which is the best railway stations you have visited in europe and why?

the one in the olde city of london..is it liverpool station? anyway...just for a station to visit and marvel at the efficiency..the mad rush of people..the majority incredibly tailored businessmen and women of londons banking establishments at the rush hour.... i sat on a bench and was giddy with the sight.

Edinburgh Waverley, for the view on either side as you go up the ramp towards the city<BR>Huddersfield, for its self-confidence<BR>London St Pancras, for its exuberant gothic<BR>Leipzig, for its size (biggest in Europe)<BR>Budapest Keleti, for its statue of Stephenson, its baroque restaurant, and its destination boards<BR>Venice, for the view as you step out of the station<BR>Istanbul Haydarpasa, for its combination of Prussian and Ottoman<BR><BR>[email protected]<BR><BR>

Le Train Bleu is a gorgeous fin du siecle restaurant in the Gare du Lyon.

Florence is very user friendly and the trains arrive and depart at street level, no stairs to tire you out. Also they have announcements in english which are helpful and there are so many timetable boards. <BR>Munich for the same reasons plus their abundance of cafes, during public holidays this is the only place to find a cafe open.<BR>Zurich and Geneva rate highly as well.

Waverley has to be one of the most amazing stations as you cut through Princes St Gardens and see the castle.<BR>Munich is now feeling very dated(60s), but it has just an amazing selection of destinations - all directions around Europe.

The main train station in Prague for the lovely Art Nouveau interior. I love how even a train station can be a work of art there.<BR>Also like the indoor jungle in Madrid's main station.

For looks, I'd have to say Milan. For efficiency, I'd go with Munich.

Hi. I really like the stations in Zurich and Bern, and the small one in Lausanne. J.

The interior of Antwerp's Central Station is incredible, the most beautiful train station interior I have ever seen. There are some pictures at this Web site: http://www.trabel.com/antwerp/antwerp-railwaystation.htm<BR><BR>For convenience and cleanliness, I most liked Rome's Termini station. <BR><BR>The dirtiest and dingiest train station I ever entered was the Central station in Naples. I like Naples a lot, but its main train station is the pits!

For efficiency in terms of buying a ticket and finding a train, Salzburg is a good station, but, admittedly, it is relatively small. <BR><BR>Of the large stations, the ones I have had the least trouble in using are Vienna West and Munich.<BR><BR>In Munich, you walk in from the street, and the platforms are lined up in front of you. <BR><BR>By contrast, Gare de Lyon is a maze to me for some reason. I have been in there 5 times and nothing ever looks familiar. Even buying a ticket for a local train is confusing to me. <BR><BR>I have not used Waterloo in a while, but in the past it always struck me as being confusing place although I always found my train.<BR><BR>

Some people may be lost by Janis commendation of Prague main (hlavni) station. When I last was there the present entry was postwar, ugly, underlit, and the abode of gangs of pickpockets who work in threes. But off platform 1 was the gallery of the hall, with a splendid domed ceiling to mark the station?s earlier name, Wilson station (memories of 1920). When I last looked it needed repainting, but perhaps the energetic Czechs have done that now ?<BR><BR>[email protected]<BR>

The Gare d'Orsay! It's got all these lovely paintings but I couldn't find the platforms for the trains.

Two celluloid dollies for Jsmith. I had the same problem at Gare d'Orsay.<BR>I got so involved in the art work, that I forgot to look for the tracks!!<BR><BR>Come to think of it, Lausanne and Bern are nice too. I think Luzern has a logical layout as well.<BR>

Joyce, thank you for the link to that website for Antwerp's Central Station. I've never been there, nor seen photos of it before, and it does look absolutely gorgeous. <BR><BR>It's amazing to see the great beauty -- as well as hideousness -- that mankind can create with buildings.

Hamburg HBF is a REAL station. I could spend hours on the balcony overlooking the hustle and bustle on the platforms below. Not easy to navigate with the stairs down to the tracks, but nevertheless a great incite into the importance of European train travel.

For many servicemen of World War II, the stations in Gourock and Greenock in Scotland because it meant you had traversed the Atlantic safely.

Geneva because it is connected to the international airport. Incredibly convenient and easy to use.

Admittedly I haven't traveled by train more than a few times, therefore, I haven't seen any that are outstanding. I must say that the worse one, in my opinion, is Gare de Lyon in Paris. It's very small, with a handful of benches, and only a couple of places to get a quick continental b'fast.