Night train prices

You can get night train prices for Munich to Budapest from the Bahn website because the Bahn sells them online. Not so for the other two routes. Go to the Bahn Query page and put in Munich (Muenchen) to Budapest and the date (within 92 days). Use 1900 for the time. When it comes up with a list of connections, look for the 0 change EN (EuroNight). The first time you click Check Availability, it will ask for you age. Give it your age and it will come back to Check Availability. The second time you click it, you will see the fares. The first column (Savings Fare) is the advance purchase, limited refundability price. The last column is the fully flexible price. Both those prices include the rail part and the accommodations part.

I think that's a great night train itinerary you've chosen, Jim.

Remember to get some good Hungarian liverwurst (pair it with Egri Bikavér 'bull-blood wine') for the room picnic on the way to Krakow, and a bottle of Żubrówka 'bison-grass vodka' (have that with 'Smalec' schmeared rye bread) for the trip to Prague.

Rail Europe also sells reservations or you can see an overview of prices by route at http://www.euraide.de/base/p/Overnight_Trains_Map/, list on the left side of the page. I provided two direct links on your earlier question.

I would also like anyones experiences on night trains.

Overrated in my opinion. I've taken A LOT of them and they worked for me as a college student and budget solo traveler. Would I take them now that I'm older and married? No. Almost all I've taken (I haven't taken the ones you are considering) are clean and safe. I've met some nice people. And if you get your own private compartment, you'll have some privacy. But don't expect to sleep well if at all. They can be cramped, noisy, bumpy and with lots of starts and stops. Just about every time I wind up the next morning in a new city VERY early and no hotel yet (check in not until afternoon), no shower, little rest and very tired and groggy the rest of the day. Not the way I want to spend my vacations anymore.

Douglas needs my 'room picnic' tutelage.

You do wake up a touch hung over, but that could happen any night on vacation. Especially in a college town or beach resort.

Night train experiences. We have taken three: Istanbul to Stara Zagora, Bulgaria; Chernivsti, Ukraine to Odessa, Uk.; Bucharest to Budapest. The first two were fifteen and nineteen hours long, the last was about eight or nine hours. The first two were totally miserable. Bucharest to Budapest was in a nice couchette. The Istanbul on and Chernivsti on were in six bunk cabins in cars about forty years old.

What I've found. Night trains go all over the place and stop wherever milk cans are out along the railroad. Start and stop. Start and stop! Night trains are slow. In my opinion they are not worth the time or the money and I have had my last experience on them. The romance of them is lost on me, thank goodness.

The car we were in from Istanbul to Stara Zagora had ugly old squat toilets with no paper and no water and nothing to hold on to. Picture that! The train from Chernivsti to Odessa was better but as soon as I opened the cabin door in the morning a commuter walked in, sat down, and went to work on her computer. I closed the door but that didn't phase her. Another commuter peeked in as if looking for an invitation which she didn't get. No, no more night trains.

"You do wake up a touch hung over, but that could happen any night on vacation. Especially in a college town or beach resort. "

Except the crucial difference being that you can choose to sleep off your hangover and gently wake yourself up in the above scenarios. With a night train, when you arrive at the station, off you go! What, you're still tired because all that start-stop and noise kept you awake? Too bad!

Add me to the list of travelers who boldly declare "Night trains... never again!"

On experiences taking night trains: basically no problems, no problems sleeping or falling asleep, or waking up fit, no safety problems. Practically all fellow riders I've met were polite, normal, civil. On my first trip 44 years ago (three times, once in a Sleeper, was ok). I started using night trains. Now I take mainly the CNL trains. Only once I found it taxing putting up with the compartment mates, who were a teenage school group a couple of years ago. That was going to Paris, which I should have expected might happen, a German class group taking a night train.

Night trains do fill up, the greater chances of finding one sold out is doing it on a Saturday night in the summer. People take them, if they can do it, it shouldn't bother me either. Recently, I always factor in one or two night trains on every trip. Since certain night routes have been dropped, I notice those discontinued are in Western Europe. Taking a night train from Frankfurt or Munich to Budapest, or other routes to Vienna, Berlin, Krakow by night are still in operation. I prefer the night train that arrives between 0630 and 0730. By that time I'm ready to get off, head to the hotel or Pension to check in, and have breakfast.

Yes, you might get the feeling it's crowded in a six seat compartment with all seats taken and luggage packed in there. That hasn't been exactly my experience all the time. I'm not going to pay for a Sleeper or couchette. I won't deny some of the negative experiences you might encounter on the trains, true, they happen, ie, the bright lights at train stations, screeching mechanical sounds, the jerking movements, snoring in a general seating area, or the train just stops along with other. disturbances.

Most of the best travel photos I have hanging on the walls were taken in the early morning... ('magic hour' lighting, no tourists in the shot, and a unique artist's perspective brought about by sleep deprivation).

Maybe you should look at those early morning arrivals as a blessing? Especially if you weren't comfortable in the sleeping arrangements anyway.

And Jim, always spring for the private car. You can't spread out a proper room picnic if you're sharing a couchette. 'Comfort' class is fine. Even if I had a 'Premier' class cabin, I would go down the hall to use a restroom. My wife and I are more considerate to each other than that.

Thanks for all replies. Wine and food sounds perfect.