Family of 4 in a couchette from Venice
 

We're a family of four taking the Cityline Night train from Venice to Munich this summer. The couchettes sleep five. Do I need to book our couchette as if we were a party of five to ensure we have our own space/room? We'd rather not have a stranger as our fifth person in the couchette.

You can't get a 5 person couchette and have free spaces if you aren't five people. Same as if you were only 2 people, same principle. So yes, you have to pay for five berths.

Even if you pay full fare and book them all up I'd check about the no-show rule where if a berth is empty and there are people on the train who want a berth the conductor can give it to them - I've seen this happen but not sure on CNL trains- see if these informative sites say anything about that - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - call Byron at the latter for a definitive answer as he books these trains thru Rail Europe and can tell you if it is OK - not saying to book but just call and ask - you'll get cheaper prices thru the official CNL site probably.

I've never heard of 5-berth compartments but mainly 4 and 6 but if you saw 5 berths then it must be so.

Evidently, they have changed the 6-person couchettes to 5-person couchettes to allow for luggage storage. I wanted to book a 4-person space, but this train only had 5-person spaces. Otherwise, we would have to book two 2-person spaces at a considerable price increase.

If aren't prepared to share then why don't you fly.

Flying seems to be the quickest way to go, as VCE to MUC takes only around an hour, as opposed to 10 hours on a train. The cost may even be cheaper by air, depending on exactly when you're travelling.

Some train buffs on here love that form of travel, but spending a night on a rattling noisy train doesn't fill me with joy and longing. If I can be in the next city in an hour, even if I add on the getting to the airport time, it's still an all round trip by air of around 4 and a half hours, much better than 10+ hours by rail. You're not going to see much scenery at night either, so it seems a bit of a waste of time.

People say that it saves the cost of a night in a hotel, and if this is your reasoning and your budget, then fine but I do feel that it offers a poor night's sleep and leaves you very tired during the following day.

then fine but I do feel that it offers a poor night's sleep and leaves you very tired during the following day.>

NIME and many others but yes light sleepers show eschew night trains as there is always a modicum of noise from inside and outside the train.

Night trains save time too - daylight sightseeing time over flying which however you putz it takes at least a half day.

Thank you all for the information! I talked to the folks at Budget European Travel today and they answered all my questions. We're book in a 5-person couchette for our trip.

ozres - for our info - what were the answers BETS gave - no danger of a stranger in the compartment (in case of no show), etc. Do you have to pay the whole train fare for the 5th berth or just the berth fee? curious - thanks.

Sorry PalenQ, I've been off researching for our trip. The very helpful people over at BETS said that basically there is no guarantee of getting a private 5-person couchette with only 4 people. However, paying the extra for a 5th imaginary person to fill up the cabin could help give us a private couchette. The conductor can still put a stranger in our cabin if the train is full and we don't have a 5th person in our family. But the BETS folks felt this would be the last option for the conductor.

I booked and paid for 5 people to travel in our couchette even though there are only 4 of us. It was around $40 extra for the 5th person. We'll see how it works.

We went though this 10 days ago in Poland. Paid for all six berths for the five of us. It was laughably crowded.

In the end the conductor promoted us to two three bed sleeper units so that he could give our couchette to a French school group. Still crowded but comfortable.

All good fun.

We'll see how it works.>

Be sure to let us know just how it works - I suspect like the BETS person that it will be OK unless the train is full and there are people waiting for a couchette berth - unlikely I think and the worst would be for the stranger in with four friends!

Reporting back after taking the night train from Venice to Munich. We paid for 5 tickets to fill a 5-person couchette, although we are only a family of 4. The 5th person cost us an extra $40. I'm happy to say we did not have to make room for a 5th person. The conductor checked our tickets when we boarded the train and passport control checked our passports as we entered Germany.

The couchette was somewhat crowded. We placed our luggage on the two extra bunks. I tried to book to 2-person rooms, but those were not available.

All in all, I'm glad we did the overnight train. It was an adventure.....lots of giggling and sarcastic comments from my college-age sons! Yes, we would have slept better in a hotel room, but we would have lost many hours in travel time.

Thanks for reporting back! I've traveled on overnight trains a fair amount, and I never have had trouble sleeping. I appreciate the extra time it gives me on the ground during daylight hours, and I just really like train travel, and am beginning to dislike air travel, with all the lead time required at the airport. And I've yet to see an airport I like as much as a big-city train station.

ditto to all the bvlenci says about overnight trains but the key thing is how well you can sleep with always a modicum of noise - again a little vino may help at times.