The Euronight Alpina connects Zurich via Bled and Ljubljana with Zagreb and indirectly with Belgrade on a daily basis. Travelling times are very pleasant, just like the whole trip itself. You can buy tickets for the train at Omio or the ÖBB.
If you want to travel in the night train from Zurich to Graz, you can also buy tickets using the link above. The trains run collectively and you will learn more about that and my trip in the night train in this blog.
Timetable of the EN415 night train from Zurich to Zagreb
The night train leaves Zurich at 20.40 and continues via Buchs and Feldkirch, which it reaches at 22.18. There, the car transport carrier towards Graz is being attached. The train splits during the night in Schwarzach St. Veit into compartments to Graz and Zagreb/Belgrade. In the morning it arrives in Bled at 07.30 and at 08.11 in Ljubljana. It continues on until it reaches Zagreb in the late morning at 10.43, which marks the terminal station for couchettes and sleeper compartments. Before that, seating carriages are attached, that carry on until Belgrade, which is reached at 17.37. This means, that passengers travelling to Belgrade need to change carriages until Zagreb. The NightJet from Zurich arrives in Graz at 07.00. Exact timetables can be found here. Normally they should only differ for several minutes.
Comfort classes
The night train from Zagreb offers all comfort classes, as well as the joint NightJet to Graz. This one even has deluxe sleeper compartments with a shower at your disposal.
Photos and further information for both connections can be found here:
Zurich – Belgrade EN415
Zurich – Graz Nightjet465
Belgrade – Zurich EN414
Graz – Zurich Nightjet464
... more bellow.
The comfort classes in the night trains consist as usual of seating carriages, couchettes and sleepers. The seating carriages are composed of 6 seats per compartment, just like during the day. Couchettes offer compartments with 3 bunks, one above the other, on each side, including sheets and linen. Sleepers are available with 1, 2 or 3 beds above each other and there is also the optional deluxe compartment with a shower and your own bathroom. There is a shower at the end of every sleeper carrier. All the couchettes also have a toilet and a wash room at the end of the carrier, but no shower.
Interrail in the EN Alpina
If you’re interrailing just like us, you will need an additional reservation. For a berth in the couchette you will have to pay an extra €34, the sleeper starts from €54 (depending on the category) and €14 for the seated carrier, which I wouldn’t recommend for an overnight journey. Reservations can be made at the counter of the station, even in Germany.
My trip from Zurich to Zagreb
My journey starts in Buchs, because I spent the night before in Vaduz, the main city of Liechtenstein. If you want to travel on from Liechtenstein, your best option is through Buchs to Switzerland or Feldkirch in Austria. Both places can be reached easily by bus. More interesting information about staying in this very pleasant principality of Liechtenstein can be found here.
The departure time from Buchs at 22.05 is still relatively comfortable, since you will have plenty of time to sleep in the next morning. At the station we have a last glance at the mountains of Liechtenstein while having a nice chat with an ÖBB-Sleeper attendant.
The train departs on time at 21.48. The Croatian carriages of the HZZP are all the way at the end. After putting our sheets on the beds in the now full sleeper compartment, we have a look around the Austrian part of the train and the sleeping car attendant shows us the different sleeper compartments. Thanks a lot for that by the way!
Afterwards, we hit the hay. Only few minutes have gone by and even I am completely passed out (which is very atypical for me in a night train). Despite the calm ride, I unfortunately wake up a couple of times so that my quality of sleep will only be rated as “mediocre” by the end. The other passengers seem to have slept way better though – It must be me! We get up at around 09.30 and have more than enough time to have a slow breakfast. For travellers in the sleeper compartment, it consists of a croissant and coffee or tea – which I recommend ordering directly from the conductor the night before, because the bistro was closed early. As interrailers, we also had our own provisions, of course. During the cosy breakfast in our dry compartment – it was raining cats and dogs outside – we started chatting to two girls from the U.S. The couple from Switzerland already disembarked in Ljubljana.
In Dobova at the border to Croatia we stop longer than planned, so I make the best of the extra time and explore the train once more, where I come across a lot of soccer fans. Tonight, Croatia will lose the World Cup final the against France with a score of 2:4 – but get to be second place!
Ultimately we arrive in Zagreb Glavni Kolodvori with a delay of 30 minutes – which resulted to 100% from Dobova. Not that it would matter, because the unpleasant things would follow a little later – our hostel reservation (“Hostel Paris”) has been cancelled over night, with a fully booked city. After all we found refuge in „Apartmani Dolcic“, even for a decent price of 100 Kuna. Not quite centrally located, but as it seems, it always has a spare room – a happy ending for us and a big thanks to Apartmani Dolcic.
Review of the EN415 night train from Zurich to Zagreb
The EN415 Alpina from Zurich to Zagreb and Belgrade offers very comfortable travelling times, pleasant compartments and a great connection to Zagreb with an arrival in the late morning hours. Hence, I would definitely recommend it. Tickets can be purchased via Omio or the Austrian railway company ÖBB.
And here a few impressions of Zagreb and the World Cup finals live in Croatia from the Jelacic Square.
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