Europe’s most beautiful railway stations? I’ve found them - The Times

I can’t remember the last time I walked into an airport and gasped in delight, but I can tell you when I was last wowed by a railway station — this past weekend, weaving between the chequered marble columns of Vienna’s mid-century Westbahnhof. As someone who tries to travel green, I’ve seen my fair share of stations, but as an architecture lover, my favourites aren’t the ones that are easiest to navigate (hello, Zurich); they’re the ones that make my spirit soar. There are dozens of fascinating stations across Europe of course, from grandes dames like Budapest-Keleti to modern quasi art installations (Rennes — compellingly confusing), but here are some of my favourite stops.

This gargantuan station is Italian bombast taken to the max. Designed in 1912 as an outré mix of art deco, art nouveau and ancient Roman and Egyptian architectural styles, it opened in 1931 under Mussolini’s dictatorship with the fasces — a symbol of imperial Rome hijacked by Italian fascism — added to the walls. Enter through the monumental porticos, float up the palatial staircases, and you’re in the hangar-sized departure hall of one of Europe’s most grandiose stations. Below the tracks is a darker remnant of fascism — two platforms, originally built for transporting goods, turned into human transportation for Jews and antifascists. Rediscovered in the 1990s, today they’re home to Milan’s shattering Holocaust memorial. The station area isn’t the most salubrious but Hotel Anderson is an elegant retreat, perfect for late arrivals or early departures.B&B doubles from £152 (starhotels.com)

It’s known as the Spoorwegkathedraal (railway cathedral), but Antwerp’s grand station is more like an Eastern Orthodox church with onion dome-topped turrets on the corners. Commissioned in 1894 and opened in 1905, it’s a gumbo of architectural styles, from the dome that tops the passenger waiting area (inspired by Rome’s ancient Pantheon) to the art nouveau fan-shaped window on the façade. Thoroughly modernised to accommodate high-speed trains, it’s perhaps the most spectacular station you can reach on a rail weekend from the UK. What used to be a monastery is now the Botanic Sanctuary, one of Antwerp’s best hotels.B&B doubles from £432 (botanicantwerp.be)

Part wedding cake, part castle, Valencia’s regional hub (high-speed trains depart from the nearby Joaquin Sorolla station) is a joyful explosion of art nouveau at its fruitiest. Mosaics of women in traditional dress under colourful moulded oranges mark the entrance on its tiled, crenellated façade; inside, light dances around the ticket hall, its ceiling glazed with mosaics and columns dotted with oranges, while the Sala de los Mosaicos (the original station café) features local landscapes and — yes — more oranges. Inaugurated in 1917, it’s a glorious display of Valencian modernisme with a hint of Viennese secession. If you’re a fan, Porto’s Sao Bento station, swathed in 20,000 azulejos tiles, should be your other pick. In Valencia’s historic heart, SH Ingles Boutique Hotel overlooks the rococo façade of another standout building, the Museo Nacional de Ceramica, with its jaw-droppingly extravagant entrance.Room-only doubles from £87 (inglesboutique.com)

There are beautiful stations, and then there are beautiful stations designed by world-famous architects. Opened in 1919, Helsinki Central is part of the city’s extraordinary Jugendstil, or art nouveau, heritage — at least, it is officially. Yet the forward-thinking Eliel Saarinen (father of Eero, the Finnish-American modernist who designed Washington Dulles airport) prefigures the slick curves and geometric lines of art deco with his gargantuan arched façade and go-faster stripes cut into the ruddy granite walls — then throws in some Jugendstil flourishes to fit in with his contemporaries. The four Atlas-like figures holding globe-like lamps wish you well on your odyssey, even if it’s only to go inside to see the sublime arcing interior. Attached to the station and also designed by Saarinen, the Scandic Grand Central is a destination in itself. B&B doubles from £125 (scandichotels.com)

Imagine stepping off the train onto a platform overlooking the Rhine and into a world-class art gallery designed by the abstract artist and architect Richard Meier. A dream day out becomes reality if you make the 45-minute journey from Cologne to Rolandseck, once an essential stop on the 19th-century “Rhenish Riviera”. Its delectable station from 1858 could be a belle époque hotel — and upstairs in the old ballroom is a restaurant where you can sit on the outdoor terrace overlooking the Rhine, the tumbling Siebengebirge hills and pretty Bad Honnef, on the other side of the river. Today, what was a cultural resort is a cultural day out. Nip to the loo, painted by British-Irish artist Stephen McKenna, then take the tunnel drilled under the hill that links the station to reach Meier’s Arp Museum, one of Europe’s most underrated galleries. Top-notch exhibitions sprawl over the first floor — highlights from the National Museum of Luxembourg are resident until April 4, while a recent blockbuster on female artists was shared with Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza museum. Upstairs are works by Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, proponents of the dada and surrealist movements. A five-minute trot from Cologne station, Mondial Am Dom Hotel Cologne has sweeping views of the famous cathedral from some of its rooms. Room-only doubles from £107 (mgallery.accor.com)

There’s no shortage of spectacular stations in France — Rouen’s art nouveau and Limoges’ sinuous art deco fancy for starters. Metz pips them to the post, though, for its history. Opened in 1908 during the short-lived annexation of Alsace into the German Empire, it was built by Kaiser Wilhelm II in a rather Teutonic neo-Romanesque style. You want a cathedral of the rails? At 300m long, Metz has a stained-glass window depicting Charlemagne straddling the main hallway. You want pomp and circumstance? SNCF staff have their offices in the Kaiser’s private apartments. Every column is topped by a capital, every room gets a relief describing its use (exhausted passengers slouching by the waiting area, farewell embraces in the departures hall). A grand chandelier dangles over the bookshop. More importantly, there’s a plaque to the French resistance fighter Jean Moulin, who is presumed to have died in or near the station, having been tortured, on July 8, 1943. With a 19th-century mansion perched on a tower block, the Philippe Starck-designed Maison Heler is an artwork in itself. Room-only doubles from £120 (maisonhelermetz.com)

Five fishing villages chiselled into the sheer cliffs north of La Spezia, Cinque Terre is one of Italy’s prettiest coastlines — and one of the Bel Paese’s most beguiling train routes too. All but Vernazza have dazzling seafront stations, and my favourite is Riomaggiore. There’s no grand architecture here — it’s just two platforms cantilevered over the sea, with a tunnel leading into the village and one of my all-time favourite bars wedged into the cliff just over the tracks: Pie de Ma. Try seasalt-flecked local wines as the trains hoot underneath, and people swim at the foot of the cliffs. It’s la dolce vita for trainspotters. Take the lift from the station to the higher part of Riomaggiore, where you’ll find the simple Hotel del Sole. B&B doubles from £114 (hoteldelsole.net)

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