2 Berth sleepers from Budapest to Brasov?
 

I'm afraid I'm ignorant of train configurations in Europe in general, more so in these areas. I have been reading a bit on Seat61 but am hoping that I have just missed something.

Is it likely that there is a train running this route from Budapest to Brasov, Romania(or Sighisoara or Sibiu - we can work with those) that has a 2 berth compartment for a couple traveling together? Or is potluck in finding a spare 3 berth and a kindly conductor really the only option? I'd have to think about it, but could a person even possibly purchase the 3rd berth as a spare?

Best case though is that I am hoping that I've just overlooked a train that has 2 berth compartments.

Message:
I'm afraid I'm ignorant of train configurations in Europe in general, more so in these areas. I have been reading a bit on Seat61 but am hoping that I have just missed something.

Is it likely that there is a train running this route from Budapest to Brasov, Romania(or Sighisoara or Sibiu - we can work with those) that has a 2 berth compartment for a couple traveling together? Or is potluck in finding a spare 3 berth and a kindly conductor really the only option? I'd have to think about it, but could a person even possibly purchase the 3rd berth as a spare?

Best case though is that I am hoping that I've just overlooked a train that has 2 berth compartments.


Seat 61 was a good place to start. There is also a note on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm, but you may need to enter it via http://www.twenj.com/.

All sleeping cars in and to Romania have compartments of 1, 2 and 3 berths. So if you find a sleeper in the timetable you have found what the two of you want. The best for Brasov is the Dacia Express. Board at Budapest Keleti about 2250, leave 2310, lock and chain your door against thieves, wake for frontier controls (but stay in bed) 0245, lock and chain your door after controls, reach Brasov 1050, which due to a lock change feels like 0950. If you wake early you can ask your conductor to lock your sleeper door, and go along to the restaurant car for black coffee, omlette, and forested mountain views.

Other sleepers leave Budapest Keleti at 1810 and Budapest Nyugati at 1605, but reach Brasov at 0542, and 0646, too early, especially with the clock shift.

You cannot buy the third berth supplement as a spare, since the rules say bookings fall void if not claimed by ten minutes after you leave Budapest.

Please write if I can help further.

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The older European sleeping cars have three-berth compartments. The bunks can be folded away, so the compartments can be made up for one, two or three people. If you want a compartment for use by two people, you must specify this when you book and pay a higher fare. In most countries, if you want a three-berth compartment for two people, you have to pay the first-class fare plus a supplement for the sleeping berth, but I don't know about Hungary or Romania. Fares in eastern Europe are much lower than in western Europe. The railways' web sites are www.mav.hu and www.cfr.ro.

Thank you gentlemen for your help. This sort of thing looks so confusing on "paper". Ben, I was hoping you might spot this. There is no beating expert advice. This Brasov arrival is the train I kept seeing on websites - Train R347.

Geoff, thanks for the sites. The CFR site was where I had been looking - but it was shown as a "couchette" train, when a sleeper car icon was available, but unused. The Bahn.de site was also vague. The Hungarian site, new to me, showed otherwise. That helps.

We're feeling adventurous and I'm sure all will be fine regardless, but I'd feel more comfortable if we were not separated. We really should get a current Thomas Cook before we go, but they aren't the most common thing to find in bookshops around here. Mail order, I suppose.

Again, thank you both.

Clifton:

I don't know about international trains, but within Romania the solution is simply to buy all the berths in a compartment and buy the appropriate number of extra tickets.

It sounds ostentatious. But for, say, Bucharest-Suceava it costs about an extra €15 in total.

Flanneruk,

15Eu is my kind of ostentatious. It isn't often I can swing "ostentatious". Good suggestion.

By the way, just curious what the likelihood of finding a left luggage space at any stations in Romania would be? Not the small towns I wouldn't think, but anyone notice one in places like Sibiu, Brasov or Cluj?