Great looking Train Stations

Antwerp Central Station and London St Pancras are two of my favorites in Europe. In France itself, Limoges Bénédictins and Strasbourg are quite impressive as well!

Milan Central Station - beauty

Leipzig Central Station - sheer size

Bremen Central Station - façade

Kaiserbahnhof Potsdam, the Imperial Station

Gdansk Central Station - façade

Keleti p.u. in Budapest , Hlavni Nadrazi , in Prague , Helsinki Central ,Finland , Salzburg Hauptbahnhof , Salzburg , Gorlitz Station , Gorlitz, Germany , Karlsplatz Stadtbahn , Vienna . I am a rail buff and a lover of Art Nouveau design. These are all stations I have visited .

A surprise for me: São Bento railway station in Porto, Portugal was stunning.

I haven't seen nearly enough, but I was taken with Birmingham's (England) Moor Street Station. Could be a movie set.

Nyugati designed by Eiffel https://images.app.goo.gl/yVfCVEYqMvLvRumC7

Sao Bento is my favorite ... also Milan Centrale and Budapest Keleti ... can't wait to walk around Madrid Atocha when I (hopefully) go in late October ... also looking forward to St Pancras / Kings Cross, Amsterdam Centraal and Antwerpen Centraal stations on my trip next April/May.

" Could be a movie set. " Not really very notable , but this station in the North of England was used as the set for " Brief Encounter " the 1945 movie directed by David Lean about an unrequited love affair . Carnforth , UK https://carnforthstation.co.uk/ and the film for anyone who is a movie lover - https://youtu.be/LguRis_h1qc

Keleti p.u. /Budapest, Leipzig Hbf., Flensburg Bhf./Germany, St. Pancras Station,

I love many of these grand train stations described above. I always want to stand on the platform after arriving and just stare with my mouth wide open at these steel and glass marvels. However the first two stations that came to mind that haven’t been mentioned are much smaller but I wanted to soak up every square inch of them. Those stations are, the preserved in time, Eisenach, Germany and Lindau, Germany stations. Both stations still have their original tile, hardware and wooden embellishments. I took numerous pictures this summer of the arched Soviet era stained glass windows in Eisenacht depicting 70 Jahre of automobile building in Eisenach (Opel factory on outskirts of town) and UMF Ruhla watchmaking factory window at the other end of the entrance hall. Beautiful buildings and original features, I hope they don’t get modernized to the point of losing this look and history.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenach_station

Leipzig is my favorite!

One of my favorite train station touches is at Hlavni Nadrazi ( Prague ) . Prior to any announcement for departures , they always get your attention by playing the first few bars of music from Smetana's " Ma Vlast " ( My Country ) first movement " Vysehrad " . Played on the Harp , an example here -https://youtu.be/9ANoNl-91bc Not the whole of this , just the beginning

Gdansk's train station is indeed lovely. The original it copied in Colmar, France is also.

Gonna have to say Frankfurt.
Built in 1888, it is one of the older stations. Leipzig has a similar look but was built in 1912, I believe?
I love the stone statues, the ironwork, the way the sun comes in at certain times, the massiveness of it, and the exterior is just plain beautiful. Especially at night.
Right now, they are doing major renovations, so it is a mess.

Of course, Karlsplatz Stadtbahn/Vienna has that regal exterior, a reminder of the Dual Monarchy's past. One of the episodes (The Devil's Kiss) of the PBS series "Vienna Blood" was filmed in that area of Karlsplatz.

I’m very surprised the train station of Antwerp is only mentioned twice. This train station is included in most if not all “most beautiful train station in the world” lists. I’ve been to some of the other stations mentioned here in this thread and for me they pale in comparison to the splendor of the “railway cathedral” in Antwerp. In fact I’ve been in cathedrals that were less grand…

Not everyone has been to Antwerp - or felt the need to repeat it if someone else had already mentioned it.

Yes Antwerp is special.

I'm surprised than nobody has mentioned the approach from the old town and the lake at Luzern.. What a facade!!

Copenhagen central station should also be on the list. And Stockholm, at least the main building, the area around the tracks are dull in comparison. And there are a few impressive ones in northern Sweden. Haparanda has a very large and fancy station for such a small town. The viking-inspired Boden is also charming.

On the continent, Hamburg Hbf, most of the large terminus stations in Paris and Lviv also deserves to be on the list.

For more modern stations, Berlin Hbf and Liège-Guillemins are impressive. And Stuttgart will be when it is finished in a few years.

Not yet mentioned, Toledo.

Modernism is not always beautiful, but Liege, Belgium by Calatrava is lovely. And it can be enjoyed from your carriage steps at a short stop. It gives New Yorkers an idea of what was lost in the budget-cutting to his design of the Oculus transit center/mall in NYC.

"Gdansk's train station is indeed lovely. The original it copied in Colmar, France is also."

Interesting, expanding on that -

"The existing [Gdansk] station was built between 1894 and 1900, with the official opening on 30 October 1900. The station shares its design with Colmar station in Alsace, France [which was completed in 1907] and which was part of the German Empire at the time as well."

I found the train station in York to be architecturally fascinating - it has a long, curved layout with tracks coming into the iron and glass train shed that seems perfect for an old English railway station. The ironwork inside is beautiful. The exterior is more functional than memorable but it's been high on our list.

I agree with you Steve about York's station. It was an interesting subject in my photographs.

"In Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations by Simon Jenkins, the station was one of only ten to be awarded five stars."

I love the National Railway Museum in York!

I agree that Antwerp is at the top of the list. It's beautiful enough to be a sight in itself. I would also include Amsterdam's station, which is pretty gorgeous, St Pancras Station in London, and the Milan station.

I also loved the Cologne, Germany station, which is a beautifully designed very modern looking station. I could also say the same thing about Berlin's Hbf.

I think Helsinki Central Station is a stunner. Gorgeous architecture by Elie Saarinen in a very characteristic Finnish version of Art Nouveau.

And right up to date, Rotterdam is amazing.

The monumental station in Helsinki looks like it’s straight out of Gotham. I found it a little scary myself.

Badger, I chuckled at

And Stuttgart will be [impressive] when it is finished in a few years.

Who knows how long those "few" years will be 😂.

An interesting note to consider - Helsinki Station is Art Nouveau , but not the sinuous florid design of the early years of the twentieth century , By 1909 , the year of its construction , the style was shifting to more angular and pre expressionist thinking which can be seen in the later work of the Viennese architect , Otto Wagner . ( his Postal Savings Bank is a good example.) Some of the work in The Darmstadt Artist's Colony in Hesse , Germany , near Frankfurt , is indicative of this evolving style change - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmstadt_Artists%27_Colony

Agree with Rotterdam too, really nice piece of modern architecture.

Canfranc near the Spain, France border. It’s being repurposed as a hotel I believe.

Already mentioned, but the azulejo tiles at the São Bento station in Porto are amazing.

Thanks for starting this post. I've loved looking up the different stations.

And regarding the train station versus railway station, I posted an article for fun. I grew up calling them train stations so I found the article interesting.

https://bridgingtheunbridgeable.com/2014/11/12/railway-station-or-train-station/

Obviously not in Europe, but thanks to Ford Motor Company, Detroit's Michigan Central Station is a stunning repurposing of a sadly long abandoned train station (I'm calling it a "train station" as it's never been referred to as "railway" in this area). It's projected completion is the end of 2022 or early 2023. It's interesting that as a youngster I first stepped foot in Michigan at this station and much later retired from Ford's headquarters in Dearborn. It was stunning architecture before it fell into neglect.

The adjoining Roosevelt Park is undergoing refurbishing and much of Corktown, Detroit's oldest neighborhood, is in transformation.

https://detroitmi.gov/news/city-detroit-begins-6m-remake-roosevelt-park-front-michigan-central-station

https://michigancentral.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lierLWpiqso

I used to be in Detroit a lot on business - i always marvelled at that station and thought about what it once must have been like in day (good on Ford for bringing it back to life) plus the beautiful Art Deco buildings in DT Detroit.

periscope, I saw Michigan Central a number of times between the late 50's and mid 70's as my family members traveled between Somerset PA and MI. It really was impressive to me.

In the 80's I used to lunch with my IT friends at the Guardian Building when it housed Mich Con - that's probably our greatest Art Deco jewel.

I'll try not to further derail the thread - I just thought this was a great example.

Agreeing with Deb earlier upthread-Porto Sao Bento Train Station In Porto, Portugal is my favorite but there are some others that are also truly beautiful in Europe.