Has anyone any experience with the overnight trains from Venice to Rome? Has definite appeal. Have dinner in Venice, get on train & go to bed, wake up in Rome. Was thinking of booking it but want some feedback from others who may have done it.

Why would you do this? The train trip is only 4 to 5 hours duration. So you would either have to get on in the middle of the night, or off in the middle of the night. A lot of hassle, it sounds like to me.

I lived in London a few years ago and had to go to Newcastle one day a week. It also took around 5 hours. It was, however, quite civilized as you could board the train (which left the station after midnight) any time after 9:00pm. The porter would turn down your berth whenever you chose. You would hop into bed and the train went to Newcastle and dropped off the sleeping cars for Newcasle. You could get up and leave the train any time prior to 8:00am. So, if they offer this type of service from Venice to Rome, it would be a pleasant way to arrive in Rome, refreshed and ready for the day.

Santa Chiara, <BR>The reason I did this was to save a night's hotel expense (on my first trip, while I was in college). You can take a slow train and make a 7 hour trip of it. <BR> <BR>Jim, my experience with this was in a first-class compartment, 3 seats facing 3 seats. We did not have a couchette or private compartment. I think the slow train leaves Venice around midnight and gets into Rome around 7am.

I admit I answered this on the basis of what would be best for me. As a single woman, I would have to share with at least one other person, a stranger. I would have to share a bathroom. And I would end up paying perhaps not as much as a hotel in Rome, but still a hefty price for the "privilege" of extending my trip an extra three hours or so. I checked into this option on a trip to from Italy to Paris, and after adding up the regular train fare as well as the couchette, I discovered I could fly cheaper, and of course in the fraction of the time. If you have someone to share this experience with, and not a complete stranger, than I admit it might be fun.I just warn you to check into the total cost. <BR> <BR>And while we are on the subject, sort of, this forum has had a lot of discussion on first versus second on long hauls. I am not here to argue that, but I will say that I ride the trains in Italy regularly, including five-hour trips, and even crowded second class, doesn't compares to the trans-Atlantic hell in steerage, which the airlines euphemistically call "coach." In the first place you are not nearly as cramped on a train; it is easier to get up and walk around; and you can watch the scenery out the window. <BR> <BR>Have fun, whatever you decide. Let us know how it turns out.

Fodors <BR> <BR>The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas Cook European Timetable. Table 620 shows that train number E843, which starts from Udine, leaves Venice Santa Lucia at 2332 and reaches Rome Tiburtina at 0728. In second class it has six berth couchette compartments in which sexes of travellers are mixed, so you sleep in day clothes, and three berth sleepers, and in first it has two-berth and single sleepers. In sleepers single travellers are segregated by sex and one changes into pyjamas. You can board it in Venice from 2303. <BR> <BR>I've not used this specific train, but have others. With the e-mail copy of this message I'm sending you a note I have on disc about sleepers and couchettes in western Europe. <BR> <BR>I'm afraid I get a wicked pleasure out of knowing an Italian train time better than Santa Chiara, of Italy (than no better than the well-informed Pam). Your second message, however, brings me nothing but sorrow: there are now no sleepers left that run from Newcastle, Carlisle, Manchester or Swansea to or from London. But your report of early boarding and late leaving of sleepers is true of those to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh, except that you may board at 2300 only, not 2100. Now that German Rail have curtailed the Bad Godesburg to Berlin and Munich Ost to Berlin night services few continental rail systems offer this facilility, except that many let you go to bed at starting stations 30 to 60 minutes before your train leaves. I know none that let you linger in the morning, alas. <BR> <BR>Cost is indeed an issue. The January issue of the imetable says that the basic second class single fare is 45 500 lira or 23 US dollars. To that you add 18 dollars for a couchette berth or 60 dollars for a sleeper, and you add fifty percent to fare and berth charge to go first class in a two-berth sleeper. <BR> <BR>International fares in France cost a deal more per kilometer than domestic fares in Italy,which is part of why Italian trains get crowded. (The other part of why is that Italy is deeply beautiful, and people flock to see it). <BR> <BR>I'm not sure why a long time in a sleeper to Paris is a drawback, since you spend all of it (from Milan) or most of it (from Venice, Florence, or Rome) fast asleep. I'm glad to agree with Santa Chiara in dislike of air travel. <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>