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Overnight Train from Bucharest (Romania) to Chisinau (Moldova)

Posted by (Washington DC) on

Here's a Business Insider article from msn.com about the 13-1/2 hour overnight train between Bucharest and Chisinau. Read it and be grateful you weren't along for the ride. I must say that it doesn't sound very different from the couchette experience I had between Rome and Sicily in 2015, except for the lack of border controls. The loading of my Italian passenger car onto a ferry was a good stand-in for switching out the wheels between Romania and Moldova.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/i-took-the-32-overnight-train-from-romania-to-moldova-you-probably-shouldn-t/ar-AAWMqtP?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=80ea2730552e4457890b5f10f218154a

The distance between the two cities by road is about 270 miles. The train doesn't take quite as direct a route, swinging north to Iasi, thus the especially long ride.

Posted by
97 posts

Hilarious! Thanks for sharing! I have always fantasized getting an overnight sleeper train being a lot more like "North by Northwest" but I have yet to see a review where anyone seems to have enjoyed the journey.

Posted by
2331 posts

Oh my! For all those folks who think they can save some money and time by taking an overnight train! I’ve never even contemplated it, since I can’t even sleep on planes. And the idea that the bathroom was alright. Yikes.

Posted by
2439 posts

" ... taking an overnight train! I’ve never even contemplated it "

I've taken 2 overnighters, both 12-hour rides, both on DB Bahn City Night Line, both 1st Class cabins with full bathrooms and showers. 1 was from Paris to Berlin, the other from Munich to Hamburg. Slept incredibly well, large, typical German breakfast before arrival. For me, there was no savings in money, but there was a whole lot of comfort in the journey - couldn't beat the comfortable beds with the warm fluffy duvets.

Posted by
14550 posts

The author's first mistake was to get a sleeper. Unless that was required, I would not have done the sleeper option in taking the night train.

All the times I rode night trains since 1971, whether in Holland, ie, Vienna to Amsterdam, Sweden, Germany, France, Austria, I used the sleeper option once. That was in Sweden, returning from North Sweden to Malmo, a ride of 22 scheduled hours, providing there is no delay. The sleeper was all right, a good enough experience, tried once, but basically don't need it and spending the extra amount.

Definitely, there are savings using the night train option. Just don't get a couchette and sleeper. I ride the night train using the Eurail Pass, only have to pay for the seat reservation to sit in a compartment or the general seating area.

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