What constitutes a luxurious train station? In Britain, most travellers would probably be happy with a café that serves a decent flat white, clean toilets (that you don’t have to pay for) and an M&S for train snacks, if you’re lucky. Apparently, some are even better than that.
A new study has revealed the most premium train stations around the globe – these are opulent hubs that boast swanky passenger lounges, high end shops and fine dining restaurants, in locations like Zürich, Tokyo and Florence. Somewhat surprisingly, one British train station made the top 10.
London Paddington was named the world’s ninth most luxurious train station in the study, which was conducted by travel insurance specialists at AllClear. To create the ranking, AllClear analysed stations around the world for premium waiting lounges, retail density, fine dining options, premium hotels and overall reviews.
Paddington came after New York’s Grand Central Station in eighth and Amsterdam Centraal in seventh. It had an overall ‘Premium Score’ of 65 out of 100. Paddington ranked highly for its lounge access, nearby hotels and review rating – with the latter mostly thanks to the glowing reviews praising the statue of Paddington Bear found inside the station. It scored poorly on dining and retail, with respective scores of six out of 25 and seven out of 20.
Maybe the British rail service isn’t so bad after all. Do you agree that Paddington is one of the world’s top 10 premium train stations?
The world’s 10 most luxurious train stations
- Zürich Hauptbahnhof
- Osaka Station City
- Kyoto Station
- Tokyo Station
- Toronto Union Station
- Firenze Santa Maria Novella
- Amsterdam Centraal
- Grand Central Station
- Paddington
- Roma Termini
Plus: It’s now much easier to get to Stansted Airport from north London.
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