2020. Corona. Travelling is a different game. Yet our Fernweh acted up too often. So we arranged a train trip to Germany and Austria. Specifically to Leipzig in Saxony, several spots in Bavaria and returning home with ÖBB‘s Nightjet from Innsbruck in Tyrol to Brussels in Belgium. 

Our first stop is Leipzig. Leipzig Hauptbahnof is Europe‘s largest railway station measured by floor area. It is a terminus station. It has 26 ground-level platforms.

Hauptbahnhof is usually translated as main station or central station. In Germany and Austria the abbreviation Hbf is used, in Switzerland HB, as in Zürich HB.

In 2020 Leipzig Hauptbahnhof was ranked as the best railway station in Germany and the third-best in Europe, only surpassed by London St Pancras and Zürich HB, by Consumer Choice Center.

Indeed, Leipzig Hbf features a large shopping area with retail and catering vendors.  Such a feature is not always successful. In Antwerp-Central for instances, it doesn’t catch on.