Taking the Twiliner Nightbus across Europe

I have travelled on overnight buses several times, which was generally anything but comfortable. So when the Twiliner Nightbus went live with chairs that fully recline into beds, this immediately piqued my interest. I was keen to find out if overnight bus travel could indeed be an enjoyable, first class way to travel. To answer that question, I travelled with Twiliner from Zürich to Bruxelles. In this blog you can read all about it!

Current routes

At the moment, Twiliner has 2 routes. The buses run 3 times a week in both directions with departures in the evening and arrivals in the morning. This allows you to travel while you sleep, combining transport and a hotel stay into one. As Twiliner is based in Zürich, you can now get to other parts of Europe very efficiently if you travel to or from Switzerland. The connection between The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland is particularly useful for onwards travel with Eurostar. But it’s also great to have another flight-free option to get to Spain. Hopefully Twiliner will expand with more routes in the future. They are certainly planning to!

• Zürich > Basel > Luxembourg > Bruxelles > Rotterdam > Amsterdam
• Zürich > Bern > Gerona > Barcelona

From seats to beds

The thing that makes me most excited about Twiliner are the innovative seats. With the simple press of a button, the seats extend downwards to transform into beds. It takes less than a minute and it’s fully automatic. The resulting beds are surprisingly comfortable. On top of that, I found the movements of the bus less disruptive than the feel of the tracks when trying to sleep on an overnight train. Because the lights are also turned off overnight, the Twiliner Nightbus makes for a much better sleeping environment than a regular bus.

There is also an interesting construction to guarantee safety while lying down. You put your lower legs into a sort of bag that clips in like a seat belt. The safety bag didn’t disturb me at all, whilst a seat belt would have. To add to the cozy feel of the travel experience, you also get a pillow and duvet. There are spare duvets in case you need extra warmth, but I found the temperature on board to be well-regulated. In short, everything you need for a decent night’s sleep is provided — and it’s completely safe, too.

Amenities

The buses went in operation in 2025, and they still look as good as new! It delighted me to find the bus pristinely clean when I hopped on board in Zürich. Bus toilets can be a bit of a nightmare, but not with Twiliner, which is honestly a big plus. Aside from being clean, the bathroom is also relatively spacious. On top of that, there’s a separate changing room to change into your pyjamas. The changing room even has a sink to wash your hands and brush your teeth.

When you travel with Twiliner, free hot drinks are included. Downstairs, you can help yourself to a cup of tea or coffee. There is also bottled water in the fridge that’s free to use. And if you’re hungry, you can buy snacks from a small pantry. By providing complimentary drinks, the idea is that the Twiliner Nightbus is the sustainable alternative to a business class flight. Add high-speed WiFi, chargers at every seat and a desk to put your laptop on, and you can see why this image holds up.

My experience

Unlike airports, the bus terminals that Twiliner stops at are close to train stations and city centres. When I travelled from Zürich, it was a mere 3-minute walk from Zürich Hauptbahnhof. When I arrived, the bus was ready for boarding. Check-in was quick and smooth, and I was allowed to enter the bus more than half an hour early. My backpack went into the hold, and smaller items were easy to tuck away above or under my seat. Each Twiliner Nightbus can transport up to 21 people, so it never feels crowded.

I found my allocated seat upstairs and settled in, getting ready to sleep. At 22:30, I closed my eyes, sleeping on-and-off throughout the night. I was a little worried about waking up on time for my stop in Bruxelles, as the bus continues on to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. I shouldn’t have worried, because the staff keep track of whom is travelling where. They will come to wake you up if you’re not staying on board until the final destination.

When I woke up at 05:00 in the morning, I noticed a traffic sign indicating we were either in or close to Bruxelles. I then got ready to disembark, as the scheduled arrival time was 06:00. We ended up being about half an hour early, so I had to wait a bit longer for my connecting train from Bruxelles-Midi. Next time, I would aim to get off at the final stop in order to get a full night’s sleep. Even though it was an early start for me on this occassion, the bus definitely served its purpose of being a sustainable and comfortable way to travel across Europe.

Most important tips:

• Book your ticket in advance, as buses can get fully booked at popular times.
• There is plenty of water available from the downstairs fridge, so no need to stock up before you travel.
• Bring comfortable clothes to sleep in, as there is a changing room.
• Wake up before the arrival time to have some coffee or tea.
• When travelling to Zürich, you can get a breakfast, shower and spa package at 25hours Hotel Zürich Langstrasse.
• Ideally, travel between the furthest stops to get a full night’s sleep.

* This post is based on gifted transport with Twiliner. Still, everything written in this post reflects my honest experiences.