated vegetable oil fuel (also known as renewable diesel), and the company claims its journeys emit less than 10% of the carbon of a similar distance flight.

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Aside from the “generous luggage allowance” and “efficiency” of travelling overnight, one of the biggest draws is the “comfort factor”. The “no-children-under-five” policy and “strict guidelines” on noise make for “calm travelling”: “by 10pm I’m fast asleep”. “There’s a magic to falling asleep in one country and waking in another.” Driving into Zurich on a chilly winter morning, “the city is streaked with silver and gold as it begins to stir”.

I tried out the service as part of a “no-fly London–Amsterdam–Basel cultural mini break”, said Rachel Ifans in The i Paper. Having arrived in Amsterdam via Eurostar, I boarded the bus for the 11-hour journey to Basel. It offered a “similar sleeping experience to business class on a long-haul flight – albeit with a bumpier ride”.

The night “whizzed by”, as I relaxed with a cup of peppermint tea and watched a film on my laptop “as the miles clicked by”. Arriving in Basel at 6.45am, I set off into the “unfamiliar city” in the sun, stopping off to explore the Kunstmuseum and traditional Christmas market in Cathedral Square. As the “backbone” of my trip, the Twiliner offered a “fuss-free, efficient journey – but I was looking forward to a quiet night in a hotel bed, with considerably fewer bumps in the night.”