Taking the night train

We used to take night trains (Rome-Geneva, Munich-Venice, and the worst, Baku-Tiblisi. But why? The planes are faster and the airports (mostly) conveniently close to the cities. And you'll arrive in time for a fine dinner.

One big problem. Many travelers (myself included) find it very difficult to get adequate sleep on the trains. The supposed benefit of freeing up an extra day for sight-seeing is canceled out by the fatigue.

We took the City Night Line from Frankfurt to Vienna and had a very good experience. We had a private cabin, which was comfortable, and we slept well. The motion of the train was smooth and soothing. Wash basin in the cabin, shower and toilet down the hall, light breakfast brought to us in the morning, attentive steward all made it a good experience. It was my first night train experience and the "romance" of it was kind of fun. We saved quite a bit of time and some money by traveling at night, and started the next day of our trip refreshed and ready to go. We dropped our bags at our hotel before check-in time and hit the streets. I'm glad we did it. On another trip (right now I'm blocking on where, when, and who, but it wasn't in Germany) I didn't get a wink of sleep and felt grumpy for days. The motion of the train wasn't smooth; it was jerky and seemed to stop every few minutes. It was noisy, cramped, and even kind of dirty-feeling. Not such a good experience. I wouldn't want to do that again. My conclusion is that the night train experiences are highly variable.

Sharon, It's a really good idea to check the details on nights trains, to ensure that you're booking a direct train rather than one that has changes. If you have to change trains at 02:00 and again at 05:00, you WON'T be getting much sleep. If you book a private Sleeper, the trip will likely be fairly comfortable but it won't be cheap! If you're willing to sacrifice some privacy you can reduce the cost somewhat by booking a Couchette, but it won't be as comfortable and you could be disturbed during the night when the other guests go to the WC or whatever. You might be unlucky and have a Couchette mate that "snores like a Gorilla"! I generally structure my trips so that I can avoid night trains, either by scheduling an intermediate stop or by using budget airlines. Happy travels!

My experience, 12-hour night train trip from Paris to Salzburg, Austria - constant rocking of the train (varied in intensity according to the quality of the track), frequent stops to either pick-up/discharge passengers, or change locomotives at border, passengers getting on in the middle of the night were noisy and obviouisly drunk. Arrived in Salzburg at o'dark thirty (5:00 AM) and had to wait until the trolly busses started running to get to our hotel. Luckily the hotel we stayed at let us have our room when we arrived - some won't or can't, and then you are stuck. I will never - I repeat - never take a night train again.

I've taken City Nightline trains and loved it...slept very well! I splurged for a private Deluxe Sleeper which includes a shower and toilet. The windows are positioned so that you can watch the scenery go by while lying in your bed. Others have mentioned that they prefer using budget airlines over night trains, my experience is the opposite. I have had so many troubles with airlines like Ryanair that I have vowed to never again take a flight within Europe, night trains have been filled the void nicely.

As the responses have shown, experiences can vary significantly and it's not a good option for many people. If you get a private cabin, you won't save money compared to a hotel or airfare. But you might be more comfy and sleep better. Couchettes can be fun as you meet people and I've never had a bad experience (I've taken many night trains) but sometimes no one speaks much English or are not chatty at all. Couchettes are not comfy and few will sleep well at all. Expect to be groggy and feel icky the next day as you probably won't shower or sleep much. The fewer people in your couchette the better the experience: a full 6 person cabin is VERY cramped but often you may only have 2-3. Schedule also affects the quality of the trip. Many trains leave very late (after 10:00pm) and that means finding something to do that evening and coordinating luggage. And many arrive very early meaning your hotel will not have a room ready even for early checkin or local transit systems may not be fully running. Track quality will effect how well you sleep but even more so are numbers of stops. You actually can sleep better at long stops (often used to make a normal 4-6 hour trip stretch to 8-10 hours). But the comings and goings of people and noise at stations will wake you up thoughout the night. Having said all this, I love the rush of leaving a city at night knowing in the morning I'll be in a new city and meeting people. And there is a romance to taking the train. And there is always the hope I might be bunked with 4 Danish women!

I will add a positive note - we were in a 6-person compartment and shared it with three Chinese girls who were music students returning to Salzburg. It was very interesting chatting with them and they were all very curious about Americans and even learned a little more English. They were sweet girls and helped make the evening pass until it was bed time. It was down hill from there......

"airports (mostly) conveniently close to the cities" A few years ago, I did a study of access time to airports. Just considering travel time, not including waiting for the vehicle, major airports into town average about half an hour. Wait time usually adds 50% to that time. (Note: most RyanAir airports have only bus service and just the travel time is about an hour. Many RyanAir buses are timed to the planes, 20 min after arrival.) Of the first four airports mentioned, only Geneva is fairly close to town. The bus take 6 minutes and runs every nine, so the average time from airport bus stop to town is about 10 min. On the other hand, the Leonardo Express runs every half hour and takes 32 min, average time to town, 47 min. The bus to Marco Polo airport (Venice) runs about every 20 min and takes 20 min; aver time 30 min. The S-Bahn to downtown Munich runs every 20 min and takes 38 min; aver time 48 min. The above times don't include locating ground transportation, often at a strange airport.

When I traveled to Europe on business, the company wanted me to talk to prominent doctors in the field, and they were scattered all over Europe. On one trip I flew from Saarbrücken to Hamburg and then to Munich. On another I flew from Munich to Marseilles to Paris. But, that was for business. For the vacationer, hopping around like that is madness. You spend too much money and/or too much time traveling, when you could be seeing something. If flying or a night train is practical, IMHO you're traveling too far. I've spent 10 nights on trains (9 in this country, going to/from college, and once in Europe), and I slept fine. Of course, on the trains I had my own bed in my own compartment. I think I would have trouble in a seat on a rail coach overnight; I can't sleep on a plane, sitting bolt upright (almost) in a big room (cabin) with hundreds of other people. The CNL train from Amsterdam to Munich leaves Centraal at 20:31 and arrives in Munich at 7:16. That's 10h45m. I suspect most people are in their hotel room not long after 8:30 and not out until after 8 AM, so the time used by this night train is otherwise unused. Compare that to flying, which, considering time to the airport, preboard (check-in, security), flight time,finding ground transportation and travel time into town), would involve 5 hrs, right out of the prime daytime hours, and a lot more hassle. With advance purchase, an economy double on that train is €109 per person; a deluxe double (WC and shower) is €149 pP.

Thanks, everyone, for such informative replies. I will keep all your comments as we plan our next adventure. We rode several trains on our last trip. Not sure where yet, but the romance of the overnight rails sounds like fun, and we are not keen at all to hurry up and wait at the airports.