Why clubbers are raving about Germany’s cross-country Techno Train

With DJs, bouncers and bars, the Nuremberg train offers a complete clubbing experience for hundreds of ‘clubbers’– and some lovely views of the Bavarian countryside …

‘Do you ever get seasick?” Timm Schirmer, a 27-year-old DJ with a fabulous blond moustache, asks me shortly before we board the Techno Train. “When you’re dancing on the train it can feel like you’re at sea, because you can’t always see that you’re moving.” Worryingly, I have indeed spent many a past holiday retching on boats. But Timm’s question comes after I’ve paid €100 for a non-refundable ticket for what social media suggests is the most intense train ride in Europe. I knew it wouldn’t be plain sailing.

Launched in 2019 by the Nuremberg nightclub Haus 33, for whom Tim DJs, the Techno Train runs twice a year and has only two official stops: the start and the finish. We depart Nuremberg’s Frankenstadion station at 4pm and travel about 100km west towards the city of Würzburg, then loop back and pull into Nuremberg Central Station at 11pm.