Sleeping on the night train...Fun adventure or miserable?

If you and your family can sleep without any problems on an airplane, then sleeping on a night train probably will not cause any great difficulty. Otherwise, prepare to arrive at your next destination ready for a long nap.

I can deal with one night in a couchette, but that's it. Your kids might think it's fun, since that it's a novelty, but you probably won't get the best night's sleep. A lot of people can't even deal with one night, as I'm sure you'll hear. I wouldn't book more than one night in case your family does indeed hate it.

Thank you both very much. I appreciate the advice, it helps enormously in planning a trip everyone will enjoy.

I have no experience with overnight trains. I did just re-read Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express." If you take any trains, overnight or not, your kids over 10 or 12 might enjoy the book before they go.

I think they are fun. But very much luck of the draw for sleeping. I wouldn't plan many of them.

The German rail site is a good source for night-train info, but click through to all the fine print. You don't want a trip with a 2-hour layover someplace at 3 a.m.

The best trains are often the slowest, to give you a full night. Unfortunately, many of the handiest routes have been discontinued.

I'm not seeing anything like a night train on the Chamonix-Nice run, but maybe I'm missing something.

Imagine five people crammed into a large closet, with the possibility of a stranger joining the crowd. You would be like human sardines. I have tried it with only my wife and one other passenger on a night train from Rome to Vienna. It was better than sleeping in a standard seat but not an experience I want to repeat. I still don't see how they can pack six people into some of those compartments.

My family of four (kids 14 and 16 last summer) enjoyed our one night train. I think the kids thought it was a new adventure. We booked a four couchette compartment, so we didn't have to worry about sharing with a stranger. I assume you could book all 6 bunks in a compartment so you wouldn't have to share. We all slept pretty well, I think. The train bathrooms were pretty bad by morning, so I was glad our train got in pretty early. We went from Paris to Munich.

Put me down under "miserable, completely." Also "again, never."

Tried it twice. Perfect conditions (well, best you could expect): 6-person cabin with just me and my wife (other 4 bunks empty) so we could sleep in any bunk we wanted. We had plenty of pillows and blankets (supplied), and brought along comfy clothes, eye-shades and really good ear plugs.

I never slept for 2 seconds, despite being dead-tired and all the best conditions. Too much noise, vibration, sense of motion.

The next 2 days were miserable.

Some people are just not build for sleeping in moving vehicles. It's a blessing when you need someone to drive at night (I'll never nod off behind the wheel) but is a curse when traveling. YMMV.

I have been on numerous night trains and I have had great experiences. Sometimes I only slept a couple of hours but that is because i met some great people and we ended up talking (and having a few drinks!) through the night. I also have met wonderful local people who gave me great advice on where to go and what to see that wasn't in the guidebooks. I can easily get sleep no matter what the conditions are though so the rattles and the shaking of the train do not bother me.

My wife and I took a night train from Paris to Salzburg. For me - NEVER AGAIN! Numerous stops, switching locomotives at the border, loud, inconsiderate people getting on the train through the night - YIKES!

My wife, on the other hand, slept the entire time - I had to wake her up as we were pulling into Salzburg!

Assuming with a family of 5 that you have young children? We did an overnight train from Bergen back to Oslo after doing the daytime "Norway in a Nutshell" train. We had 2 separate rooms with 2 bunkbeds in each - husband & son in one, daughter and myself in another. The kids really enjoyed it and the adults found it not too bad, but it was only for 1 night. We also did an overnight ferry on that trip. Again, the kids thought all the different transport options part of the fun of the trip.

My daughter also did 2 different night trains while on a trip with a few others and they had the larger couchette with 4 or 6 in a room. She just took some dramamine (has trouble with motion sickness anyway) and found it VERY easy to sleep. The others were somewhat bothered by the amount of people in the space - just hearing different people breathe, get up to use the bathroom, turn over, etc. I think I would have also been someone who would have been bothered by sleeping in a room with several other people, whether it was in a train or not.

Know yourself.

I can't sleep sitting upright. Long flights are hard for me. But let me lay down and I'll sleep just fine. It boggles the mind to read about someone with motion sickness taking a night train and then - surprise! - not enjoying it much. Duh!

Our family with children took a night train from Stockholm north past the arctic circle, in a 6-person couchette. It was great! we all slept well. We even shared the compartment with a lovely young woman from Australia. Yes, it was crowded. What else would anyone expect? But each of us had plenty of room to sleep once we were in our bunks.

It is amazingly efficient to stay in one city and sightsee until the evening, then take the night train and begin sightseeing in another city right away in the early morning. The alternative is to spend most of a sightseeing day (at a cost of around $500-$1000/day for a family when all costs are factored in) sitting on a train, staring out the window - or staring at an iPod.

This summer we will be taking two night trains; from Budapest to Krakow, and from Krakow to Prague. Thanks to the trains, we will be able to spend three very full days in Krakow, but only two nights. And we will spend almost no time awake in transit between those three great cities.

As for how to identify night trains? Use the Bahn web site;

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

and look for train departures that are after 7PM (19:00) AND have zero transfers. That is likely a night train. To confirm, click on the little arrow thingy on the left of the listing for trip details. Then (below, to the right) you should see a reference to the amenities available on the train, including couchettes, if any.

Give it a try. If nothing else, it will be a part of the trip you won't forget. Ultimately, that is the most important thing, in my opinion.

Good Luck.

We're in the fun adventure category. We have taken the Prague to Basel route a couple years in a row (last year with the parents) - it's very smooth ride, no disturbances in the night (I think they switch the train once in Germany), comfortable deluxe cabin with private bathroom and shower - we would take this night train anytime. Last year we also took a night train Venice to Budapest - this was the adventure of the 2 night trains and although we were woken up 4 times in various countries by various border controls (slovenia, croatia)...it was an adventure we wouldn't change for anything (even the parents loved it). We didn't sleep much but we also had a very laid back day planned following soaking in the baths in Budapest so we were okay with that.

Agree with previous posters -- know yourself and how you sleep. I would never take one that wasn't direct and less than 8 hours.

Also, as a side note - I suffer from motion sickness (subways that stop a lot, cars etc) but I haven't had any issues on night trains or any of the trains in Europe (guess they are just smoother?).

Took the sleeper train from Frankfurt to Copenhagen. Husband and I both, slept not a wink. Perhaps if we would have had one of those cozy looking compartments we might have, but those 6 bed compartments are awful. The toilets were also not a dream come true. We had a loud snorer in our compartment too. Will never do this kind of trip again.

My other thought about the night trains is this - People spend thousands of dollars to get to a country and then sleep while going through it. For me, a huge part of travel is seeing the land I am going through, the scenery, the towns, what kind of architecture and houses, the farms and so on. I think you miss a whole lot by sleeping. I don't think it is worth the money nor the time one thinks they save by not getting a hotel or hostel. I guess I just like seeing where I am going. :-))

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies. Sharing your experiences with me is very helpful in planning this trip. I appreciate it.