I'm trying to decide between a daytime and night/sleeper train between Munich and Budapest. I'm travelling with four other family members who want to travel 1st class (at least if we go the sleeper route). The sleeper is $130 - $215 more than the regular fare.

I'm wondering if the extra cost is worth it - will the train trip itself have interesting scenery? I'm thinking that we could use this day on the train to relax, play cards, and refresh for the remainder of our journey. I've never travelled on a sleeper train before - can you get a good night's sleep?

Also, what differences would there be in the between first and economy class on the daytime train?

Many thanks.

Since the German national rail site, bahn.de, only shows seat and couchette prices (not sleepers) for the Munich-Budapest night train, I assume you're getting your prices from RailEurope. You can do much better by booking at bahn.de.

SparNight fares, if available, are as low as E29 in a six-person couchette and E49 in a four-person couchette. Bahn.de will calculate the price for a sleeper for you when you book and I'm sure it will be a lot cheaper than the fares charged by RailEurope.

If you want to relax on a day train, your best choice is the direct train leaving Munich at 09:28 and arriving in Budapest at 16:43. The regular 2nd class fare for trains on this route is E93.20, but the 09:28 train offers Europa-Spezial fares for E29 and E49. These are both for 2nd class. When the alloted E29 seats are gone, the price goes to E49.

When you're looking at fares at bahn.de, the SparNight and Europa-Spezial fares column is on the right-hand side. You may need to scroll to the right to see them.

Ive taken this trip but only during the day.

I cannot answer your questions about sleeping onn trains at night because I am apparently the only person on this entire board who had managed to get a good night's sleep on any European train but I would never go in anything LESS than First Class (at night).

During the day First will probably be a bit less crowded than Second; since it is more expensive it will fill up more slowly than Second.

IMO the scenery, overall, isn't particularly spectacular but others may disagree.

Where are you geting your information re sleeping car prices?

The prices I gave above did come from Rail Europe. I had called them because I needed help in figuring out the possible sleeping configurations since five travellers is an odd number and my in-laws (our travelling companions this trip) are rather particular.

Bahn.de does have much better prices than Rail Europe, once we decide how we're going I'll definitely book through them - thanks for the suggestion.

Hi sgt,

You can look up the route for the direct train at www.bahn.de.

This is almost the same route that you will get if you look for driving directions at www.viamichelin.com.