Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof — the city’s huge and thundering main train station — is one of Europe’s mightiest, with several levels of tracks serving over a thousand trains a day and a vast shopping mall of commercial activity. While a massive public expense, Germans consider infrastructure like this a good investment for both business and for everyday people. Just being here, for a train enthusiast like me, gets me all giddy. What train stations do that for you?
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Kings Cross in London! Liked it before, but now with the Harry Potter and Platform 9 3/4 vibe, I really love the place.
My favorite station is the Munich Hauptbahnhof. I love those august steel arches that make me feel adventurous and eager to travel. Plus, with the restaurants and other amenities, I believe I could live in Munich Hauptbahnhof.
I have not seen Berlin Hauptbahnhof because I have not been in Berlin since 2004, when Berlin Zoo was still the main station. Back then, I saw the construction of Berlin Hauptbahnhof and was glad that it was being built. Berlin Zoo struck me as way too small for such an interesting city.
I hope Berlin Hauptbahnhof has some personality. I am a train enthusiast, too, but some recently built stations in Europe strike me as a bit sterile, such as the one in Seville, Spain. What a contrast between it and the rest of Seville, which oozes personality.
Can’t talk about trains without mentioning Japan … Tokyo’s Shinjuku station (especially at rush hour) is an experience in itself. Plus, the shinkansen (bullet trains) gliding in and out every few minutes!
2 come to mind, first Paris Gare de Lyon, it was my first station during my first Europe trip in 1992, Paris to Nice. I wasn´t expecting anything like that.
And, Cologne, in 2007, I felt like I was in a WWII film.
I recently discovered the train station in Prilep, Macedonia. Quite the opposite from the fancy and efficient Berlin main train station, but very charming in its own way: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2014/08/11/macedonia-by-train/