Night train Berlin to Munich awful

Jerry, This is one reason why I VERY RARELY ever suggest taking a night train. In addition to changes in the "wee hours", there are other "negative factors" to consider (as you discovered). The method I would have chosen on that route is a direct ICE train. For example, there's a departure from Berlin HBf at 10:40, arriving Munich at 16:47 (time 6h:07M). The fare currently shown for that route is €121, which I would have gladly paid to avoid the hassles that you experienced. That's also not a bad time of day to arrive in a new location, as all the rooms should be serviced and ready for check-in. Cheers!

Give it another shot but splurge for the private sleepers. The Deluxe sleepers on the City Nightline trains are amazing! You get your own shower/toilet/sink, table/chairs, cabinets for your gear, and the beds are configured so you can see the scenery go by while horizontal. They are very modern and clean: http://citynightline.ch

From downtown to downtown, flying would take 5-6 hours (Munich airport is 40 min from the Hbf). With sufficient advance purchase (which you have to do anyway to get low fares on an airplane), you can do the trip on ICEs in just over 6 hours for as low as €39. I just found €49/p ($89 for 2 people) 91 days out. With the train you get more comfortable seating and a lot less hassle.

We were traveling on a Rail Europe pass and the first leg of the trip was on an ICE train and was nice. But in Hannover we changed to an old, dirty train with sleeper compartments. The seats were old and filthy which was to be expected on a U.S. Amtrak train. They are generally run down and dirty. DB trains are generally top drawer. But not the Hannover to Munich train. The sitting car seats were grungy and dirty, as we're the car floors. The cars seemed to be 1960s vintage. The air was stifling. Smoke in the sleeper area made going to sleep nearly impossible for someone like me with A sinus allergy to tobacco smoke. I will never take another sleeper train again. We paid a reservation fee plus 280 Euros for 4 sleeper cells. The train was not direct but required an 11 pm transfer. The connecting train (sleeper) was 45 min late and was delayed another 15-20 min after arrival. The crew was polite and helpful but I felt way overcharged. Never again. Ryan Air or other hungry carriers will get my business.

Another low cost carrier possibly, not definitely NOT RyanAir. First, Ryan doesn't fly from Berlin to Munich. Closest they get from Berlin Schönefeld is Stansted, in the UK, or Bergamo (somewhere around Milan). Second, Ryan doesn't fly to anywhere near Munich. Closest they get to Munich is what they call "Munich West", actually hours away from Munich by train in Memmingenberg. You could go RyanAir from Schönefeld to Stansted and from Stansted to Memmingenberg, but that is dangerous, because, if RyanAir gets you late into Stansted and you miss your flight to Memmingenberg, RyanAir won't honor the connecting ticket, even if it's their fault you missed the flight. My first choice, EasyJet, doesn't fly to Munich. AirBerlin might be faster, but not cheaper, than the train.

Private compartments are great, but they don't solve some of the other cons of night-trains Jerry mentioned (and some he didn't): like station stops, poor ventilation, alarm bells going off, noisy passengers in the halls, rough tracks, etc... I've taken a lot of night trains and rarely sleep well. With the advent of pretty cheap flights now, I'm a big believer in just flying for train trips over 4-5 hours.

All the private sleepers I've been on have had individual AC/Heat controls, that work well. Alarm bells????? It's a night train not an elementary school. Of course a train is going to make stops. It's a train........

Yes a train makes stops. A few minutes. Not 10 - 15. And during the long stops enroute the blowers shut off. In a non-AC sleeper cell this makes for a sauna-like experience. BTW I originally signed up for one of the super modern City Line trains with private toilette etc. was later contacted by Rail Europe and was told our train and reservations were no longer available. So instead we were put on the Berlin to Hannover to Munich route. Oh well. We wanted an experience. We sure got one!

Lee, I grant that CNL don't make station stops, but do they make delaying stops in yards or even at station without calling at the stations? So often the trains are fast enough and the tracks are good enough that overnight trains have to go slowly or stop to make the time long enough...

280 Euros for 4 sleeper cells I thought sleeper cells were to do with terrorism.... I'd have thought to get that many sleeper cells would have been a bargain for them... ;-P} Sorry you had a bad experience. I don't think any of mine, and I've had plenty, were that bad - but I never get proper sleep and find the "beds" small and uncomfortable. That's always in a sleeper, never a couchette, and I have taken my last night train.

"All the private sleepers I've been on have had individual AC/Heat controls, that work well. Alarm bells????? It's a night train not an elementary school. Of course a train is going to make stops. It's a train........" My experience is that the ventilation system often shuts off at times, perhaps when the train makes longer stops, though I try not to pay much attention and fall back asleep. I once had a couchette next to the conductor's cabin. Believe me, there ARE alarm bells that go off. Can't tell you what for, but that night the conductor was out of his cabin for an extended time. It was like having an alarm clock going off for about an hour... Station stops are often much longer on night trains, and the stations can be noisy. Or they make mid-route stops. All to make the trip longer; many night trains extend a normally 6 hour trip to 8 hours or so. Stops and starts jostle the cars, making lighter sleepers jolt awake. Despite all these (and other problems), I've still taken many night trains and do kinda like them. But I'll never tell someone to expect much rest.

I don't know why Jerry got switched from the CityNightLine train to the EN one, but I suspect it might have had something to do with going through RailEurope instead of booking directly on the Bahn website. CityNightLine schedules their trains to avoid middle-of-the-night stops. For instance, the night train from Berlin to Munich makes half a dozen stops after Berlin, to board passengers. After the last stop at 19 min after midnight, it doesn't stop for 6 hours until it lets off passengers in Augsburg.

"....My experience is that the ventilation system often shuts off at times, perhaps when the train makes longer stops, though I try not to pay much attention and fall back asleep...." Like I said, on all the private sleepers I've been on, ventilation has never been an issue. Even when the trains are being broken apart and reassembled and the lights don't go on, the AC still runs, and the toilet still works...probably on battery power. Never once heard a bell go off inside any train: day or night. Just like paying extra has it advantages at a Hilton compared to a hostel, pricier private sleepers are gonna be more comfortable vs. a cheap couchette car.

Why did you take a night train from Berlin to Munich...it is only a 6 hour trip.

@Nigel: night is the domain of freight trains in Germany. Moreover, the routing is often odd to allow coupling/de-coupling along the rout. For you to have an idea of the absurdity, the Amsterdam-Berlin train goes first to Oberhausen then... to Köln before going back north to Hannover.

How about some good night train stories to make me feel better? I've got three coming up (because I'm poor, and hey, can't be worse than trying to sleep on a plane, right? or camping?) Mostly I'm concerned because I'm dragging my mom along on two of them and I'm not sure she's as immune to poor sleeping conditions as I am. We have couchettes, and it's through DB.

lisa if you can, cancel the couchettes and upgrade to the private sleepers, they're much more comfortable and don't have a lot of the issues that couchette riders experience. The Deluxe sleepers on the City Nightline trains are amazing. You get your own shower/toilet/sink, table/chairs, cabinets for your gear, and the beds are configured so you can see the scenery go by while horizontal. They are very modern and clean: http://citynightline.ch

BTW, I tried booking directly on the DB website. After I entered all my booking information, a popup message told me that because I was in USA it was not possible to book my City Line night train on the website. The message instructed me to contact RailEurope to reserve the T4 couchettes. The super-cool new private sleeper compartments were not available on the night I was trying to book. This was in early March for an early July train. I had also tried in Feb but was outside the window when reservations could be made. I tried to be as smart as possible about booking. Someone asked why I didn't take the 6-hour train? Rick Steves and others had recommended night trains as a smart way of traveling while sleeping and not wasting an entire travel day. We were only going to be in Europe 16 days, so we were trying to make every day count. Plus, my family of four had never slept on a train before and we thought it would be a great experience. Not so much. Wouldn't recommend it, unless you can get the super deluxe and super expensive private sleeper compartments. Still not convinced it's worth the HUGE cost and being diverted / delayed enroute. I'd take an ICE train and use a day traveling but get a nice B&B with the monies. Plus RailEurope tacked on a surcharge and they were very disorganized. Two different people called me back and both acted as though their computers had never head of me or my request (made online). After hearing nothing, I called them and left a message. That's when the two different people called back. One was very slow and had troubles operating her computer and gave me a running commentary about it. Not impressive. BTW, do NOT reserve seats like on ICE via RE. Wait until you get to Europe. No RE surcharge and you can deal with a DB agent who knows how to do things. At least in that way I was smart. Probably should've bought my passes from Rick Steves!!

"How about some good night train stories to make me feel better?" You often get to meet different people and almost everyone I've ever met on a train is at least pleasantly friendly. Language can often be a barrier, but sometimes you luck out and get some nice chats with people. There is something romantic to the idea of departing a city in the evening and arriving in a new place the next morning. There will be a food car to get some snacks or drinks. There is often some kind of breakfast snack served in the morning. The trains are very safe and fairly comfortable. But couchettes can get cramped if they are full. As noted by most of us, there are pro's and con's to night trains. Some people love them, others hate them and the rest of us are in between. As cheap as flights have gotten, I'd mostly look to fly from now on.

Jerry, that's rough that you couldn't get the tickets from the DB website! I had no trouble with mine, so it's not a universal issue.