Overnight Train Questions
 

I am considering taking an overnight train from Munich to Amsterdam on July 4th. There are 5 in our party. I went onto the website www.bahn.de and tried to look for prices for July but the website said there were unavailable. I tried a date in April and received a price of 245 euro. My questions are:

- How far out is pricing for trains typically available?
- When I was booking the fake April date and received the price of 245 euro, I was never asked what type of sleeper car I wanted - did I miss it?

- I assume I want to book a 3 person and a 2 person sleeper?

- I went on the seat61 website and it mentioned a bed in a 2 bed sleepers for 105 euro. I assume this would be 105 euro per person, not per sleeper car? If this is the case I would be looking at approximately 525 euro for the 5 of us to take the overnight train. Is this correct?

Thanks for assistance in helping better understand the process.

<i> Overnight Train Questions
Posted by: Lisabu on Feb 8, 16 at 7:46pm</i>

Here is an illustrated intro to night trains: http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap17/rail3.htm.
I suggest that you look for a T6, assuming you are all of the same gender. A stranger may occupy the 6th bunk. The site may be giving you a bulk price. I suggest that you first get the price established for one person in a 2nd class T-6. For your July date you probably must wait until May to make a booking. Contact http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/ for the best up-to-date information and ticket purchase.

Since last year, the 6th bunk always stays empty in T6 couchettes on City Night Line overnight trains.

When I checked a dummy date in April on bahn.de, I did get several options. Not sure how far in advance you can book saver fares on international overnight routes. For domestic travel it would be some 90 days, I 'think' I read somewhere that it was two months for international routes.

But you should make that inquiry for all 5 people (just add addtional passengers when making the inquiry) anyway.

In my case the search showed the aforementioned couchette (one for 5pax), and a combination of one 3pax and one 2pax sleeper.
The fare quote is always the total for all passengers.

Hi Lisabu,

Booking for international trains starts at about 92 days from the DB site, so long as the train either starts or ends in Germany. I often book from Germany to Paris or Switzerland, and I do it at about 90 days early. I'm going to book a night train from Orvieto to Munich for around 14 May, and right now they are only taking bookings up to 7 May.

I'm afraid if you wait for two months, the cheapest options might be gone.

Have fun as you plan!

s

Yes, couchettes are now all 5-berth.

Booking should open 92 days ahead, so no rush. You'll find cheap prices is you book 3 months ahead soon after booking opens.

The OP says, "There are five in our party" but does NOT say whether or not these five are all the same sex, a family, or what. In terms of couchette travel that may make a difference, am I correct about this or simply asking yet another inconvenient question?

According to NSInternational you can book a CNL 180 days out.

https://www.nsinternational.nl/en/trains/nighttrain

I just tried booking and it came up with July 4th, no problem.

Gender and relationships don't matter in couchettes.

Thanks for the information. I will be traveling with my teenage kids 2 boys and 2 girls. I just tried to book using the link provided by hetismij2 and it said I can only book 3 months ahead. I am confused because some of the posts say 90 days which matches the website information. However, hetismij2 was able to book 180 days.

Does it matter that I am not booking from two locations in Germany? I am trying to do Munich to either Brussels or Amsterdam (still trying to decide if we want to do a bit of Belgium before Amsterdam).

I am thinking that I need to wait for the 90 day mark, but I am curious about the 180 day situation.

Thanks