After four days of eating, drinking and walking our way through a surprisingly sunny London, it was once again time for the next part of the journey. And this time, it was for the first time of the trip on a night train, the night train that pretty much was the reason for the whole trip, as since I first saw a Youtube video of it I’d been wanting to go.

The train is called the Caledonian Sleeper and serves two routes: The Highlander route, that goes all the way to Fort William in Scotland, and the Lowlander route that goes to Glasgow or Edinburgh. It offers a sort of hotel experience onboard the train with nice bedding, pillow spray, a sink, bathroom and shower in the compartment (if in a Club Room), included breakfast and a nice dining car, or Club Car as they call it, where you can have both dinner (at a cost) and breakfast. There are also regular seats onboard, but that won’t get access to the Club Car, or any of the sleeping perks mentioned, of course.

We were on a Highlander that finished in Inverness, which was our final destination, and opted to book a Club Room, as the Caledonian Double, which as the name implies has an actual double bed in the compartment was a little bit too pricey for us, but we wanted to have our own bathroom.

Our train left from London’s Kingscross, as the usual Euston Station was closed for renovation when we travelled during Easter 2022. The departure time was in the evening, around 8.30 p.m. so we were quite tired after a day of walking around town when we arrived the lounge – included in club rooms – around 7. The lounge was maybe nothing to elaborate too much about, but was nice enough with tea, biscuits (of course, we were in the UK), crisps, sparkling water and decent seating as well as electrical outlets where you could charge your phone. There was also beer and wine available from the reception at a cost. Around 8.15 it was announced it was time to board the Caledonian Sleeper, and we walked straight to the platform through a little ‘private’ walkway.

We had to stand for a few minutes on the platform waiting for something before they let us onboard, but it wasn’t too long before we were in our small but cozy Club Room. The beds in the Club is bunk bed style and there is a toilet and shower combination in the bathroom. Floor space is quite tiny, but we managed fine with our two relatively large bags. Unfortunately (or actually not so unfortunately) we soon discovered that our toilet couldn’t flush. So we used the in-room intercom to call the staff to let them know. A staff member soon showed up and after some work, he concluded that our toilet was broken and we had to move.

The room offered to us as compensation for the inconvenience was the famous Caledonian Double which, without being huge, probably was twice the size of our Club Room, with a decently sized double bed, a painting on the wall as well as a nice amenity kit. It of course also had the in-room toilet and shower like our last room. Super nice and the first time ever I’d slept in a double bed on a train.

Happy with our fortune we went for dinner in the Club Car. The Club Car was decently busy (picture taken when boarding), but we found a nice table for two and were handed a menu each – it’s table service in the Club Car which felt extra luxurious. The food and drink offering onboard is heavily focused on local Scottish produce, which I loved. It really felt that we entered a tiny bit of Scotland just by getting on the train. Fun and adventurous. We ordered both the Scottish salmon with lemon sauce, as well as macaroni and cheese made with local Arran and Orkney cheddars, both were quite delicious considering it was on a train. We also ordered a whisky each from their quite (again, for a train) extensive whiskey menu, as well as a beer and a glass of wine. Price was around £45 for the two of us with drinks and food.

After this we went back to our Caledonian Double and tucked in for the night. Maybe having a glass of wine, and some crisps we accidentally brought with us from the lounge, while watching a dark United Kingdom pass by outside the window. Sleep quality wasn’t fantastic as the journey was a bit bumpy, but the bed was very comfortable so at least we managed to sleep for a few hours.

When getting on the train, the first thing we did was so select what kind of breakfast we wanted, there were a few options; larger and small; healthier and unhealthier, as well as if we wanted to eat breakfast in the Club Car or in our compartment. We went for the Highland breakfast, meaning a full Scottish breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, beans and black pudding, as well as the Eggs Royale and chose to have it in the Club Car.

The breakfast, as mentioned included in the price, came with additionnal coffee and orange juice, and an amazing vista over The Scottish Highlands, as we approached Inverness. The views just before arriving Inverness was really beautiful, so we were lucky with the timing of our breakfast. Breakfast food quality was decent, better than you would get on a plane, but less good than in a restaurant.

Shortly after we finished our breakfast, it was announced that we approached Inverness, 30 minutes ahead of schedule (boo). As it was the final stop, we didn’t have to hurry to get off, but it felt weird to just sit around, so we got off pretty much upon arriving. Inverness has a small Caledonian Sleeper lounge just next to the station building, and we managed to get there exactly as the manager started his shift. We were early, so he got a little surprised we had already arrived, but quickly invited us in and offered us coffee and a nice little chat about Scotland, and gave us some recommendations for how to spend our next few days. There was a also a small but decent snack assortment, much like in the London lounge, of biscuits, crisps, soft drinks and water.

From the lounge it was just a short walk, Inverness is not a big city, to our very good hotel The River Ness hotel by Radisson where we based ourselves for the next four days, before the final train of the Stockholm-Scotland by train trip.

When I was around 10 years old, the Eurostar opened and for the first time in history, people could travel by train from the United Kingdom to the rest of Europe. I don’t really remember how I got this information, probably from tv as the internet took another year or two to reach my 1990s family home. Anyway, since then, I’ve dreamt of going with the Eurostar, through the Eurotunnel, and finally, after stuffing our faces in Amsterdam food for three days, it was time.

We had booked tickets in Standard Premiere, which is the Eurostar’s middle option, where you get better seats than in Standard, as well as drinks and a meal onboard. But you don’t get access to the extra benefits of Business Premiere such as lounges, fast track and a nicer three course meal with champagne served onboard.

As we lived basically in Amsterdam’s Centraal station, at the very comfortable Ibis Amsterdam Centraal, we had just a few meters walk to reach the station. Upon arriving the correct platform we entered a quite long que to reach safety control and immigration. Since train travel until this point had been basically to just jump on and off trains, this was the first time since leaving Stockholm we actually had to wait. We did not mind though and everything went quite smoothly and I think we waited for maybe 20 minutes or so to get into the waiting area. The waiting area consists of a few chairs and benches, and not everyone was able to find a seat. I don’t think there was even a cafe in there, but there were a few vending machines for the hungry. The most interesting part of our waiting experience was a couple of Dutch ladies that cracked open a bottle of sparkling wine to kill some time. Reasonable!

After a while we were let out to the same platform that we had queed on to get in to the waiting area, and finally our Yellow ride arrived. I tried to go and take a picture of the locomotive, but a staff member told me (nicely) to get on the train instead. Fortunately there was plenty of opportunity to take pretty train pictures in London later on.

Our carriage on the train was probably half full (or was it half empty?) and we were told to put on face masks because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Netherlands had just scrapped mandated face masks shortly before we arrived, as had the UK mostly, but not onboard trains.

We were welcomed personally (nice touch) by our carriages attendant and shortly afterwards presented with drinks and some snacks. We were given the option to have either white, red or rosé wine, beer or softdrinks, and went for wine. Throughout the trip they were quite generous with wine, and we, being in holiday mode, probably had 3 or 4 “mini bottles” each before arriving in London. After stopping in Rotterdam, the train started to fill up, and we were served a ‘light lunch’. I opted for a leek, Red Leicester cheese and rosemary tart together with a sticky date pudding with butterscotch cream. The tart aka pie was served with a little bit of coleslaw-y root vegetable salad as well as a bread roll. Maybe the wine and views of rural Belgium had a little bit to do with it, but it was really good.

So, after a few hours of wine drinking and European landscape watching it was time. We entered the legendary tunnel. I thought it would take a longer time beneath the sea, but it was probably 15 minutes or so until we popped out on the other side of the channel and could continue to watch the landscape go by for a while before reaching London’s St. Pancras International station, and our next stop on the way to Scotland.

In conclusion I really loved the Eurostar. Comfortable seats, friendly onboard staff, great food, and a generally nice modern train. And of course it was also very convenient being able to go directly from Amsterdam to London instead of having to first go to Brussels or Paris. Price was a little bit high as we waited a bit too long to book. When we started checking, a one way ticket in Standard Premiere was €120 per person, but we booked them at €180 due to our own laziness. Despite this, and compared to flying, 180 euros for four hours in a comfortable seat with views of four European countries, free-flowing (at least basically) drinks and a nice meal felt very much worth it.

As we lived super close to Hamburg’s central railway station, we checked out around 30 minutes before our departure and took the quick walk there to find our first train of the day.

Unfortunately there aren’t any direct trains from Hamburg to Amsterdam, so our first trip of the day was with the sleek German highspeed ICE (Intercity Express) train, that reaches speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, from Hamburg to Osnabrück in Western Germany.

The station in Hamburg was PACKED, but inside the train, we chose to go in first class, it was quite empty. This first leg of the Hamburg to Amsterdam trip was quite short, and since we couldn’t find any information of whether there was an onboard restaurant on the next train we where taking, our priority was food, as we wanted to try German train food.

In ICE’s first class you get food and drinks served at your seat, if you prefer, but it’s not included in the fare, so you still have to pay for it. We had relatively recently had breakfast, so we decided to share a German currywurst with fries, as well as a fassbier (draft beer) each, because draft beer on a train! Unfortunately they had run out of fries and offered us bread instead. Oh well. 40 minutes or so before us getting off the train, the food arrived. I think the quality was quite good to be honest, tasty, hearty and decently priced.

After lunch it didn’t take long before we arrived Osnabrück, where we had a 15 minute wait before our Intercity train to Amsterdam was to depart. The station was quite small and it was easy to find our way and walk to the platform.

After a short delay, the train arrived and we hopped on the super busy train. Once again we were in first class, but gone was the calm, the plush leather seated ”couple seats” and table service, and instead we joined a group of people in a 6-person compartment, where two (very friendly) ladies had our seats. Just like in the Danish train you could travel without a seat reservation, which also on this train led to sort of chaos. After a few minutes of moving bags and people around, we were fortunately seated however, and the trip to Amsterdam could commence.

As the train approached Amsterdam, it was approximately 3,5 hours from Osnabrück, the train got less and less busy. As in Denmark, as fast as the train staff announced that we had entered The Netherlands, everyone removed their masks, as they had just removed most Covid-related restrictions there. To celebrate the border crossing, we headed to the onboard restaurant and, to our sort of sadness, found it identical to the one on the ICE train, meaning we could’ve had our lunch here on this slow train, instead of rushing it earlier on the ICE. Oh well, we had a glass of German bubbly each which we sipped on watching the Dutch countryside go by outside the window.

Then, a canal or two appeared outside our window, then another, then a tall building, and a futuristic museum. And a couple of skyscrapers. We were finally in Amsterdam, after our five our trip through Germany, and this time we were actually stopping for a while for some eating, drinking and exploring. *Speaker voice*: “More on this in the next episode of Train to Scotland”. Tot ziens!

The first part of this year’s train trip (I think I might start doing this every year from now on because train travel is very fun) was, in contrast to our southern-bound trip to Malta a few years ago, going west. All the way from Stockholm, Sweden, to Scotland in the United Kingdom, via Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam and London.

X2000 in first class, Stockholm to Copenhagen

During a light snowfall in Stockholm, we jumped on the X2000, which is what we call our highspeed trains. They are not overly high speed, but reach about 200 kmph, and the trip to our first stop, Copenhagen in Denmark, takes around 5,5 hours. The train is quite comfortable and the fare isn’t that expensive if you book early. We paid 700 sek per person for first class tickets, which gives you a slightly better seat, free coffee and some small fika, eg. sweets or fruit, that you help yourself to in the carriage, as well as a breakfast box if your departure is before 09:00 (9 a.m.). You can also use the lounge in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg if open (opening hours aren’t great though).

The breakfast box was quite good. A very Swedish, which I like, selection of breakfast toppings such as cheese, vegetables, butter, an egg, locally made apple juice, yoghurt and muesli and a tiny Finnish Marianne mint chocolate sweet (nostalgia). They also served bread from a basket so you could pick your favourite out of a few options, as well as tea or coffee. After breakfast there is no service, so if you’d like something else you need to go to the bistro and pick it up (and pay for it).

After about 5,5 hours, the train rolled into Copenhagen’s Hovedbanegården main railway station, located next to Tivoli amusement park in the city center. We had a few minutes walk to our hotel, Comfort Hotel Vesterbro which was surprisingly nice, for labeling itself as a budget hotel.

For dinner we opted to go to Surt, a 25 minute walk from the hotel. Surt is sort of a trendy-yet-casual pizzeria and gastro restaurant in Carlsberg Byen, a historical fermentation site in Copenhagen, hence the name Surt, meaning sour.

We tried a bunch of different dishes paired with local craft beer and negronis. We had their steak tartare with salsify, coal emulsion and parmesan, as well as their amazingly tasty pizza (the dough!) with local Hindsholm pork sausage, ramson, ramson capers, mozzarella and pecorino. Both were outstanding. Among the best I’ve ever had. Especially the pizza dough and toppings were really something else. So light, fluffy and airy. Pizza perfection. We also had their foccacia with pork rillette & quince mustard, and charcuterie with pickled vegetables that were also great.

After the dinner we walked back to the hotel, and instead of going to nearby Mikkeller Bar, like we did last time, we opted to go to the hotel, and have a bath and a beer in the room instead.

The next morning we had a 11:30 (a.m.) departure to Hamburg, which gave us plenty of time for breakfast and post-breakfast lazying in the room. The breakfast was, as the hotel itself, again over expectations. Lots of different both hot and cold items. Fresh bread with cheeses and cold cuts, bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, coffee and juices, and everything was of quite good standard too.

One of my favourite Swedish dishes, and probably one of the few Swedish dishes non-Swedes have even heard about, is the famous Swedish meatballs. I’ve seen a few crazy interpretations over the world, but these are quite genuine. 🙂 There’s a crazy twist with these meatballs, and that is that you make them in the oven before finishing them in the frying pan. I did not really believe this would work before trying it myself, but they turn out super juicy and perfect.

Ingredients for approximately two or three persons:

• 250 grams minced beef
• 250 grams minced pork
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 1/2 stock cube
• ~ 1 deciliter of water
• Salt
• Butter
• Neutral cooking oil

1. Fry the finely chopped onion in butter on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. Do not burn, but it’s okay if it’s a little golden. Set aside.

2. Heat the water in a microwave or on the stove. Add the half stock cube and use a spoon to stir until completely dissolved. Add the breadcrumbs to this and stir again. It will look like some weird savoury porridge (which it is) but trust me, this is an essential part of the process. Let the breadcrumb stock cube porridge sit for around 10 minutes.

3. Put the minced meat in a bowl and add a deliberate sprinkle of salt to this. It’s hard to say exactly how much, and the stock cube will be going in too, but trust your instincts. If you like it salty like I do, add more. If not feel free to add less. Let the salt marinate the meat a few minutes before adding the breadcrumb mix and the fried onion from earlier.

4. Wash your hands, nanananana, wash your hands nanananana, wash your hands nanananana, wash your hands. I’m sorry. But this is easier with your bare hands, and especially so with wet hands. So with your hands, combine everything together – you can use a fork if you really don’t want to do this by hand, but it’s harder to evenly mix the meatball mixture if so.

5. After everything is mixed thoroughly, it’s meatball rolling time. A top trick is to use an ice cream scoop to get even meatballs. Wet your hands again and roll between the palm of your hands until they are round. Put on an oven proof dish and set your oven to 175°C or ~ 350°F.

6. Put the meatballs into your oven and let them bake for 10 minutes.

7. Frying time. Add butter and neutral oil to a frying pan on quite high heat. I use 7/10. when the butter stops sizzling it’s time to add the meatballs. Fry until golden brown and cooked through, if you’re unsure pick one up and cut in two to check that it’s fully cooked. Watch out so they don’t get overcooked though, we want juicy, not dry, meatballs.

8. When meatballs are done, let them rest for a couple of minutes before serving. The Swedish way is to eat them like in the above picture with mashed or boiled potatoes, cream sauce, pickled cucumbers, and sugared lingonberries. Or just with macaronies and ketchup. We never use sour cream, at least I’ve never in my life heard of anyone doing that in Sweden. But maybe we should try?

If you read this and want a recipe for the cream sauce, drop a comment and I’ll add a recipe for that too. Smaklig måltid (enjoy your meal)!

Currently I am in Cambodia eating lots of food, drinking beer and visiting cool places. Anything in particular I should see or eat? Let me know in the comments!

For more updates, visit my Instagram.

Merry Christmas!

This Summer I wanted to try something new, and since my passion for train travel has grown in the last couple of years, I wanted to try to go further than before. We were pretty much decided for Italy, but since we wanted to go somewhere new as well, we were considering what to add to make it a little bit more exciting. After some research I realized that Malta was doable with ferry from Sicily, and since it was such a short ferry, it was basically almost possible to go all the way to Malta by train.

I’ve written more extensively about each part, but in this post I will summarize the trip with prices and how I booked the tickets.

Click on the link to each longer trip segment or just scroll down if you want to read more about the different experiences.

Part 1: Stockholm-Copenhagen
Train: SJ X2000
Booked through: Sj.se
Price: €30 per person
Class: 2nd class

Part 2: Copenhagen-Berlin
Train(s): Togbussen train replacement bus from Copenhagen main railway station (Københavns Hovedbanegård) to Rødby; train ferry from Rødby to Puttgarden in Germany, train from Puttgarden to Hamburg; German I.C.E. from Hamburg Hauptbanhof to Berlin Hauptbanhof.
Booked through: Deutsche Bahns English website
Price: €120 per person
Class: 1st class

Part 3: Berlin-Zürich
Train: ÖBB Austrian Nightjet in a deluxe sleeper (including private bathroom and shower).
Booked through: ÖBB Austria’s English website
Price: €299 for entire compartment
Class: technically 2nd class, although no 1st class on train.

Part 4: Zürich-Como San Giovanni (Lake Como)
Train: SBB Swiss Rail’s high speed train
Booked through: Trenitalia.com

Price: €20 per person
Class: 2nd class

Part 5: Como San Giovanni-Salerno (via Milan)
Trains: SBB from Como San Giovanni to Milano Centrale; Italo from Milano Centrale to Salerno.
Booked trough: Trenitalia.com (Como-Milano) and Italotreno.it (Milan-Salerno)
Price: €99 per person
Class: Club (also known as Club Executive)

Part 6: Salerno-Catania (Sicily)
Train: Trenitalia Intercity
Booked through: Trenitalia.com
Price: €30 per person
Class: First class (also known as 1 classe)

Part 7: Catania-Pozzalo-Valletta (Malta)
Train(s): Well  sorry, but this was by bus from Catania to Pozzallo and then ferry from Pozzallo to Valletta.
Booked through: Virtuferries.com
Price: €101 per person
Class: Club Class (first class)

After pretty much exactly 24 hour hours in the Sicilian city of Catania, it was time to hit the road again. This was the last major part of the trip, and while the headline says train, this final leg of the Stockholm-Malta by train trip was actually done by bus and ferry.

We checked out from our hotel in Catania and walked down to the harbour, which took about 20 or so minutes. We errounously entered from a side street and spent some time trying to find the Virtu Ferries office in the Complesso Vecchia Dogana complex, where you check in for the bus that takes you to Pozzallo Port from where the actual ferry leaves. We asked in another ferry company’s office and they pointed us in the right direction. Our mistake was that we did not enter the building from the main entrance, but instead followed Google Maps directions to the Vecchia Dogana building, it looked much easier to enter from the main entrace, we realised too late. 🙂

Bus from Catania to Pozzallo
Check in time was 1 hour before the bus’ departure and was quite easy. We showed our passports and a print out of our booking confirmation to the staff members in the tiny Virtu Ferries office. They handed us boarding cards and told us that the bus would arrive 1 hour before departure and that we could leave our bags at that time and then could board the bus 30 minutes before departure. The bus left from just outside the building and arrived promptly one hour before departure. The driver just left though, probably to take a break or similar, so no leaving bags in the bus. He returned with one of the check in girls who seemed to tell him off 30 minutes before departure, and we finally got in our seats. The bus ride went smoothly, and we arrived Pozzallo about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

Pozzallo, Sicily to Valletta, Malta in Virtu Ferries Club Class
After jumping off the bus, we took our bags and just followed signs and after a short walk reached a security check. We had paid extra for Club Class, which entitled us to priority boarding. We were first in line, and were let on immediately after clearing security. Club Class means that you have access to the onboard lounge with its own bar/cafe up a set of stairs. The boat which we were on, The Saint John Paul II, felt super new and modern, and both the common areas as well as the Club Class lounge looked great. There were nice leather lounge chairs and plenty of seating. Flat screen tvs showed information and destination information. Upon arriving we were also handed a complimentary glass of orange juice, and there were small nibbles such as olives, chips and nuts that you could have for free.

We had not have any dinner so we bought some food and drinks, note that credit card only works as long as internet signal works (which is not that long). We had a quite small amount of cash, and we barely could pay for a second round of drinks an hour or so into the trip.

We had a pizza, which came fresh from a bakery it seemed, it looked quite nice, and was sold per slice. I can’t remember exact price, but it was probably around €4-5, wine was priced similarly. It wasn’t many people that took the evening ferry, so it was a lot of space in the club lounge. The lounge also has its own sun deck which probably is really nice during the day time crossings. We also took a walk on the 2nd class deck and had a look into the shop which had a small “duty free” kind of assortment of snacks, sun glasses and I think there was wine as well.

Just 1 hour and 35 minutes after leaving Sicily we got reception back on our phones and shortly we entered Valletta’s harbour. The city is beautiful and it was especially cool arriving at night. I have arrived Malta once before with a cruise ship during daytime which also is a fantastic experience.

We had priority departure and was off the ship a few minutes after arriving. We had booked a transfer through our hotel in Valletta, and those who had prior arrangements could leave straight to the pick up zone, without even entering the ferry terminal. Super convenient.

All in all I was surprised how smooth everything worked out, and especially the state of the ferry. It was really comfortable for the 1,45 hour trip, and the extra €20 or so felt definitely worth the perks priority boarding and disembarkation; and the relaxing lounge area onboard.

After spending three days in fantastic (but super expensive) Positano, we were back in Salerno for a last night at the Hotel Plaza. After breakfast we went to a nearby sandwich shop to stock up on some provisions for our next leg on our way to Malta; Salerno-Catania on a Trenitalia intercity train.

Salerno-Catania in Trenitalia Intercity First Class
As the grafitti covered train rolled into Salerno Centrale station we realized that we might not be as happy with this trip as our latest onboard the amazing Italo. We had paid roughly €30 per person for “1 classe” which was about the double from 2nd class, but still a worthwile upgrade for the nearly 7 hour ride. The carriage felt quite modern, and there were electrical sockets so we could charge your phones which is always appreciated.

Unfortunately we sat on the wrong side of the train, going backwards, and in a seat where we were facing our co-passengers. Great if you want to chat with other people for a while, but not fantastic if you want privacy and to mainly relax for a 7 hour trip. To add to this the grumpy guy that sat on the “right” side of the train shut his window blind meaning all the pretty sea views were gone. The lady that sat facing us tried to convince him to open it up, but no success unfortunately. After about three hours with constant stops (meaning the air con was turned off) we arrived Villa San Giovanni from where we was to take our second train ferry of the trip, the one crossing the Messina straight over to the city of Messina and thus Sicily.

The ferry ride was a quite nice break from the train, and we went up on the deck to get some air and eat our sandwiches we bought in the morning. I did not check the ferry interior, so not sure if there are any restaurant or similar onboard (there isn’t any on the train). We were free to stay in the train, and some of the other passengers did. The views from the ferry is quite nice though, so in my mind it is definitely worth it to get up on deck. We left our bags while away, but as mentioned the train is open (unlocked) if you have valuables with you.

A few minutes before arrival in Messina we were told via loudspeakers to head back to the train, and shortly after we rolled off the ship and into Messina Centrale. Here we had to stop for about 30 minutes for an unknown reason, and many in our carriage got off getting some air. Since we did not understand the announcement that was made in Italian (and too lazy to ask someone) we remained onboard. After 30 minutes we took off again, only to stop every 10 or so minutes for about the same time. This time though, we sat on the right side of the train and could view the beautiful Sicilian coastline while slowly progressing. A word of warning here, the train stops shortly at the smaller stations, and a couple of older tourists missed their stop, just because they were too slow disembarking. So they had to go to the next station and get off there instead, which probably was a good 20 minutes later. Eventually and finally we reached Catania, where we stayed at Hotel Villa Romeo, which as most of the other places we stayed was basically next to the railway station.

This was probably my least favorite train of the trip, but if we’d have had our own seat pair I think it would’ve been an entirely different story. The carriage was quite nice and modern, but it got super hot since the regular stops meant that the air con was off and did not fully cool the train until it was time to stop again. But this might have been extraordinary and not something that always happens.

Ristorante I Moschettieri
We arrived quite late and through Google Maps we found a restaurant next door that had good reviews and decided to head there. While not maybe a 4,6 as the current rating states, we were quite happy with the food and the price. The food was rustic and tasty, and we had Sicilian starters, a huge plate of spaghetti alla norma (eggplant tomato sauce) covered in ricotta salata, and a mixed grill platter with sweet Sicilian onion & tomato salad. All this was washed down with house wine, and I believe the total bill was around €40. Staff spoke good English and were very friendly. A classic cozy family restaurant, that felt super Italian.

After two days of pasta eating it was time to put on our backpacks and get on the road again. First step was to jump back on the SBB train we arrived with two days earlier to take it to its end station, Milano Centrale. We only had  40 minutes in Milan where we were to jump on a train that was on another ticket, meaning if we missed it we probably had to buy new tickets. Since that train was next most expensive (after the Nightjet) we were a little anxious. To stress us a little, the SBB train both arrived late and then made several stops during the 45 minute ride. Fortunately we still had 20 minutes when we arrived and found our new train quite easily. A lot of other passengers seemed to have missed their connections though.

Milano-Salerno in Italo Executive Club
The Italo has been called the Ferrari of trains, which I guess is due to its futuristic, sleek design, and for being red. We had splurged and booked the Executive Club class, which out of the four classes onboard is the “highest” for the almost six hour ride to Salerno. Since the price was about €60 in economy, and only €40 more for executive, totaling at around €100 per person, we decided it would be worth it since it was a quite long leg.

Having an italo Executive Club ticket we were entitled to use the lounge in Milan, but since we were late and noticed there was an airport style security check to get back in to the train departure area from where the lounge was we decided to skip it.

A few minutes before departure the screens announced our train was arriving, and in the distance we could see the red arrow arriving. We showed our tickets to the friendly train attendant and entered the carriage. Wow is all I can say; sleek comfortable leather seats, lots of space, personal tv-screens, free wifi, a screen showing speed (max 300 kmph during our trip) and the next station. Fortunately we got a private seat pair (we could not choose when booking on Italo’s website). In some of the other seats you had to face your fellow passengers, and those looked a little bit more cramped.

Before getting onboard we had not really understood whether or not food and drinks was included. But shortly after departing service started and we were offered a free espresso. Service then continued with complimentary alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, snacks (chips, nuts, cookies and so on you could choose from a box). After every second station or so they made a new “service round” and we probably had four minis of Prosecco each as well as sparkling water and soft drinks. About half way into the trip we had a small meal which consisted of a ham and cheese pastry as well as a sweet pastry that seemingly came straight from the bakery. Very nice.

After six hours of pure delight; a mix of the free prosecco, the super comfy seats and the great views, we arrived Salerno on the Amalfi coast. Absolutely one of the best train journeys I’ve experienced and probably somewhere in between premium economy and business class on a long haul plane. If you’re very hungry, there was some kind of onboard vending machine which I think had sandwiches, but we did not check it out. Next time I’d bring a deli sandwich or something like that to fill up on.

Where to eat in Salerno
We stayed super close to the train station at the Hotel Plaza (you see it when exiting the station). The hotel was nice, clean and while not luxurious, quite good (extra marks for good breakfast with free cappuccinos). It is both very close to the train station in Salerno as well as close to where the ferries to Positano and Amalfi depart (where we were going next). So we stayed for two nights, in total one night before going to Positano, and one night before leaving again.

Since Salerno is very close to Naples, we felt that pizza was mandatory, and we had pizza both of our stays there.

Pizzeria Sorbillo
Great pizzeria very close to Hotel Plaza. Only indoors seating, but reeeally nice pizzas, and good wine and beer. They had an English menu and the staff spoke English too. Pizza and a beer where somewhere around €10, so quite affordable. And the pizza was probably on my top five ever.

Pizzaportafoglio & Fessarie
Our second stay in Salerno, we ventured a bit further, about 1 kilometer from Hotel Plaza (just follow the busy street towards old town). The pizzas here were also amazing and also on the top five of my life. For two pizzas and two Cokes (we had a 24 hour alcohol detox after totally screwing our livers for three days in Positano) we paid €18, which sadly, or maybe hilariously, I don’t really know which, was what we paid for a shared mozzarella salad the night before in Positano a 1 hour ferry ride away.