wanderlust125

We are considering taking two overnight trains during our visit to Switzerland.

The first one from venice to Interlaken. Leaves Venice at 22.52 (10.52 P.M) and reaches interlaken at 8.30 in the morning.

Has anyone travelled by this route and in general how safe are these trains given that we will be leaving pretty late in the night (11 P.M) ?.

The other train that we are considering is the overnight train from Zurich to Paris. Leaves Zurich at 23.06 (11.06 P.M) and reaches paris at 6.47 A.M.

We are considering booking the couchettes as suggested by Rick steves in his guidebook.

I am sure some of you would have taken overnight trains and we had a couple of questions on these

How safe are these trains and what are the things that we need to be careful about when traveling in the night ?.

How early do we need to make the reservations for these trains ? (we are planning on getting the eurail pass for 5 days).

How early do we need to reach the departing train station ?.

Is it safe to hang around in the train station late in the night, before catching the train ?.

Thanks again for all your help in planning this trip.

GeoffHamer

I can't find a night train from Venezia to Interlaken. On the train you mention, you have to change at Brig at 0615 for the quickest connection to Interlaken, and that is earlier than I would care to get up in the morning. An alternative might be to change at Lausanne or Zürich at a more civilised time, though that would cost more (unless you have a rail pass).
If you're worried about safety, book a sleeper, rather than a couchette: couchettes have six- or four-berth compartments so you'd be sharing with strangers; sleepers are more comfortable and more expensive.
There are lots of scare stories about overnight trains. I've used them many times without problems. Both sleepers and couchette compartments have doors that can be bolted shut. Leave all your valuables at home, and keep money, etc, on your person.
The stations may not be pleasant places to hang around at night, but will always be thronged with people, so just take the usual precautions you would in any city-centre street. There is no need to go to the station long before the train leaves, and both Venezia and Zürich have cafés and bars.
How early you need to reserve depends on when you're travelling - the time of year and day of the week.

sharon1306

GeoffHamer is right, I can't find a direct train from Venice to Interlaken. The 22.52 train requires two changes in Brig and Spiez in the morning. We did the same route but in reverse. We took a morning train from Interlaken OST, changed at Spiez and Brig to Venezia SL. The journey in the morning wasn't too bad, we were in Venice by afternoon. I couldn't find a direct train covering that route. Some of the people in this forum had suggested breaking the journey at one of the Italian lakes.

Intrepid1

This is a somewhat difficult routing at night and as Sharon1306 has advised, it would require two changes. Be aware that these trains actually leave from Venice Maestre and not from Santa Lucia but it is an easy 5-minute ride from S.L. over to Maestre on one of the plentiful regional services.

A day time trip would take about as long...7-8 hours and would also require changes.

As a general rule, reservations can be made no more than 60 nights ahead but I would reserve the spaces as soon as you get to Europe; you should be able to do so from any station (in most any location); having the train numbers and departure times written on a piece of paper is sometimes helpful.
I've taken night trains many times and have never had any sort of safety or security problem but then again I've never traveled in a couchette.

There is an entire section on the RickSteves website about traveling by train and the precautions you may wish to take.

I would strongly consider Geoff's prudent suggestion about booking a compartment vs. a couchette. With a railpass you will get a reduced rate since the pass already covers the basic railfare.

In terms of the railpass, have you input your propsed itinerary(ies) at www.railsaver.com to compare prices vs. buying point-to-point tickets?

You'll obviosuly need at least a two-country pass and I would only buy a pass covering the countries you'll be visiting.

ben_haines_london

Outside peak dates you can book a berth three days before you go. You can book from any big railway station on the continent, and in Venice, if the line is long inF)_four hundred yards left of the station. You need to reach the departure station 15 minutes before the train leaves. Both stations are well policed, so are safe to be late at night, but a little dull.

Thirty years ago travelling thieves used to take night trains in Italy, but police work since then has ended all that years ago, and the journey is safe. If you are nervous, or (more to the point) if you want a good night you need a berth. I disagree with Rick Steves, as I find couchettes, with six people a compartment, are crowded. The couchette supplement is 12 euros. The supplement for a berth in a three-berth, single sex, compartment on the trip from Venice is 45 euros. In principle you will be separated into a compartment for men and one for women, but if you ask the conductor and the train is not heavily booked he or she may move you so you share a compartment. With the basic ticket, a two-berth sleeper costs half as much again as a three-berth, and is not worth the extra. A good idea is to leave bags in the Venice station left luggage office, go to music, a restaurant, or both for your last evening, and stroll back to the station to collect bags. About 2215 you give your passports and tickets to the conductor, board and sleep. You leave Venice at 2252, and take a sleeper to Spiez at 0748, eat breakfast, then leave Spiez at 0842 for Interlaken at 0903.

On the second trip you can travel second class in a two-berth sleeper from Basel at 0105 to Paris at 0647. For a longer but more expensive night you can travel Basle 2152, Zurich 2258 to 2306, Paris 0647. If you sleep from Basel, not Zurich, you can board at Basel at 0016. You should ask station staff where your sleeper will be. It comes from Chur, arrives on a platform in the Swiss part of Basel station, and moves later to the French part, to leave from there at 0105. In the newsagents in Paris Est station you can buy Pariscope, the weekly events listing magazine, for an euro or less, and at the bus corporation desk, RATP, can collect a free bus map. Then with your luggage trolley you can go to the road on the right opposite the station yard fence and will find an Algerian café that serves good coffee, croissants, and omlette.

Please write again if I can help further.

Ben Haines, London
[email protected]

suze

I have only traveled in a private cabin (2 person wagon-lit) on overnight trains which was quite comfortable. My experience is Geneva/Venice and Venice/Paris. As others are mentioning, I would carefully study the routes because if you have to transfer at some odd hour it kind of defeats the purpose of an overnight train ride, in my opinion.

It was perfectly safe in my experience, but you don't sleep very well and I would hesitate to do two trips in a short period of time. Train stations late a night seemed OK to me.