Named after the Croatian composer, the EuroNight Lisinski train departs Stuttgart for Zagreb once a night, providing a time-effective connection between Germany’s sixth largest city and the Croatian capital via the capital of Bavaria, Munich, and Slovenia, Ljubljana. Similarly to other EuroNight trains, the train is operated in cooperation with the respective national railway operators that the train passes through, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. The route is one of two international routes that operate with Croatian Railways (HลฝPP) carriages, the other is Zurich-Zagreb.
Prior to 2023, the EuroNight Lisinski commenced it’s overnight journey from Munich, on its journey south, with a late evening departure time at around 23:30. I took this train back in 2015 on one of my first InterRail trips and remember the cold, long wait on the platform at Mรผnchen Hauptbahnhof (Munich main station) having arrived on a RailJet from Budapest.
Today, the service has somewhat improved, at least for long distance travellers from the north, as the train departs Stuttgart usually at the more reasonable time of 20:29, resulting in a longer opportunity to sleep before the arrival of the train in Ljubljana early in the morning and Zagreb mid-morning. Stuttgart is also accessible by direct high speed train from Paris and an easy change of train from Brussels. The EuroNight Lisinski now also stops at Gรถppingen, Ulm and Augsburg for the first time this year prior to its usual stops from Munich.
In the summer, in addition to the carriages for Zagreb, there is a carriage for Rijeka, providing Stuttgart with a direct connection to the seaside. I took the EuroNight Lisinski from its new German home to Ljubljana, which actually turned out to be the final day of operation for the Rijeka portion for 2023. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get to Rijeka this time but maybe one for the future.
Here is the route map for the journey from Stuttgart to Zagreb:
Departure from Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof
Stuttgart Hbf is currently under renovation with the Stuttgart 21 project well underway at the time of writing. The large scale development promises a brand new station with underground platforms to replace the current terminus station. Platforms will be reduced from seventeen terminus platforms to eight through platforms, which will be more operationally effective.
With such a development in progress, you can picture the building site. The station was crowded on our departure day, which wasn’t helped by selecting a date when Stuttgart were playing SC Freiburg in the German Budesliga. Fans donning colours resembling the branding of Deutsche Bahn (DB) piled on local trains to Ludwigsburg for the MHPArena. As it happened Stuttgart won 5-0.
Half an hour prior to departure, the departure boards were populated with the night train as it rolled into Platform 15. Confusingly, as these older departure boards provided by DB are only able to show one destination, only the NightJet to Venice was listed with EuroNight carriages for Budapest, Zagreb and Rijeka hiding in scrolling text at the top. This has been addressed on the new departure boards that DB is rolling out across the German rail network, which perhaps Stuttgart will see once the development is complete.
Onboard the EuroNight Lisinski
In common with other EuroNight trains across Europe, the EuroNight Lisinski train is formed of a colourful array of carriages with the branding of the respective national operators. At the rear there were three carriages for Budapest, sporting Hungarian Railways (MรV-START) bold blue livery. In the centre, a mix of old and newly branded subdued Croatian Railways (HลฝPP) blue, red and white carriages. At the front, Austrian Railways (รBB) classy dark blue and red NightJet carriages for Venice. Each portion offered a choice of accommodation, including a seated car, couchette car and sleeping car. An รBB locomotive would haul us as far as Villach Hbf.
Having located our Croatian sleeping car bound for Zagreb, we checked in with our Croatian sleeping car attendant who was standing by the door. I managed to get immediately off onto the wrong foot him. I presented my ticket to him to gain entry and then dropped my bags in the compartment before returning to the platform to take some pictures. Perfectly innocent stuff, right? Well, he didn’t see me get off the train. So, when I approached him to re-board without my ticket he wasn’t best pleased, presumably he had forgotten me already and thought I was trying to hitch a free lift! We didn’t have a language in common, so with a lot of arm waving and pointing, I eventually succeeded in convincing him I had indeed already checked-in with him.
In this review, I will focus exclusively on the sleeping car experience. After all, I didn’t want to get anymore black marks after the platform experience!
Sleeping Car Accommodation
Each compartment in the Croatian Railways (HลฝPP) sleeping car has up to three beds in bunks. At the point of booking, you must select whether you would like ‘single’ occupancy for one person, ‘double’ occupancy for two people or a ‘triple’ occupancy for three people. If you are a solo traveller and book one of the latter two you could end up sharing with other passengers of the same sex. The compartment is set-up according to the booking, so as I had booked single occupancy only in my compartment the lower bed was made up with the upper bunks folded away.
There are two toilets at one end of the car that are shared amongst passengers in the same car and in the room itself there is a washbasin that has hot water available. Unlike many of the NightJet sleeping cars, there is no shower, however, and the room was missing an amenity kit. There are also two power sockets.
A first that I’ve seen on a night train is a poster with the house rules written in English and Croatian. Passengers aren’t allowed to disturb other passengers (I’m not sure if snoring counts) and cannot stand on the flexible table. No smoking allowed, though I did get a whiff of cigarettes every so often via the air conditioning – it wouldn’t be a Balkan adventure without this. I also love that there is a complaint book at every station in Croatia – I’m sure that would be fun to read.
I found the bed to be reasonably comfortable and slept well.
Onboard Catering
The EuroNight Lisinski doesn’t offer any catering onboard in the evening, so be sure to bring some supplies. The only exception to this was a bottle of water and a European sleeper train hallmark, the 7 Days croissant, that was sat waiting on the sideboard. I wasn’t sure if we would be given breakfast, so I resisted temptation and saved it for the morning.
As it happened, breakfast was provided on top of the packaged croissant and free of charge with the sleeping car ticket. This consisted of a coffee, orange juice, bread roll and a CaoCao chocolate cake. Unlike the NightJet, there is no preferences, you get what you get. This was served approximately one hour prior to arrival.
Strangely, I found a box of Fette Dorate in one of the cupboards, which can I only assume was a parting gift from a previous room occupier. Not being much of a fan I, in turn, left it as a parting present for the following guest. I hope it will get eaten before its expiry date.
Morning scenery
Set the alarm folks! The early morning run across southern Austria was particularly beautiful as the sun rose with the mountainous backdrop in the lead up to the Austrian-Slovenian border that is marked by passing through the Karawanks Tunnel.
Scenery Video
Border Controls
All the countries served by the EuroNight Lisinski are part of the Schengen zone, which in principle means there are no document checks en-route. Croatia joined the Schengen zone in 2023. At the time of writing, I hear there have been checks northbound as the German police patrols entry on the German-Austria border.
Arrival into Ljubljana
Booking and Fares
Fares vary like air fares. Booking early is recommended.
| Journey Leg | Single Berth | Double Berth | Triple Berth |
| Stuttgart to Ljubljana | from 129,90โฌ | from 86,90โฌ | from 66,90โฌ |
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Conclusion
The EuroNight Lisinski is a convenient link from western Europe to Slovenia and Croatia and offers a variety of accommodation to suit any budget. The sleeping car doesn’t come cheap, however, with pricing similar to NightJet trains, albeit with a lower quality of service. The bed was reasonably comfortable and compartment reasonably clean. It was a nice surprise to be offered a breakfast. The views in the morning in southern Austria were particularly enjoyable, watching the sun rise with a mountainous backdrop. I recommend setting the alarm!
This travel report was first published in October 2023.
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