The Night Riviera Sleeper

The Night Riviera is Great Western Railway's sleeper between London Paddington and Penzance, at the far western end of Cornwall. It runs every night except Saturday, one train in each direction: you board in London before midnight, wake up in Cornwall to a light breakfast brought to your cabin, and reach Penzance just before eight.

It is one of only two sleeper trains left in Britain. The other is the Caledonian Sleeper to Scotland, and the Night Riviera is the smaller and quieter of the pair: seven carriages behind a diesel named after a castle in Devon or Cornwall, with two seated coaches, a lounge car and the rest given over to cabins.

The night hides most of the way west, but Cornwall comes in the morning. The train crosses the Tamar on Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge, climbs over the high viaducts of the Cornish main line, calls at Truro and runs the last miles beside Mount's Bay, with St Michael's Mount out in the water.

The train leaves London Paddington at 23:45 on weekdays, from the station Brunel designed for the Great Western Railway. Its only stop before the West Country is Reading, to pick passengers up, and from there it runs through the night without stopping until Taunton. That long run lets it take whichever route is open on a given night — through Westbury, or round by Bristol — when engineering work closes the line.

Into Cornwall at first light

It calls at Taunton, Exeter and Newton Abbot in the small hours. Between Exeter and Newton Abbot it runs along Brunel's sea wall, beside tidal water for about 13 miles, four of them open sea below the cliffs at Dawlish and Teignmouth; the sleeper passes it in the dark, so ride a daytime train to see it. From Plymouth on it only sets passengers down, and a few minutes after Plymouth it crosses the River Tamar on the Royal Albert Bridge, opened in 1859, the year Brunel died, and enters Cornwall. The Cornish main line was built cheaply, on dozens of timber viaducts; their masonry replacements still carry the train across the valleys, at Moorswater below Liskeard and into Truro, where the cathedral's three spires stand over the city.

The last miles

Beyond Truro come Redruth and Camborne, Hayle and St Erth, where the branch to St Ives leaves. Then the line reaches the shore of Mount's Bay, passes the depot at Long Rock where the train is serviced, and ends at Penzance, the southernmost station in Great Britain. Going east, the train leaves Penzance at 21:45 along the same shore, picks up as far as Plymouth, and reaches Paddington a little after five; cabin passengers may stay aboard until 06:45.

The train itself

GWR runs two identical sets of Mark 3 carriages, one each way each night, refurbished in 2017–18. Coaches A and B have airline-style seats, coach C is the lounge, and the rest are sleeping cars with single and twin cabins, one of them accessible. At the front is one of four Class 57 diesels, rebuilt in 2004 from older Class 47s and named after castles in Devon and Cornwall.

The Night Riviera runs every night except Saturday: one train west from Paddington and one east from Penzance, Sunday to Friday. A through journey takes about eight hours going west and seven and a half going east.

Westbound, Monday to Friday nights

Eastbound, Monday to Thursday nights

Good to know:

• Sundays: the westbound train leaves Paddington at 23:50 and reaches Penzance at 07:55; the eastbound leaves Penzance at 21:15 and reaches Paddington at 05:04. Fridays east, it arrives at 05:08.
• Pick up and set down only. Westbound, Reading is for boarding only and every stop from Plymouth on is for getting off; eastbound, it is the other way round. You cannot use the sleeper between two Cornish stations.
• Boarding. At Paddington, cabin passengers can wait in the First Class lounge on Platform 1 from 21:00 and board from 22:30; GWR warns that works around Paddington sometimes delay boarding. At Penzance boarding starts at 21:15 (20:45 on Sundays).

Times as of October 2026, from the National Rail journey planner, with boarding arrangements from GWR. Check your date on gwr.com (opens in a new tab).

The Night Riviera is a National Rail train, so you buy an ordinary ticket and travel in an airline-style seat at no extra charge, or add a cabin supplement for a bed. Sampling the National Rail journey planner on 2 October 2026 for one adult on Tuesday 6 October, the lowest single from Paddington to Penzance was £80 and the lowest return, coming back on the Thursday night, £150. GWR prices the cabin supplement from £49 for a single cabin and from £59 for a twin, per cabin, depending on the season, how early you book and how full the train is.

GWR says the cabins are usually very popular and recommends booking early. Up to two pets travel free, with a £30 cleaning fee per cabin. Fares checked October 2026 on the National Rail journey planner (opens in a new tab) and gwr.com (opens in a new tab); pounds sterling, one adult.

Interrail passes are valid, for a seat. Interrail's table of railway companies lists the Night Riviera sleeper as included in Great Britain, reservations are compulsory, and a seat reservation is free when made online with GWR. A cabin is a different matter: Interrail says sleepers can only be booked at the full fare for now. An overnight train with no change after midnight counts as one travel day, but not on the last day of a pass. A one-country Interrail Great Britain Pass costs €218 for an adult in second class, for 3 travel days within a month.

Visitors who do not live in the UK can also buy a BritRail England Pass, which is valid on the Night Riviera; the berth has to be booked before you travel.

For this journey alone, a pass is not worth buying. A return from Paddington to Penzance sampled at £150. A pass pays only when the sleeper is one night of a longer trip around Britain, and you are content with a seat.

Checked October 2026 against interrail.com (opens in a new tab) and britrail.com (opens in a new tab).

The train arrives in Penzance at breakfast time, with the whole day ahead. The places below run from east to west: Truro and St Ives are stops on the way, and the rest are a short walk, a bus ride or a boat trip from Penzance.

The sleeper is the night's accommodation, but a night either side makes the trip easier. In London, the Hilton London Paddington is part of the station itself, the building that forms its front on Praed Street. In Penzance, the Queens Hotel stands on the promenade, looking out over Mount's Bay.

Planning this trip and stuck on something, or spotted a time, fare or detail that has changed? Send us a message about The Night Riviera Sleeper. We read every one, and we update this page when something has changed.