By Christine Swan

I cannot quite recall how my son and I settled on the idea of visiting beautiful Bavaria in the October half term. Sadly, due to the teaching term, it is not possible to visit Oktoberfest which actually happens in September. I am a sleeper train enthusiast but my son could only be described as a novice. I booked the journeys from home to London, London to Brussels, Brussels to Cologne and finally from Cologne to Munich. The plan was to complete the journey to Cologne with sufficient time to spend some time there, before catching the night train. We did stop in London overnight to give us an early start to the European mainland. As is our family tradition, and I even do this when travelling solo, we visited the champagne bar for a nightcap. It was a chilly evening. I was having fun but my travelling companion was exhausted after a long working week.

Goodnight St Pancras

An early morning train to Brussels whisked us across the Kent countryside and under the Channel. After a quick stop at Lille, we headed into Belgium and to Brussels. We had the pleasure of being accompanied on this leg of our journey by Eurostar train manager and social media superstar, Justin.

One the way to Brussels, feeling welcome on board our Eurostar

Disconcertingly, Eurostar arrives at Brussels Midi but our Deutsche Bahn ICE train departed from Brussels Zuid. In fact, these are one and the same and effectively, you are just changing platform via a concourse.

ICE, ICE, baby!

We located our seats within a small carriage that was already full with very quiet people, rather like sitting in a library. I amused myself by gazing out of the window and after a very short time, we passed through the historic station of Schaerbeek, dating from 1887, which also houses Train World, which would definitely be my kind of place!

Schaerbeek Station and Train World railway museum

The next impressive stop was Liege – Guillemins station. This is a huge contrast to Schaerbeek as this is sleek, modern and impressive. Designed by the Spanish architect Calatrava and opened in 2009, and to me, bore a passing resemblance to Wembley Stadium.

The beautifully impressive sweep of Liege – Guillemins station

One of the major appeals to me of rail travel, is that you arrive in the heart of the city. After miles of flat countryside, where the border between Belgium and Germany couldn’t be distinguished, at least by me, we approached our destination of Cologne. Step outside of the station, turn left, and you are a short walk from its magnificent cathedral. We refreshed ourselves with some pizza in the station/ shopping complex, and set off to explore.

Cologne cathedral

It was a chilly day that was quite a shock after the cosy train, but we wrapped up and headed towards the bank of the Rhine in search of the city’s famous beer – Kolsch. There are numerous places to drink, mostly beautifully rustic and welcoming. We braved the outside seating and were grateful for the heat lamps strategically positioned to create a warm welcome for chilly drinkers. I confess that I had a coffee as cold beer was not an attractive prospect to me.

Head down to the bank of the Rhine for a bracing glass of Kolsch

We walked back into the old town as late afternoon headed towards evening. There were lots of interesting shops which were unfortunately shut, including one dedicated to smurfs. Our sleeper train departed at about half past ten so we had plenty of time to explore. Cologne is beautiful and is definitely on my list to revisit and spend more time.

Beautiful, old Cologne

One bar is definitely worth mentioning. After our walk around the city, and with the temperature dropping still further, we found a cosy, mock alpine lodge – Servus Colonia Alpina. It was busy and I could see why. The seating was comfortable and beer served in traditional stoneware steins. These are washed and then travel around the establishment’s ceiling on a conveyor that is quite mesmerising. The welcome was warm from the lederhosen clad staff and the place was very busy with customers. I was of the impression that a lot of the customers were local people. Quirky is the word but definitely recommended.

Servus Colonia Alpina – highly recommended by us

Cosy seating and steins on a ceiling conveyor

We headed back into the centre of the city to be closer to the station and, when ten o’clock approached, we entered the station to catch our Nightjet train to Munich. Unlike most railway stations in the UK, that wind down late into the evening, this one still had clusters of people on platforms waiting for their respective trains, as were we. When our train stopped at the platform, two very smartly dressed train managers disembarked and checked tickets. A lady in front of us was struggling to understand that her ticket was not for this particular train and she tried to speak and listen for a few minutes. A whistle sounded. The lady wheeled her suitcase away and we stepped up. I had the tickets ready and the train manager pressed the button to open the carriage door to let us board. To all of our surprise, his increasingly firm button pressing, had no effect. To his, and our shock, the train then began to move off out of the station. Another, more frantic whistle sounded. A torch was waved around. A train manager phoned the driver. Surely we were not going to be abandoned on the platform with two of the company’s train managers! It felt like minutes, but was probably seconds, the train stopped again, and to our great relief, we boarded with the two train managers apologising profusely. One took our order for breakfast and bid us goodnight.

I had only travelled on sleeper trains on my own, so it was a novelty to have someone to talk to. We used to have a small caravan when the children were small and I felt quite safe being cocooned in a small space. However, the big question tonight was, who was going to take the top bunk. I offered but my son decided that he would. By now the train had gathered some speed and, of course, a caravan is stationary when you retire to your bed. As an experienced pro, I organised the space, had a well-needed shower and looked forward to a good sleep. “I can’t sleep. I think I’m going to fall out.”, “You’re not, you won’t, it’ll be fine. Go to sleep.” This conversation took me back to caravanning days. We chatted for a bit, as we used to do when my son was small but eventually, tiredness wins and the talking stops.

A bed on the OBB Nightjet

Complimentary goody bags and prosecco. Everything you need including a microfibre towel, ear plugs and sleeping mask

We did sleep, but the unusual sounds and motion, and talking late into the night left us tired. We were served breakfast at about 6am and then the train pulled into Munich station at just gone 7am.

We waved goodbye to our Nightjet train

An impressive departures board

I wondered if we could check into our hotel even though it was still early. In my experience, this is sometimes a hassle. You can leave your bag but your room won’t be ready. Where can you go at 07:15 on a cold, damp, autumnal morning? It’s worth a try I thought. In fact, the hotel receptionist was amazing and was clearly used to arrivals from the overnight trains. She offered us an additional breakfast free of charge and told us that she would ensure that our room was ready as soon as possible. True to her word, and just when I was about to nod off in a comfortable reception chair, we were handed the keys. Needless to say a few hours shut-eye was required before we explored Munich.

The Hotel Metropol is in a great location for the main station, and also for the city. In our experience, nothing was too much trouble for the hotel staff. The room was large, comfortable and spotlessly clean. The breakfast had a good variety of items and made a welcome start to our day.

After our morning sleep, we headed off to explore Munich, which would be our home for the next three days.

More information

We travelled by:

Eurostar – London St Pancras to Brussels Midi

DB ICE – Brussels Zuid – Cologne

OBB Nightjet Cologne – Munich

We stayed at:

Hotel Metropol, Mittererstrasse, Munich

We recommend:

Servus Colonia Alpina