hey all,

i'm looking into an overnight train from Paris to La Spezia (with a 30 minute transfer in Milan around 5am). And another overnight train from La Spezia to Salerno (no transfer).

As a female traveling alone, is this concerned extremely unsafe, or will I be ok assuming I take precautions (sleep with money belt on, with my bag under me)? If I do take the night train, does anyone have any safety tips?

Thanks in advance!

That will depend on how you want to travel. If you travel first class with your own compartment (you usually end up paying a premium to have a compartment for your own use) then you will be fine. The door locks and there is a button to push for assistance.

I would not advise travelling by yourself in the "open" parts of the train.

What TorontoSeven said.

You will be fine in a private compartment.

I would rather pay the little bit of extra money to get off the train and sleep in a safe hotel enroute. I wouldn't consider the "savings" in time or money worth the added worry.

The ride between your destinations is fairly scenic, so traveling during daylight hours isn't so tedious. You can find comfortable b&bs at affordable prices all along your proposed route.

Sorry, but I can't in conscience recommend it. Just don't think it is worth it. Find another way to economize.

I wouldn't hesitate to take a night train, even if you book a couchette rather than private sleeper. No need to sleep on luggage - that would not be comfortable. Put it behind the ladder.

We have taken trains with compartments for 4 people and we booked 2 of the beds. There would not be men booked in these other beds, the compartments are same sex. So if I were traveling alone, I would probably be comfortable booking myself into one of these compartments - obviously that would be cheaper than booking into a private compartment. Our experiences with our short term roommates have ranged from young and very talkative, to more mature (traveling alone) and only words spoken "I do not speak english".

I will add that when the older woman entered our compartment she immediatley chained and locked the door - this was on Lisbon to SanSebastian train - I believe she was French. My daughter and I were feeling perfectly safe, not sure that she was - for what it's worth.

Everyone has their own comfort level, but for me especially solo, but even traveling with a friend, I will only do an overnight train if I can afford a private cabin. I would not be comfortable sleeping with strangers in the couchette arrangement.

The safest way is to fly..Why spend so many hours on the train when in few hours you would be able to reach your destination?

In 2012, FLY!!!!!

I've taken literally hundreds of overnight trains and can never remember anyone - female or male not being totally safe - now belongings that is a different story - rarely I have heard someone - in another compartment - say a bag was missing, etc.

I have never been victimized - if a multi-story set of berths as typical in 3-person compartments and up I always try to book the topmost bunk - it not only has an extra area extending over the hallway outside the compartment for easily and safely stowing luggage but I do not have to leave luggage on floor down below where it can easily be snatched if someone comes back from say the loo and does not re-lock the door, a not so uncommon thing IME

For lots of great info on overnight trains and European trains in general I always spotlight these IMO fantastic sources - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com - if traveling enough in France and Italy investigate the France-Italy railpass - an especially good deal if going first class.

My concern isn't for personal safety. I'm a light sleeper, and it's hard enough to sleep on a train in perfect conditions (nice private cabin). No way I could do it in a cabin shared with strangers.

suze makes a salient point - there is inevitably noise on night trains - even in private compartments - the noise of the wheels on the tracks - stops in stations with PA announcements, etc. And in shared compartments the obnoxious snorer, etc.

Light sleepers should tread lightly in taking overnight trains - no fun 'waking up' after a sleepless night in a new city.

I think a great deal depends on which night train and which rolling stock is in use, don't you, Pal? Noise levels vary greatly as do the comfort of the beds and compartments.

Yes indeed Dukester - not only rolling stock but track condition - old tracks make more noise than the state-of-the-art welded newer tracks - but inevitably there is noise in stations IME and with other passengers shuffling down outside corridors while talking, etc.

As for stops enroute at night, yes, I often was awakened, but peering out at a sign naming an unknown town always seemed romantic to me ---in the sense of feeling some newness and mystery in the night outside the train.

I think traveling in a compartment would be quite safe. I probably would not like to be alone in a couchette with strangers.

I probably would not like to be alone in a couchette with strangers.>

Understandably but in literally hundreds of trips in a couchette - multi-person couchette I have never ever seen any problem for anyone, including females - most folks just go to sleep and the berths are not right next to each other but divided by a wide aisle and stacked on top of each other - really is private, belief it or not IMO.

PalenQ. Like I already said my problem is not that I'm expecting a "problem" from my fellow passengers. It's that I would not be able to sleep in a cabin I was sharing with strangers. And a sleepless night is not something I like to factor into precious vacation time. It's about me and my own sleep habits (but I doubt I am alone) not about safety on a train.

I took a 2 person sleeper from Lisbon to Madrid. I liked it a lot. It felt very cozy and comfortable.

There was a pregnant woman in the top bunk. When we stopped in the morning, she got out of her bunk, grabbed the wastebasket, and urinated in it.

On that Spanish trip I also took a sleeper somewhere else, but I don't recall where.

I guess she couldn't wait.

Oops. I guess that last sentence was misplaced.