couchettes in all overnight trains?

Posted by Melissa (Boise, ID, United States) on 04/21/09 12:21 AM

I'm using the bahn website to see which of my connections can be made using night trains. How do I tell if these over nighters actually offer couchettes to sleep in? Or do they all?

And- if these overnight trains show stops or changes do they wake you up and let you know or is it up to you to set an alarm?

I'm trying to connect Paris and San Sebastian Sept 10, Granada and Barcelona Sept 19, and maybe Barcelona to Arles or Avignon Sept 23 and will have a railpass. I don't want to spend 7 daylight hours on a train but don't really want to do planes.

Posted by Adam

Boston

04/21/09 05:02 AM

4132 posts

Melissa, couchette service is NOT automatically offered on all night trains.

Use the Bahn site to drill down to the level that shows all the connections, and refer to the codes and the notes for each leg of the trip. They will tell you what is offered for each leg.

Posted by Lee

Lakewood, Colorado

04/21/09 07:25 AM

19274 posts

You might also look up the train on the Euraide Website. They show all the accommodations for which they can get reservations.

Posted by Steven

Ottawa, Ontario,, Canada

04/21/09 07:51 AM

521 posts

Take a look to see what type of train it is. On the Bahn website, it will use abbreviations of CNL (City Night Line) or EN (Euro Night). If it lists these, it is a train that offers sleeping accommodations.

As well, you can take a look at this list, which shows all the major night train routes.

Posted by Melissa OP

Boise, ID, United States

04/21/09 10:36 AM

158 posts

Thank you for your help. The abbreviations were what I couldn't figure out. It doesn't look like any of my wishful connections are possible using couchettes. I guess there will just have to be some looonnngg travel days.

From Granada to Barcelona I did see a HOT (I'm assuming that's a hotel train I've read about). I don't imagine a 2nd class rail pass holder gets discounts on these, huh?

Posted by Steven

Ottawa, Ontario,, Canada

04/21/09 11:36 AM

521 posts

Hi Melissa,

There are some other acronyms that are not as common and I was not familiar with.

The good news is I found out some interesting things. There is a NZ (Nachtzug - DB website calls it a "couchette train") from Paris to Irun (23:10 to 07:36) and then a connector from Irun at 08:15 to San Sebastian that arrives a 08:30.

There is the HOT (Hotel Train) that you listed, from Granada to Barcelona (21:55 - 09:29) but it is first-class only and therefore will be expensive.

Unfortunately, I could not find anything helpful from Barcelona to Arles/Avignon.

To get more information out of your searches on the Deutsche Bahn website, perform a search. When it comes up with all the details, click the arrow on the left-hand side of the route you want more information for. It will expand to show more details, including the full words for what acronyms were being used.