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Until 2014, you could have coffee and light breakfast on one of the tram lines in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Unfortunately they have discontinued this long tradition since, for the last two years, no new business partner could be found.

Are there any other cities with such regular tram bistro service, e.g., daily or on the weekend, and scheduled throughout the entire year, not just as a special tour?

Enter image description here

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  • AVG in Karlsruhe has 4 bistro light rail sets: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadtbahn_Karlsruhe#/media/… I don't know it they are in use at all as bistros. They run/used to run regularly, though. – Sebastian Sep 14 '18 at 9:17
  • I've seen one like that in The Hague passing by, but didn't catch the name. – Farid Nouri Neshat Sep 14 '18 at 9:51
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    Of course if you can't find what you want, just do it yourself – jcaron Sep 14 '18 at 17:17
  • What's with the close votes? The set of trams with cafe services on board is quite limited. – lambshaanxy Sep 16 '18 at 17:53
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I know of at least two:

  • Colonial Tramcar Restaurant in Melbourne, Australia, three seatings per day every day.
  • SpåraKoff in Helsinki, Finland, operates hourly in the afternoons during the summer season (May-September). More of a pub though, no food on offer.
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  • how do you mean, "three seatings" per day? – J. Doe Sep 14 '18 at 7:00
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    There are three set times when the restaurant serves meals, so you need to be there on time to board. – lambshaanxy Sep 14 '18 at 7:18
  • IMHO the Colonial Tramcar food sucks and it really isn't worth the money. – Peter M Sep 14 '18 at 11:14
10

Zürich has a gourmet tram line. The food is seasonal (for example Fondue in the winter), and the food on offer is more 3-course-meal than coffee and small breakfast, which is reflected in the price too.

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    Ouch. And coffee + small breakfast in Zürich is already more expensive than a 3-course-meal in many other cities. :-/ – Eric Duminil Sep 14 '18 at 8:46
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    They also offer vegetarian/no meat alternatives on request which is a surprise. – RedBaron Sep 14 '18 at 10:12
9

The VAG in Nürnberg offers various special tram tours which include either coffe+ cakes, breakfast or a Schnitzel-dinner. See https://event.vag.de/rundfahrten/ (sorry, seems to be German only...)

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    sorry so much I was not precise in my question. Think many cities allow tram based tours; also in Dusseldorf you can rent a tram and do more or less what you want a couple of hours (frequently used for birthdays and wedding parties). What I look for is like it has been with that one line until 2014.. – J. Doe Sep 14 '18 at 6:27
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    While you can also rent a tram the tours I mention are public tours - although only at special times, so you can't just hop on when you feel like it.... – piet.t Sep 14 '18 at 6:36
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Milan

Tram ATMosfera drives on a daily basis for dinner. I hope you are ok with that. Company uses a historical rolling stock, adapted as a restaurant car.

ATMosfera

Image COURTESY of Trip Advisor

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    Off topic comment: when I was in Milan one night I became completely mad when I saw another tram of the same rolling stock with lights, music and people screaming inside while the car was moving. Wanted to be with them!!! – usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ Sep 14 '18 at 10:18
5

Some of the cars on Аннушка (Annushka) route of Moscow tram are restaurant cars.

They look like this supposedly: Annushka tram Moscow

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5

In Frankfurt am Main exists the Äbbelwoi Express. Not exactly a bistro, but serves the very local kind of cider. It runs through most of the famous parts of the city.

enter image description here

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1

Christchurch, New Zealand

Christchurch has some loops of tram track which are for tourism purposes, not for general-purpose public transportation.

Meal is a four course meal with drinks before and tea/coffee to finish.

The tram is Melbourne #411, built in 1927 and ran till 1982. Refurbed in 1999 and started service in 2000 in Christchurch.

https://www.christchurchattractions.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Twilight-New-Regent-St-2-main-768x500.jpg https://www.christchurchattractions.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/christchurch-tramway-restaurant-waitress-1-1.jpg

At $109 NZ /person in 2018 its definitely not a snack, and the whole meal takes about 2.5 hours over several orbits of the track.

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  • This is definitely a tram, but its not a "food service in a tram" Instead its more of a "full restaurant on wheels" so may not match OP's expectation. – Criggie Sep 16 '18 at 1:55
1

There is also a regular daily service in Brussels the so-called Tram Experience. Well strictly speaking not daily as it does not run on Mondays. This is not a light breakfast, it is an evening meal catered by gourmet chefs.

https://visit.brussels/site/en/sites/tramexperience/m_article/concept

I have never used it so cannot say what the food is like.

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