Share your overnight train experience

Not sure why you would want to take an overnight train Paris-Zurich, as there is an 8:24AM TGV from Paris-Est that gets to Zurich in 4.5 hours with no changes, and several with 1 or 2 changes in a little over 5 hours.

Have never done Interlaken-Venice, but suspect the routing means a few train changes, which is not conducive to a restful night. Example: Interlaken Ost to Spiez (.5 hours) Spiez to Bologna (6 hours, arriving 5:19AM) Bologna to Venice Santa Lucia (leaving 6:11AM arriving 9:26AM).

My experience with couchettes is that they are comfy. I'm always too warm, but I'm a big guy and always seem to get the top bunk. I doubt if I would sleep very well on the Spiez-Bologna leg of the above routing, and it's still more than 4 hours to Venice.

Research on the Die Bahn website (English-language version-- http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en) will give you some ideas of options.

Toilets are either end of each car, and are, to be blunt, public.

You know the cost of a night train with sleeping acoomadations, is often no cheaper then travelling in the day and getting a cheap hotel room. Night trains are not always a good deal, especially when you pay for upgrades and reservations and times that by 2 or 3 persons. A decent room can be had in many places for under 100 euros, that is per room, so if the "night train" is more then 25-35 eruos more per person what is the deal in sleeping uncomfortably on a train.

I am a huge proponent of night trains, but back to back would be crazy. I have not had the same issue with sleeping well that many others have mentioned, but my wife has. Two nights in a row of potential bad sleep is not advised when traveling.

If you end up in a sleeper car that could potentially have other people in it besides you, then be courteous. I made the mistake of forgetting that other people could be in the sleeper car. It was 1:00 AM when I threw my bags on to the top bunk only to find a poor Japanese teenager already sleeping up there. My bags landed on her and woke her up. I was very embarrassed. She just rolled over and went back to sleep.

I agree that night trains are wonderful, if you're not a light sleeper. However, I think it'd be silly to take the night train from Paris to Zurich - just catch and early morning train and be there before noon. As far as decent restrooms, well...that depends on your definition of decent. They work. That's about it.

I like night trains, too--partly because I have no trouble sleeping on them. Unless you're going to splurge for a sleeper, choose a four-person couchette rather than a six-person couchette. The extra space and comfort is worth a few more euros. Couchettes and sleepers lock from the inside.

If you take a night train from Paris to Zurich, you will arrive in Karlsruhe at 04:56, have a one-hour layover, and arrive in Zurich at 08:58. In exchange for a very short night's sleep you will save the cost of a night in a hotel. However, you can leave Paris at 06:24, change trains in Basel, and arrive in Zurich at 10:58.