When travelers think of luxurious travel, buses aren’t necessarily top of mind. But one company in Europe is trying to change that.
Swiss transportation company Twiliner is kicking off a new night bus service later this year that will be more akin to a business class airline seat than your typical bus. The new service, which will launch in November, will feature 21 seats on a double-decker bus (18 on the upper level and three on the lower level), each of which recline into a fully lie-flat bed, according to the company.
Each bus will also feature free Wi-Fi, an onboard bar (with drinks and snacks available for purchase), a toilet, and a separate changing room. The bus will also include a luggage storage area with each passenger able to bring one large suitcase and one carry-on with them for free. Every seat also includes a personal storage area, a table, USB chargers, and a reading light.
But unlike a first class cabin on a plane, these buses don’t include any dedicated on-board service.
“We want to make travelling beautiful again,” Twiliner wrote in a statement. “Instead of mass processing, cramped conditions, stress and loss of time, our focus is on stylish, quiet and safe travel.”
The company said a “major challenge” of introducing the new service was how to make it safe, developing a restraint system that allowed passengers to travel on the road while lying down.
When it launches, Twiliner will operate on two routes: daily trips from Zurich to Amsterdam with stops in Basel, Luxembourg, Brussels, and Rotterdam along the way; as well as trips every other day from Zurich to Barcelona with stops in Bern and Girona. The company said it hopes to expand service to 30 destinations across Europe in the next three years.
Of course, with a luxury experience also comes a luxurious price tag and the cost of tickets won’t be the kind of budget fares people most associate with bus travel. A one-way ticket from Zurich to Amsterdam in November, for example, starts at CHF 150 ($187.50), according to a search by Travel + Leisure at the time of publication.
The service may be unique due to the lie-flat seats, but Twiliner is not the first to introduce an elevated bus experience. The Jet launched in 2021 with service between New York City and Washington D.C., boasting comfortable “HoverSeats” with motion-cancelling technology, 4.5 feet of legroom per row, and service complete with hot towels and snacks.
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