Sleeper Car Etiquette

I've taken two sleeper cars in the U.S. -- a bit ironic given the paucity of routes here -- and youth hostels throughout Europe. One bit of etiquette is everyone should go to sleep around the same time, even if you're not ready. Also, it's probably best to give the ladies the upper berth so they get a bit more privacy, unless, of course, they prefer the lower berth.

don't snore and take earplugs

I figure it is much like staying in a hostel room (that is moving) - not that you have stayed in one of those in decades either, most likely.

Indelicate, but I would think do what you can to avoid having to get up and go to the toilet in the middle of the night. Turn your bed light off when everyone else does. Get things for morning ready the night before - probably won’t be a ton of room. Wear pajamas that won’t embarrass your roommates. Turn over and pretend to go to sleep if you need to. I bet there’s a bed curtain. And offer the upper bunk if someone else wants it. Depends on whether they chose bottom or just got assigned due to time of ticket buying. Enjoy the new experience.

LOL, that is just a non-starter for me. To put it bluntly, I am likely to snore, I'll have to get up at least once for the toilet, maybe twice, Being old, I tend to toss a bit, over the course of a night, I sleep on each of my four sides at least twice, and if I do not watch what I eat and drink, belching and other gas emissions might arise.

None of those I can easily control, and are much worse than anything I can. I simply can't imagine sharing a cramped, jostling train cabin with three others.

Don’t bring food or snacks that smell bad, such as hard boiled eggs. I’m speaking from experience. Oh, and we slept in our clothes. Luckily we were young enough to not need to get up in the middle of the night.

One important way that things are different from The Olde Tymes is earbuds -- they are a kind of courtesy because it means that people don't have to be so careful about being silent since the others are in their own little sonic cocoons. Just keep your screen brightness low.

Hmm.
My etiquette for myself would be to upgrade to a more private cabin!
We await your trip review afterward……..best of luck.

When we were young, before the TGV, this is how we traveled. You sleep in your clothes, so wear something comfy. Nobody disrobes into pjs unless in a 1st class wagon-lit with its own separate washroom and beds with sheets and blankets.
A compartment with four strangers, besides sounding like an Agatha Christy plot, seems to be a second class couchette. There’s no private wash sink. You get a sheet and keep your clothes on. I used to keep my purse next to my head. The French couchettes were for six strangers, 3 beds stacked on each side. Bonne route. And there’s no curtain as we saw in American movies with trains.

• More private compartment; not an option.
• I have an upper bunk and word is thats not great. My "associate" is below so at least i sort of know who i will be distrubing in the night.
• Earbuds great idea. Will buy today. But thats something else to keep charged and charging things might be a problem. And will enocurage me to use my phone, which also becomes a charging issue.
  This is 11 hours. Doubt there is wifi.
• Appropriate sleepware? Same as what I am wearing when I board the train.
• Not snoring ... not option.
• No boiled eggs? Are eating crackers in bed acceptable? I am thinking beef jerkey. This is Hungary, bet all I can find is pig jerkey hmmmmm.
• Ahhhhh, the romance of the rails ..... naaaaaa

Not sure if you can use this, but here is my experience from a trip from Podgorica (Montenegro) to Beograd (Serbia) in September 2024 (this year). I'm 69 so your experience may differ.

1. The copartment had 6 beds - 3 each side. No curtain. I had the top bed. I tried to avoid this, but booking the day before departure I had no choice. It turned out not to be so bad, because the room is extended over the corridor, so I had extra room for my back pack.
2. Everybody else in the compartment were already bedded when I arrived, so there was no question of whether to wait going to sleep.
3. I arrived at the station rather early (no plan, this is just how I am), so I had time to charge my phone before boarding the train.
4. I had to go to the toilet 4 times during the night (normal for me). The toilet at the end of the carriage was broken, so I had to walk all the way to the end of the next carriage. Next morning I found that there was another toilet at the other end of my carriage. A little research would have saved me a lot of walking in a cold corridor and a VERY cold connection (= the jittery, scrambling, barely closed walk way betwen the carriages).
5. The train was late, so I almost got of at the wrong station, because it was the next after the scheduled arrival time. Luckily I asked somebody and found out. At that time I had packed and left my bed. I wouldn't go back and disturb the other passengers, so I spent 2 hours in the corridor. Next time (if ever) I will check Google maps BEFORE I get out of bed.
6. I didn't try to brush my teeth on the train, but used the station facilities before and after.

I hadn't travelled in a 6-passenger compartment since the 90s, so this was kind of new.
I still don't know if I will ever do this again, but I am by no means scared of doing it.

Specific for my journey:

The station in Podgorica resembled a Danish province station from the 80s. A dark building and you had to cross the tracks to get to the other platform.

The station i Beograd was light, modern (more modern than Copenhagen Central Station) with a nice restaurant, where I had breakfast, gathered my thought, got som cash from an ATM, and found out which bus to use for my hotel.

Thank you all. Very much appreciated.

The etiquette is the same courtesy you would like to see extended to you. You can be the best at that, but others maybe not so much. All you need us one rude person.
I would not like such a trip.

I can't wait to read your trip report!

Me too ......

All you need us one rude person.

To learn humility and tolerance.

Take a small flashlight with you. It is handy if you need to get up or find something (e.g., your shoes) after the lights are turned off.

I used to take night trains when I was young and using a railpass. The strangers in the compartment were never an issue; the issue was that I never got any sleep. I always slept in my clothes.

Pretty much sure clothes are staying on in the event i have to get up quickly.

Pretty much sure clothes are staying on in the event

That I can probably add to my list of reasons I can't share a cabin, couldn't stand to sleep in my clothes, or even pajamas, normally just boxer briefs. I pity the souls that would need to see that.

Paul, but sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do. When I sleep on the airplane (also about an 11 hour trip), i do it with my clothes on too. How about you?

How about you?

Don't sleep on planes, other than a short nap. Probably because I can't get comfortable.

That would be the better of the 2 possible options.

Just got my return ticket. 19 hours in a seat
Good Gwad! Europeans are nutz.

I did the sleeper option once, was a satisfactory experience. The sleeping compartment mate presumably spoke no English or very little, I didn't bother to find out, was not interested in engaging in a conversation. After the perfunctory greeting , I did not talk with him and he did likewise. This night train ride was 22 plus hours in Sweden.

Based on the article, I have no problems sharing sleeping arrangements in Europe, be it a coed dorm room in a hostel, did those several times in Munich and Vienna, obviously, all strangers and 1/3 my age. If "they" have a problems seeing a geezer in the coed room, too bad. Not interested in their "comfort" level regarding sleeping room etiquette.

In Aug. 1987 I took the overnight 19 hour ferry from Hamburg to Harwich, England, stayed in a dorm room , very cramped and uncomfortable, oppressively hot with 2 others, German guys, who weren't really chummy either, both younger than I. I didn't bother using English with them, spoke to them in some perfunctory German, and spent the least time in that room possible.

Bottom line, be it in a 6 person train compartment sitting up 9-11 hours on OeBB or DB , taking this option has presented no problems, minus one time, that occasion I see as a fluke, doesn't deter me from using the night train option at all in Europe.

Fred, you are a special bird

Leaves at 8pm arrives at 7am. Not exactly how I want to spend 22 hours

Please explain.

( How does 8PM to 7AM work out to be 22 hrs?)

My other question... Did you lose a bet to end up in this situation?

Lose a bet? No, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do for friends or family.
The 22 hours includes the trip to the train station.

so 22 hours is 11 hours on the train and 11 hours getting to the station?

Yup, pretty close. Pretty not-fun.

@ Mr E...skip this sleeper option and sit in the general seating area where all the passengers sleep upright.

Ideally, in a 6 seat compartment, it's best to have only 3 other compartment mates, in terms of being cramp and crowded. I have sat in the overnight compartment on OeBB with a full house, ie all six seats occupied, coed and all males, or solo males and solo females, 20 somethings to women in their 40s. That can get a bit cramp, everyone is civil and polite.

Usually all strangers, I am as much to them as a stranger as they are to me but so what, immaterial. My aim is to fall asleep regardless, normally, it's no problem sleeping.

If all strangers to each other, my experience is that hardly anyone strikes up a conversation, and then since it's OeBB the language spoken in the compartment is German, great for improving one's linguistic fluidity.

I can drop my trousers in the seats? That's excellent. Thanks Fred.