Three of Europe's coolest capitals will soon be connected by direct train
From as soon as May 1, 2026, a brand-new direct train will be connecting the brilliant capital cities of Prague, Berlin and Copenhagen – yes, you read that right.
The project is a joint effort between Czech Railways (ČD), Deutsche Bahn (DB), and Danish State Railways (DSB), and has been supported by the European Commission, which is keen to encourage cross-border rail travel.
Recommended: The incredible 2,500-mile train tour of France launching in September.
It also comes after the completion of renovations on the Berlin to Hamburg train line, and according to Railway News, a stop there and in Dresden will be featured, too.
So, what do we know so far about the service? Well, it will likely run twice daily, taking seven hours between Berlin and Copenhagen, and 11 between the Danish capital and Prague. A seasonal night train between Hamburg and Copenhagen will be extended to make use of the new route.
The trains themselves will be ČD's ComfortJet trains, which can travel up to 230km per hour and seat 555 people, with 99 of those in first-class. Onboard, passengers will have access to a dining car, cinema area, and even adjustable seating.
Stay tuned for everything you need to know about this service, including when tickets go on sale. In the meantime, have a look at the best things to do in Berlin, Copenhagen and Prague.
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Reuters
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- Reuters
CEO of Germany state rail operator to leave post, sources say
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The Guardian
08-08-2025
- The Guardian
Timetables, tricky tickets and high prices: the problems with European cross-border rail travel
At 9.55am every day since December, a German ICE high-speed train has left the Gare de l'Est in Paris headed, via Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt, for Berlin Hauptbahnhof, where – all being well – it pulls in just over eight hours later. Remarkably, the service is the first direct, high-speed, centre-to-centre rail link between the capitals of the EU's two biggest countries. Run by Deutsche Bahn (DB) and France's SNCF, it has been hailed as a milestone in European train travel. It is not the only new service linking Europe's cities. From next May, the ČD ComfortJet, operated by the Czech, German and Danish railways, will carry you all the way from Prague to Copenhagen, calling at Dresden, Berlin and Hamburg, in just over 11 hours. Major new routes are being built: a high-speed Alpine tunnel linking Lyon and Turin; the Fehmarn Belt connecting Germany and Denmark; Rail Baltica, which will join Tallinn in Estonia to Warsaw via Riga in Latvia and Kaunas in Lithuania. On the face of it, then, high-speed, long-distance rail travel in Europe seems to be finally taking off. But in fact, fast, efficient cross-border rail services between the continent's major urban centres remain, for all the media fanfare, very much a rarity. For a whole raft of reasons – inadequate infrastructure, unwilling operators, incompatible systems, incomprehensible timetabling and (last but not least) impossibly complicated ticketing – long rail journeys across Europe are all too often a pastime rather than a practical travel alternative. Imagine, for the sake of illustration (few except slow-travel aficionados would ever actually attempt it), a four-country trip from Spain's second-biggest city, Barcelona, to Marseille in France, then on to Italy's largest port, Genoa, ending in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. For starters, says Jon Worth, an independent writer and campaigner on European cross-border rail travel, while there is a high-speed line across the Spanish-French border, for most of the year it carries only four trains a day, and five in summer. 'Why?' Worth says. 'Because the new trains run by the Spanish operator, Renfe, haven't been approved to run in France, and SNCF has cut the size of its fleet capable of running in Spain. So the trains that do run are invariably packed, and prices are sky-high.' Next, only one of those four or five daily trains will run direct from Barcelona to Marseille, and it arrives in France's biggest port so late that you miss the last service to Nice, which is where you need to be in order to catch a train to Italy. So, you must then board a slow regional train the next morning for the hour-long ride to Ventimiglia, followed, with luck and good timing, by a relatively fast intercity connection along the Ligurian coast to Genoa. From there, things only get worse. Trains crossing the Italy-Slovenia border at Gorizia-Nova Gorica run at weekends only. Those doing so at Villa Opicina, near Trieste, are daily but very irregular. So the 370 miles (600km) to Ljubljana via Milan and Venice will take up to 13 hours and probably involve travelling via Villach in Austria. 'It's one of the worst borders to cross anywhere in the EU,' says Worth. 'Very few, very slow trains.' Moreover, although European night trains are making a much-hyped but in reality slow and difficult comeback, there isn't one on this route. (Actually, that's not strictly true. The Espresso Riviera, operated by Treni Turistici Italiani, is a delightful upmarket sleeper service from Rome to Marseille and back. Unfortunately, it runs only in July and August, and then just once a week.) Leaving aside the nonexistent connectivity, the obstacles facing the long-distance European rail traveller will have become apparent long before they actually get on a train. Planning a trip and buying tickets (as well resolving problems if things go wrong) are daunting challenges in themselves. Seasoned travellers recommend Deutsche Bahn's website as the best and most comprehensive planning tool for navigating the seemingly infinite complexities of Europe's train schedules, but few novices would describe even that as user-friendly. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion It is also unlikely to be able to sell you all the tickets you need, which will have to be bought separately from the various national operators. Unlike plane travel, through train tickets are rare – and if they exist, they are often more expensive than a combination. Moreover, although services such as Trainline – which anyway only offers only a small selection of possible routes – can sell you a through journey from, say, Barcelona to Nice, it will be two tickets with two different operators, sold in one transaction. 'That means,' says Worth, 'if anything goes wrong – say, a train is late and you miss your connection – you have no passenger rights at all. Worse, few stations will be able to help. Unlike in an airport, you'll have to sort it out yourself.' Across the continent, similar issues recur, vastly complicating journeys that could, in principle, be smooth, practical, sustainable travel alternatives – and pushing even those willing to accept a longer and more expensive trip on to Europe's ferociously competitive airlines. Sometimes, infrastructure is the main obstacle. French TGVs and Italian Frecciarossas link Paris to Milan in seven hours, for example, but must crawl through the Alps until the new Lyon-Turin high-speed line and tunnel is completed, theoretically in 2033. Meanwhile, the current route is heavily susceptible to damage from increasingly frequent landslides: after reopening in April following a 20-month closure for mudslides, it had to shut down again for several days in July for the same reason. At other times, the issue is a lack of cooperation between rail operators. Astonishingly, there has been no direct train connection between Madrid and Lisbon – two neighbouring European capitals – since a Spanish sleeper service was discontinued in 2020. The 450-mile journey now requires two changes and multiple tickets and takes more than eight hours. Lines are being electrified but there is no guarantee that Renfe and Portugal's CP, which have very different strategies, will combine forces and deliver a through service. 'Operators still mostly think and work nationally,' says Worth. 'CP is old-style, regular, but has only just started work on its first high-speed line. Renfe is modern, high-speed connections between Spain's major cities. They're just not a good fit.' Different technologies and operating systems are a major block. In principle, that can be overcome with modern, multi-system rolling stock, but it is significantly more expensive. A pan-European signalling system, ECTS, is on its way but not there yet. Other obvious European rail connections badly in need of upgrading, Worth argues, could include Berlin-Warsaw, which still runs on slow tracks for much of its six-hour journey (though that may change, given Poland's ambitious high-speed rail plans). And in Scandinavia, a high-speed service linking Oslo to Stockholm or Copenhagen remains a pipe dream. A project that would slash travel times between the Norwegian capital and Gothenburg in Sweden to an hour has, so far, made zero progress.
Time Out
04-08-2025
- Time Out
5 new restaurants in Singapore to check out this August 2025
After a relatively slow July, Singapore's food scene is springing right back into action, especially with the launch of Resorts World Sentosa's new lifestyle enclave, Weave, on top of several openings in Jewel Changi Airport. This month's food picks include an affordable offshoot of the award-winning ramen restaurant Mensho Tokyo, a bistro concept by the folks behind RVLT (a cult-favourite natural wine bar which closed this year); a breezy Italian spot nestled in the Botanic Gardens; Singapore's very first Bornean restaurant; and a gorgeous new hideout in the CBD with wallet-friendly set lunches. Here are the finest places to wine and dine this August. Explore Singapore's 2025 restaurant openings by month: Find out which are the best new restaurants that opened in Singapore this year. 1. Mensho X If Mensho Tokyo is a little out of your budget this month, try Mensho X, a fast-casual offshoot of the award-winning ramen restaurant with signature bowls from $19. It currently has an outlet in Raffles Place, with one more set to open in Resorts World Sentosa later this year. While the original Mensho Tokyo is known for its rich, velvety toripaitan broth, Mensho X's version leans towards the lighter side, thanks to the use of ingredients like kelp, shiitake and porcini mushrooms. It's not just the broth that differs – instead of Mensho Tokyo's whole wheat, stone-milled noodles, there are three noodle options at Mensho X: ramen, tsukemen and mazeman, all made from a proprietary flour blend. Highlights on the menu to look out for include the mochi mochi mazemen ($19), toripaitan tsukemen ($19), Firebird Ramen ($20) and toripaitan ramen with egg yolk ($19). Address: 6 Battery Rd, Raffles #01-02, Singapore 049909 Opening hours: Daily 11am-10pm Expect to pay: From $19 per bowl of ramen. 2. Revolution Wine Bistro Singapore's OG natural wine bar RVLT is making a glorious comeback with a new wine bistro in the heart of Bukit Merah. 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Address: 211 Henderson Rd, #01-05, Singapore 159552 Opening hours: Mon-Sat 11am-midnight Expect to pay: Around $30 for set lunches and more for a la carte and dinner options. 3. iL Giardino There's something undeniably appealing about dining within the Botanic Gardens, surrounded by lush nature and greenery. iL Giardino embodies that experience quite literally, its name translating to 'The Garden' in Italian. The new bistro is located within The Garage, taking over the second floor of the conservation building. There's even the option to dine out at the breezy alfresco terrace, which seats up to 24 guests. The menu revolves around cicchetti-style dining originating from Venice, where small sharing plates are passed around the table and enjoyed with wine or cocktails. Not to be missed are the slow-braised osso bucco (from $28) featuring tender veal and creamy whipped potatoes; roasted corn-fed chicken (from $16) and the pan-roasted king salmon ($28) with ginger flower salsa verde and eggplant caponata. Sip on refreshing botanical-inspired cocktails like the signature Giardino Spritz ($18) with prosecco and limoncello, or Under the Tuscan Sun ($18), which combines white rum, fresh basil and lemon. Address: 50 Cluny Park Rd, Singapore Botanic Gardens, The Garage, Level 2, Singapore 257488 Opening hours: Wed-Fri 6pm-10pm; Sat-Sun 5pm-10pm Expect to pay: Around $60 per person for sharing plates and drinks. 4. Kantin Singapore's food repertoire just got an upgrade with the opening of Kantin, our first and only Bornean restaurant to date. This is the second outlet of the popular Kuching-based establishment, which has won multiple food and travel awards in Malaysia. Kantin is located in Jewel Changi's glass dome, overlooking the stunning rain vortex. But it's not just its location that impresses – the restaurant is Singapore's first to hone in on 'jungle food', that is, the ingredient-driven cuisine of some of the 300 indigenous tribes native to Borneo. A must-try is the Headhuter Pansuh Set, a nod to the Dayak people of the region. Sample slow-cooked chicken in a special broth served in bamboo crockery, paired with purple rice wrapped in banana leaves, keropok lekor, and Dayak sides like pusu bawang (pickled onions with fried anchovies), paku (Bornean fern with belachan) and jellyfish served ceviche-style. Address: 78 Airport Boulevard, Jewel, Singapore Changi Airport, #05-206/207, Singapore 819666 Opening hours: Daily 11am-10pm Expect to pay: Around $40 per person for sharing dishes and drinks. 5. Salt & Soul The interiors are looking spot-on at this gorgeous new spot in Frasers Tower, located right opposite Amoy Street Food Centre. And surprisingly, the prices here aren't exorbitant either. For those working around the area, the lunch sets are priced affordably at $17, and if you're looking for a promising date night spot, pasta dishes at Salt & Soul are all under the $20 range. Expect mainly European-style comfort dishes done right – carbonara made the traditional Italian way with only egg yolk; chicken beignet – a French classic; and mussel pots – a Belgian staple. Other addictive sides to order include the buttery house mash, chips and dip, cauliflower and prawn fritters. The coffee programme is courtesy of PPP Coffee (and yes, pour-over coffee is available too), while the cocktail menu sees easy favourites like the spicy margarita, passionfruit and white chocolate daiquiri, and the restaurant's signature S&S espresso martini.
