boxinglisa

I will be traveling from Rome to Paris on the night of Dec. 25. I am a little apprehensive about situations that I don't know anything about so can someone please help me. I did a search but could not find info.

What should I expect on the train? I am in a two person couchette(is that what it is called?) with my friend so we don't have to worry about other people. What is the couchette like? Do they have a location to buy food? Is the train noisy or rocky? I need general details like this.

Thank you!

GeoffHamer

Couchettes have four or six bunks. If you've booked a two-berth compartment, it'll be in a sleeping car (wagon-lit). There are older sleeping cars where the compartments have wash basins, and new Excelsior sleeping cars where the compartments have a bathroom with a shower, toilet and basin. The train has a restaurant car with a bar, and each carriage also has an attendant who gives you a glass of sparkling wine or juice in the evening, and a coffee, croissant and free French newspaper in the morning. The restaurant car does dinner and breakfast.

suze

As above, wagon-lit is the term I've always heard for private cabins featuring fairly normal beds for 2 people. Couchette are 3 to 6 people and more like fold-down bunk platform style beds.

I recommend bringing your own dinner picnic with you. Wine, bottled water, some pre-made sandwiches (or bread, cheese, salami, etc.), fruit, cookies, like that. I've had great fun traveling with a friend and doing this to pass the evening, before going to sleep.

As for <noisy and rocky>, well it IS a train (just kidding, a little bit). Different people's tolerance and ability to sleep on a train are different. I actually can get a reasonable night's sleep myself, while I could never sleep on a plane.

LoveItaly

I haven't but my stepson and family did a couple of years ago. Their TA should have gotten them an open jaw tickets but instead had them fly from westcoast of US to London,that they trained to France and Italy with last stop in Rome. Month of August. Hot, humid etc.

They than had to train back to London via Paris. They hated the train ride back. But considering they had done 2 much in 3 weeks and went at the worst time to Europe IMHO with teenager and an 80 year old with wobbly legs I don't they would have like anything by the end of their trip.

My experiences on the trains have been daytime and basically have always been pleased with them. Wish we had this on westcoast of USA.

BTW, I do know that my friends in Italy that travel on train trips over 3 hours always bring their own food, pretty much the type of food Suze recommends.

Intrepid1

for better information go to www.seat61.com and click on "Italy" the left-hand sidebar. There are also pictures of the various types of sleeping accommodations.

kswl

Just made this same trip, but from Paris to Rome. The train was older, but everything worked just fine---except that we did not have running water! The conductor said something to me that I did not understand in Italian when I asked him about it, so I don't know if it was just our cabin or everyone's. But the shared bath in the corridor has a sink, of course.

Spacewise, the cabin was fine. The beds pulled out just as they were supposed to. I did worry a bit that my son's bunk was going to crash down on top of me, but got over that pretty quickly and---obviously--it didn't happen! They do serve meals in the dining car, and you will be asked as soon as you get on the train if you want reservations for dinner. The night we were on it was lasagna, I think, and looked okay. The train swayed gently and put me to sleep, but unfortunately made my 13-year-old son motion sick. We pulled over several times and stopped for about 30 minutes at a time during the night, and whenever we did that I woke up. But those delays were not unanticipated, because we arrived right on schedule.

I'm glad we took the train, although it was wickedly expensive since we waited so long to buy the tickets. We managed to get from France to Italy without losing a day in travel, and we did not have to pay for an expensive hotel in Paris, so in all those respects it was a good choice for us.

PalQ

My company sells tickets on these trains, which were once billed luxury trains but RailEurope sent us an e-mail say to no longer bill these as luxury, or premier, trains because of the many complaints they have received about them. I booked two friend on these 'Artesia' Night trains two summers ago - right during Europe's brutal unheard of heat wave where temps rarely got under 90 at night for weeks and they said the air conditioning wasn't working and they were totally miserable. In winter have to worry about heating i guess. But the trains are still OK probably if you don't expect 'luxury', especially in a 2-berth private double. Like Suze says bring your own food, especially since you have a private room so won't feel inhibited about picnicking in front of strangers - many Europeans bring their own food and drink on board (no rules against bringing own booze!) Otherwise you'll always be able to eat in the pricey restaurant car or buy overpriced snack items from the sleeping car attendant. Anyway taking night trains is exciting always for me, i'm sure it'll be for you as well.

kswl

Makes me glad we went when neither air conditioning nor heat was needed--

Maddy

How much is the usual fare for the private 2 person sleeping car for this route?

Seamus

Yes, I have done this trip and it is an OK way to maximize touring time by using the night to travel. Given the usual cost of a sleeper it does not really save a great amount in terms of hotel cost, but it does save time. As already mentioned, if you are in a 2 person compartment it is not a couchette (which has 4 or 6 pull down beds that are sold on a first-come basis so you can end up sharing with people not of your acquaintance) but rather a sleeper compartment.
Absolutely bring your own food - you can pick up some things at the train station if nothing else.
Some find the gentle sway and low level sound of the train to have a calming effect, others who are light sleepers may not enjoy it at all. If concerned, bring earplugs and perhaps one of the motion sickness bracelets (elastic with a bead that presses on your inner wrist) just on case. some nice wine before bedtime helps, too!

suze

Maddy- I remember we paid about the same as I would have spent for a 3-star hotel room in a city. Hopefully someone has a more accurate answer about pricing.

boxinglisa

I paid $200 total for a two person compartment.It would have been $160 to share with 6 or 4 total people.
Lisa

ben_haines_london

There is a note on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.geocities.com/rexbickers/tipsnighttrains.htm

ben.haines