jinz

Hello from New Zealand,
It is so wonderful to be back planning our European trips again. Our next trip will be for the month of March and am hoping to enjoy bucket list new experiences while also going back to explore some of our favourite places.

Our starting point for planning may seem strange but we would love to do an overnight train trip (childhood memories of chugging along and waking at every station!). It would be great to get some recommendations as to your thoughts on the best trip. We are not worried about missing scenery as we can go back and see things in the daylight.

We do want a private compartment with an attached shower, etc. A little comfort and preferably food on board but open to taking our own. Really don't mind where it starts or finishes as long as it leaves early evening and arrives a little later in the morning so we can enjoy dinner and breakfast.

Budget wise the Orient may be a bit too much but otherwise happy to pay for a bit of luxury.

Thank you for your help.
Jinz

greytop13

We've taken the NightJet from Vienna to Venice a couple of times. Some compartments have showers and we found you need to book early to get them. We brought wine, cheese and snacks aboard for the evening departure. The porter brought breakfast in the morning. There's something intriguing about waking in the middle of the night to a high pitched locomotive whistle, the soft squeal of brakes and the back and forth as the train winds its way through the Alps.

swandav2000

H jinz,

I also love night trains and also always get a full private compartment with its own toilet (necessary now in my life). I love to get undressed, turn off the light, open the shade, and watch the countryside or towns slide by the window from my bed.

Austria's ÖBB has the most extensive night train network, linking Austria & Germany with Italy. Here's a network map.




Have fun as you plan!

s

hetismij2

There are also night trains to and within Sweden, and of course from London up to Scotland - assuming they aren't still on strike next year, but who knows?

I wouldn't take the one that goes from Brussels to Berlin via Amsterdam just yet. It is using old rolling stock at the moment with little luxury.

There are new routes planned all the time, which may or not be running by March depending on the red tape involved.

As always https://www.seat61.com/ is a great resource.

This is pretty comprehensive: https://www.night-trains.com/europe/

Underhill

I still remember our night trip from Paris to Italy. We went to sleep shortly after leaving Paris and awoke to the Mediterranean glittering in the sunlight. Simply magical.

uktravelover

I remember going from the UK to Italy by train as a teenager and grabbing the top couchette, wonderful views, but could be hot, noisy and not the most comfortable . More recently I used the Autorail from the Netherlands to Italy which had a dining car and similar views, but sadly is no longer in business. There are various routes from Paris to Italy and Spain. Not sure what the rolling stock is like currently.
I know someone who loves taking the overnight train from London to Inverness, says it is great.

thursdaysd

I have ridden quite a lot of night trains, in quite a few countries, although none more recently than 2018. None of them had en-suite showers, and only a couple had en-suite toilets. (Some train stations have showers.) Mostly I shared with other, previously unknown, passengers (in couchettes). However, if you are willing to pay for it, there are now trains with en-suite facilities.

Sleep in a private compartment will depend on the hardness of the bed and the roughness of the ride. I took the Caledonian from London to Edinburgh in 2018 and the ride was the second worst I've experienced (the worst was Hanoi to Sapa).

There is detailed info for Europe here: https://www.seat61.com/sleepers.htm and the same site will tell you whether there are night trains between any pair of cities you are considering.

menachem

Berlin - Stockholm. Are you in for a long ferry ride? Plymouth - Santander

hetismij2

Thursdaysd, Nightjets have showers, and more importantly loos which are private for the deluxe and shared for the economy class sleeping cabins.
Same with Swedish night trains.

I am sure others offer them to at a price! They are sold out fast though.

All involve bunks.

The Brussel/Amsterdam/Berlin train will get them eventually but for now as I said are using old rolling stock which is less than optimal.

Most don't have a dining car but do serve snacks and drinks, and breakfast (in your room in Deluxe.) Pack a picnic and enjoy the ride.

jinz

Thank you so much everyone. We are happy to pay extra for comfort and don't want to share facilities so appreciate the feedback. Will start to go through all the advice and see if anything fits. Otherwise will look at some nice long day trips where you can stay on the train for the length of the trip. Really appreciate the help.

Fleur_de_Lis

Not sure about whether there's a night night train for this route, but I recently took the train from Barcelona to Paris during the day and the scenery was lovely (cute little French towns and lavender fields could be seen from the window!) It was a long train ride though.

jinz

That's a great suggestion. The longer ride the better! Thank you.

Finsteraarhorn

Hello Jinz and everybody. You don't mind where your ride starts or finishes, but imo it would be great to connect two fantastic cities as Vienna and Paris or Amsterdam. I never traveled with night trains in recent times but I have good memories from my youngness and I researched a bit to take my family on this experience concluding that I would go for the ÖBB Nightjets. Home - Nightjet

In the meantime, we work around this idea playing the amazing board game "Ticket to ride Europe"! Ticket to Ride Europe – a board game by Alan R. Moon, published by Days of Wonder

neckervd

Be aware that there are very few night train compartments with showers.

bvlenci

We'll take the NightJet train from Ancona (Italy) to Vienna in a a few weeks. This is a temporary route, which ends on 10 September. The normal route is from Rome to Vienna.

Apparently some of the private compartments on this route have showers; none were available when I booked, but mine was a last-minute booking. All of the private compartments have sinks, but the toilets are in the hall. The couchettes have sinks and toilets, but none have showers. In one direction, we've reserved an entire couchette for ourselves. This costs a little more than a private compartment, but has the advantage that neither of us has to sleep in the upper bunk. In the other direction, this option wasn't available.

I'll try to remember to report back after the trip.

Apparently night trains are becoming more popular as many people try to avoid air travel, and railways are implementing new services.

jpie

This for the future-supposedly launching service in 2025, but I have been following this start up in France called Midnight Trains and thought it might interest others here:

https://www.midnight-trains.com/en/home

neckervd

Nice to see that the Paris - Rome overnight train will reappear after a very long pause.

jinz

Thank you for this helpful info and the tip about booking a whole couchette. I look forward to reading your report.

bvlenci

The trains look very luxurious, so I have a feeling they be rather pricey. If they cost a lot more than the budget airlines, they won't succeed.

My coming trip to Vienna cost €330 round trip per person. When you consider that we saved the cost of two nights in a hotel, it's quite reasonable.

There is no Nightjet (and I think no other night train) from Paris to Rome, so I can't make a comparison.

As an example though, at the moment, a one-way trip on the Nightjet from Bologna to Vienna costs €67, for just a seat, without a cuccette or cabin. Ryanair has a direct one-way flight from Bologna to Vienna around the same date for €16! (The Ryanair prices vary greatly from day to day.) Considering the convenience and cost saving of a center city to center city journey, I consider the Nightjet price to be fairly competitive.

The Midnight train is projected to have only private "rooms". There will be no cheap seats. If the cheapest ride on the Midnight train costs 20 times more than a budget air trip, I think most people would opt for 1.5 hours of misery in Ryanair's economy class, carbon be damned.

Anyway, if the first service is planned for 2025, it's obvious that Midnight is now seeking investors, not passengers. Looking at their website, I get the feeling that their squad has too many generals. Let's see how much the plan changes in the next two years, if it comes off at all.

neckervd

Actually, the only "overnight" connections are
Paris Lyon dp 15.16 - Rome ar 5.43; change to sleeping car at Turin;
Paris Est dp 15.55 - Rome ar 12.00; change to sleeping car at Stuttgart and to Freccia Rossa at Mestre.