I tested a new luxury sleeper coach created for travellers who want to give up flying

Twiliner coaches are kitted out with fully reclining seats, plus there is even a small bar onboard

Like other modern men I have adopted the habit of moisturising, which is precisely what I was doing as the coach stopped abruptly in Brussels, causing me to head-butt my reflection in the mirror. If vanity is a sin, consider me punished.

Getting ready for bed while being bussed across a major European capital is not easy. It’s like being tipsy. I skipped flossing for fear of another Glasgow kiss, left the lavatory and returned to the safety of my seat.

Overnight travel is all the rage in Europe these days. Amid growing demand for flight-free journeys, sleeper trains have made an improbable comeback as the continent rattles into a supposed new “golden age” of rail. Even the UK is getting on board, with the Caledonian Sleeper launching a service between Birmingham and Scotland.

Eager to get a slice of the nocturnal action is the Swiss startup Twiliner, which has a bold new proposition for Europe: luxury sleeper coaches. Though common in Asia and South America, the concept has yet to get going in Europe. Until now.

Aiming to plug the gaps in Europe’s night train network, Zurich-based Twiliner will compete with airlines on routes that it deems to be poorly served by carriers – like the one I’m travelling on tonight between Amsterdam and Zurich, which also calls at Rotterdam, Brussels, Bern and Basel.

The start-up Swiss company offers coach passengers an economical option and the chance to ‘Travel asleep across Europe’ - Remo Vettori

“This is our business route,” explains Luca Bortolani, Twiliner’s genial co-founder and chief executive, as he reclines in the seat next to me. “Brussels to Zurich is an expensive air route, frequency isn’t great and there are no direct trains, so we think we have a chance.”

Amsterdam and Rotterdam, he admits, were cheery add-ons. “They are close to Brussels, so we thought, ‘Why not?’” They also happen to be fun cities on a schedule dominated by serious financial centres.

The Twiliner coaches feature fully reclining seats - Remo Vettori

Coach travel, but not as you know it

It was in the Dutch capital where I jumped aboard, albeit after traipsing around the grimy underbelly of Amsterdam Sloterdijk station searching for the coach. Better signage is needed – and a welcome drink wouldn’t go amiss, either.

“That’s the kind of feedback we want,” says Bortolani, who’s even taking notes. “This is a new service; we are refining it constantly.”

As the rows of buses at Sloterdijk attested, overnight coach travel isn’t a new concept in Europe; the continent has some long-distance routes that would test the patience of a Trappist monk. The FlixBus Bordeaux-to-Bucharest service is a notable example, clocking in at around 50 wretched hours. I’d want a general anaesthetic beforehand.

Twiliner is different, though. Its double-decker coaches are laid out like first-class plane cabins with 21 lie-flat seats. There’s a lavatory and a dressing room, plus free Wi-Fi that actually works, an espresso machine and a small bar.

It took writer Gavin some effort to find the right bus at Amsterdam’s busy Sloterdijk station - robertharding/Alamy

I recline my seat and look around the dimly lit cabin as sleet comes down sideways outside. The lady in front who got on in Rotterdam is in repose, watching The Traitors on her laptop.

“On night trains you have to share a cabin, so you go to bed when everyone else does,” says Bortolani, in hushed tones. “On our coaches you just recline your seat and go to bed when you want. It’s more like an airline in that sense.”

The bottom line

How much, then, I hear you ask. Well, one-way tickets from Brussels to Zurich cost CHF150 (£140). The cheapest flight I could find on the same route over the next fortnight was £220 (including baggage).

But Twiliner’s coaches take about 11 hours to do the journey, compared with just over an hour on the plane. Even after factoring in four hours for transfers and airport faffing, that’s a six-hour difference, give or take – almost a working day.

It prompts an obvious question: Who is Twiliner trying to appeal to?

“According to our research, around 15 per cent of people are afraid of flying and about the same again don’t want to fly for environmental reasons,” says Bortolani. “Our coaches run on HVO” – hydrotreated vegetable oil, a form of renewable fuel – “and our emissions per passenger are as low as a train if we get 80 per cent occupancy.” Tonight, it’s more like 20 per cent.

Twiliner’s double-decker coaches stand out from other services, with their plush lavatories and dressing rooms - Remo Vettori

But these are early days. Presently, the company has just two routes (the other is Zurich to Barcelona), but the plan is for dozens more.

Somewhere in Germany, I nod off. Aside from the Brussels incident, the two drivers, who work on rotation, offer a smooth ride. But it’s broken sleep for me. I’m like the princess in The Princess and the Pea; I feel every bump and just can’t sleep on my back. But you have to on Twiliner’s coaches, for safety reasons.

And you have to put your feet in a weird sack that’s strapped to the chair to stop you flying horizontally through the coach in the event of a crash. It’s a custom safety feature developed by Twiliner to clear regulatory hurdles. But it makes me feel hemmed in.

Forty winks, then, prove elusive. But it was the same story last time I flew business and the time I took the sleeper train to Scotland. Other passengers, though, have no such trouble.

“Did I snore?” the lady who’d been watching The Traitors asks almost mockingly the next morning as she skips off the coach. “I slept so well.” Good for her.

On Bortolani’s recommendation, I head to a sauna on the edge of Lake Zurich, where I meet Alex, a British expat who works for a Swiss energy firm. I tell him about my adventure.

“That’s interesting,” he says, to my surprise. “Brussels is expensive to fly to, so that might be a good option, and my wife hates flying.” Twiliner, it seems, could be onto something.

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