As a girl who spends a fair bit of her time and money on Britain’s railway network, I like to think I know a thing or two about what makes for a successful station experience. But whilst I’m pretty happy with a Boots, a Pret, and a fully-stocked shelf of tinnies in M&S; apparently some people have slightly higher standards. Luckily for those posher passengers amongst us, new research has just revealed the most ‘premium’ trains stations in the world. And – against all odds – a historic hub in London managed to make it into the top ten.
The research in question comes courtesy of the travel insurance experts over at AllClear. They scoured the globe in search of the swankiest stations, and collated their findings into a handy list. 40 of the world’s busiest transport hubs were analysed and scored based on factors including lounge access, dining options, retail offering, review rating, and nearby hotels. Once all of the numbers were thoroughly crunched, each train station was given a ‘Premium Score’. And perched comfortably in the ninth position on the list was none other than London Paddington.
One of the oldest railway stations in the world; London Paddington was given an overall ‘Premium Score’ of 65 out of 100. The historic transport hub was scored highly for its first-class lounge access (complete with complimentary refreshments), nearby hotel offering and rave reviews (many of which were waxing lyrical about the Paddington Bear statue that can be found within the terminal). The west London station (that just so happens to be home to Britain’s best railway station toilets) didn’t do quite so well in the retail and dining departments – but look, you can’t be good at everything, can you?
The world’s most premium train stations:
- Zürich Hauptbahnhof
- Osaka Station
- Kyoto Station
- Tokyo Station
- Toronto Union Station
- Firenze Santa Maria Novella
- Amsterdam Centraal
- Grand Central Terminal
- London Paddington Station
- Roma Termini
You can read AllClear’s full findings here.
