We are traveling to Florence on the night train from Paris. Plan on reserving a couchette for family of 4. Can luggage be brought into couchette or is it left elsewhere on train? When using day trains where is luggage stored or can you keep it with you?
Posted by
Vancouver, BC
162 posts
The luggage should be with you; but remember, pack light. If you insist on several trunks of clothes, evening dinner wear, formal wear and a staff of several to carry your luggage you might have a problem.
Usually the luggage is with you in a compartment or couchette. If it's a carriage, the luggage will probably be at one end of the carriage.
Luggage on another carriage checked in like an airplane? I've only seen that in North America and Australia. Maybe that happens sometimes in Europe, but I've never seen it.
Posted by
OP
Hampton, USA
20 posts
Thank you Chris, I know we have 1st class Select passes, but have never used trains during other trips abroad. Keep reading up about security and leaving luggage unattended. Several things have mentioned luggage locks, etc. Don't want to be paranoid, but who wants a vacation ruined when luggage is stolen.
Posted by
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
206 posts
We are also a family of four taking a night train for the first time in August. It is my understanding that there is a fair amount of storage space in the couchette compartment (both over the top bunk and under the bottom bunk). If you haven't already you might want to check out the web site www.seat61.com for info and photos of couchettes. Two years ago when we traveled mostly in Italy, we took a cable lock (combo lock with 2-3 feet of cable) that we used to lock luggage to the overhead rack, or one time we had to use the luggage compartment at the end of the car, and we could at least lock all our suitcases together to make it harder to grab quickly. The lock gave us some piece of mind and was quite inexpensive.
Posted by
Redding, CA, USA
1568 posts
We used the cable locks for the luggage. You can attach them to anything stable.
http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php?_room=3&_action=detail&id=111