Women's Couchette

Is it just you travelling? There is no point in paying for all 6 berths in a couchette, you could buy a single cabin cheaper. You then get a washbasin to yourself and total privacy.

Or do you mean buying one berth in the 6-person couchette?

You say "evening train". I assume you mean an overnight train. This is a nightjet train. It is designed mostly for people travelling to Switzerland. Depart Berlin Hbf 21:06, arrive Baden-Baden 05:27. This is very early, II hope it is OK for you.

You should assume that all berths will be in use, though it's possible that they will not be. Fairly often couchettes are totally sold out. My only recent experience on a night train was in southern Italy (2015), and all four of the berths were taken. It was a 4-berth compartment.

Are you aware that there's a day train that takes less than 6 hours?

Yes it is just for me, 1 person. Of course I'm not booking 6 beds LOL.

Yes I know there are day time trains.

I'm just wondering from WOMEN how likely it is that every bed will be booked in a 6 couchette room.

Well, it has been 20 years since I last took a night train but I took many of them and always booked a couchette. The ones I took were always co-ed; I don’t think the option of a woman only couchette existed back then. Most of the time they were full. Once I was in a couchette with just one other person (a young American guy). Back then, rail passes were cheap and I didn’t have much money. Now, I never take night trains as I never could sleep a wink on them.

There really is no way to predict whether the couchette will be full.

I am not sure I understand why it would matter if in a 6 bed couchette (love that word) there are 6 occupants, or 4 or 2. It is approx. 6 hours out of one's life.

Because I'm an optimistic person

Oh, that explains it then. I think.

I am female. Believe me, the problem with couchettes is not how many other people share the space with you. They are bunk beds, so you don't really gain anything if there's an unused bunk.

Less smells and more circulated air. Also (I could be wrong about this) The middle couchette (I like that word too) folds up if no one is using it giving more space.

You're right about the middle level; I wasn't considering that. However, that presumes you don't have a couple of people in the compartment who want to avoid the top bunk, which is a bit harder to climb into.

Don't you reserve the actual location of the bed in the room though? On the OBB website you say your couchette preference (top, middle, or bottom). Of course people may say F it and take a bed that isn't theirs though.

I've only taken one night train recently, and on that occasion (Italy) I wasn't asked to pick a bunk. But that proves nothing: different country, different sales agent, different year.

I haven't looked at night trains in a while, since CNL stopped running them, but, as I remember, only "sleepers" were gender specific. Since in a 'couchette' you were expected to sleep in your clothes, genders could be mixed. If a mixed gender couple wanted to book a sleeper, it had to be a two person sleeper. The only way a mixed gender group could book a sleeper, was if they booked all the beds in the sleeper.

Do a dummy booking for the 21:06 NightJet from Berlin to Baden-Baden. If you request a couchette, it won't ask you your gender. If you try to book one person in a sleeper, it will ask for your gender and say, "Due to customer demand, multi-bed compartments for single persons are only offered as single sex."

Boba I would count onnit being full , and if it isn't then it's a bonus !!

The 6 person couchette is coed, no women's only couchette, that doesn't exist. The sleeper is gender specific.

Instead of a couchette you could just sleep in sitting upward in the general seating area. That option is the absolute cheapest.

Hi Boba

I used to work on overnight trains.

It is rare that the women-only couchette is fully booked as not many women know about it. You are only given a berth in it if you ask for it specifically. I know it is possible on the Nightjet.com website, bahn.de I can't remember having it.

On most trains I was in charge of there were two or three women.

To maximise your space, try getting a four-berth women's couchette. If they have one it is only a little more expensive, but then you'll definitely have more space, as the middle bunk is folded away by default.

Hope this helps.

A women's couchette does exist! I saw it right on the OBB Nightjet website!

Thank you Edward. I ended up taking someone on this forum's advice about something and tweeked my plans to do something that made sense. I still might do an overnight in a women's only couchette but not sure yet.