overnight trains
Mar 20th, 2004, 09:53 AM
#1
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overnight trains
I'd like to build an overnight train into our 3-week itinary (partly to save time, mostly for the experience), but am having trouble finding what my options are (cost AND cities). What I'd like to find is a 4 person couchette (I'd get all beds for the 3 of us) or a 3T sleeper in/out of the following (possible) cities: Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Interlaken, Venice, Geneve, Salzburg.
Can anyone tell me where to find a complete list of overnight trains w/costs included? (Before anyone jumps on me - I don't plan to go to ALL those places. I'm still piecing the trip together and this info will help me know my options...)
Thanks to all.
Can anyone tell me where to find a complete list of overnight trains w/costs included? (Before anyone jumps on me - I don't plan to go to ALL those places. I'm still piecing the trip together and this info will help me know my options...)
Thanks to all.
Mar 20th, 2004, 10:49 AM
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The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas cook European Timetable. You will see that you can take a train with sleeper or couchette from Paris to Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich (short night), Interlaken, Venice Salzburg (change at Munich)
From Frankfurt with a change at Munich to Venice
From Munich to Venice,
From Zurich to Venice (no sleepers)
To use a 4 berth couchette you must be four people. 15 minute after a train leaves the conductor can re-sell any berth, sleeper or couchette, that has not been claimed. In any case, a 3 berth sleeper costs much the same as a 4 berth couchette, and is more comfortable and with more space.
Please write if I can help further. I shall not jump. Welcome to Europe.
[email protected]
Mar 20th, 2004, 03:44 PM
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Euraide site has prices and types of sleepers available on various night trains. The price stated is in ADDITION to a railpass or regular ticket for that route:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...str.htmEuraide
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...str.htmEuraide
Mar 20th, 2004, 06:21 PM
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Thanks, everyone. This was very helpful.
Ben: thanks for the EurAid site. I'd seen it earlier but am currently (mal)functioning on information overload and had forgotten it.
Do you mean that even if I pay for all four beds (in a 4-bed couchette), a bed can be resold if no one is in it? Perhaps it doesn't matter since you are right about the T3's being about the same as couchettes (on the EurAid site - that wasn't the case on the site I'd been using).
I thought that that "sleepers" included bathrooms and couchettes did not (and were cheaper as a result). Am I wrong about that (too)?
Ben: thanks for the EurAid site. I'd seen it earlier but am currently (mal)functioning on information overload and had forgotten it.
Do you mean that even if I pay for all four beds (in a 4-bed couchette), a bed can be resold if no one is in it? Perhaps it doesn't matter since you are right about the T3's being about the same as couchettes (on the EurAid site - that wasn't the case on the site I'd been using).
I thought that that "sleepers" included bathrooms and couchettes did not (and were cheaper as a result). Am I wrong about that (too)?
Mar 21st, 2004, 12:04 AM
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Ben, the conductor does not necessarily have the right to sell the sleeper 15 minutes after a train leaves.
For example, last January I was supposed to pick up a sleeper to Milan in Frankfurt. However, my train from Aachen to Frankfurt was canceled and I had to be rebooked to "catch up" with my sleeper train farther down the line. The conductor did *not* have the right to resell my sleeper in that case.
For example, last January I was supposed to pick up a sleeper to Milan in Frankfurt. However, my train from Aachen to Frankfurt was canceled and I had to be rebooked to "catch up" with my sleeper train farther down the line. The conductor did *not* have the right to resell my sleeper in that case.
Mar 21st, 2004, 07:45 AM
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Hi mb,
>Do you mean that even if I pay for all four beds (in a 4-bed couchette), a bed can be resold if no one is in it? <
If you buy 4 tickets and 4 couchette reservations you get the whole room, whether there are 1 or 4 of you. You can't buy just the sleeping accomodations.
>Do you mean that even if I pay for all four beds (in a 4-bed couchette), a bed can be resold if no one is in it? <
If you buy 4 tickets and 4 couchette reservations you get the whole room, whether there are 1 or 4 of you. You can't buy just the sleeping accomodations.
Mar 21st, 2004, 09:23 AM
#8
To Mberry & Rick,
The Thomas Cook Guide DOES show the type of sleepers of a particular train, along with the routes and time schedules.
Another handy web source, which includes sample routes & times, costs, and even pictures of the compartments and sleeper berths is www.seat61.com. Once you get to that site, click on the country at the left, then keep scrolling down and you'll find a lot of great info.
The Thomas Cook Guide DOES show the type of sleepers of a particular train, along with the routes and time schedules.
Another handy web source, which includes sample routes & times, costs, and even pictures of the compartments and sleeper berths is www.seat61.com. Once you get to that site, click on the country at the left, then keep scrolling down and you'll find a lot of great info.
Mar 23rd, 2004, 04:49 AM
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For Rick: As Surfergirl says, it has this info also.
For mberry and ira: Yes. The rules are that even if you pay for all four beds (in a 4-bed couchette), a bed can be resold if no one is in it, and if the conductor has no electronic message to tell him to accept passengers from a delayed train of the kind Mr or Ms Tilke speaks of. Those are the international rules: I should welcome news of cases where they have been forgotten. Neither sleepers nor couchettes normally include bathrooms. In both you have a toilet (in Amertrican terms bathroom) at the end pf the corridor. In a sleeper you have a washbasin in your compartment: in couchettes these, too, are along the corridor. T3 s are much more comfortable than couchettes. There is a note on all this, and on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm, but you may need to enter it via http://www.twenj.com/. In its field, this note runs neck and neck with that of the man in seat 61.
I said normally. As the Thomas Cook timetable says, in Romania and Sweden some sleepers have showers and toilets at ends of corridors, and some sleeper cars from Paris to Spain and Italy have those en suite with the best, single and double sleepers. The same is true of some sleepers from Munich to Hamburg or Berlin, from Dortmund to Vienna, or from Zurich to Berlin or Dresden, and of one de luxe sleeping car that a hotel runs between Kyiv and Lviv.
Ben Haines
For mberry and ira: Yes. The rules are that even if you pay for all four beds (in a 4-bed couchette), a bed can be resold if no one is in it, and if the conductor has no electronic message to tell him to accept passengers from a delayed train of the kind Mr or Ms Tilke speaks of. Those are the international rules: I should welcome news of cases where they have been forgotten. Neither sleepers nor couchettes normally include bathrooms. In both you have a toilet (in Amertrican terms bathroom) at the end pf the corridor. In a sleeper you have a washbasin in your compartment: in couchettes these, too, are along the corridor. T3 s are much more comfortable than couchettes. There is a note on all this, and on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm, but you may need to enter it via http://www.twenj.com/. In its field, this note runs neck and neck with that of the man in seat 61.
I said normally. As the Thomas Cook timetable says, in Romania and Sweden some sleepers have showers and toilets at ends of corridors, and some sleeper cars from Paris to Spain and Italy have those en suite with the best, single and double sleepers. The same is true of some sleepers from Munich to Hamburg or Berlin, from Dortmund to Vienna, or from Zurich to Berlin or Dresden, and of one de luxe sleeping car that a hotel runs between Kyiv and Lviv.
Ben Haines
Mar 23rd, 2004, 05:15 AM
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Using EurAide, I was able to find T3s for all the routes I need. Sleeping on a train sounds pretty exciting to a kid (and to me, too). Whatever the reality, we're looking forward to this new experience.
Thanks again for the help.
Thanks again for the help.
Mar 24th, 2004, 06:35 AM
#11
mberry,
T-3's are generally really good, but some of them are much smaller than others, and within the room itself, one berth will generally have more or less head room than another. Some also have more luggage space than others, but I'll tell you what we do, to avoid having to open all our suitcases at night when we're packed in like sardines (unless you want everyone to move out of the compartment into the corridor while one of you rummages through one suitcase): pack your sleepware, toiletries, reading material, and a change of clothes in a day pack. That way, you can shove the suitcases under the lowest bunk or up in the racks above the door or window (or wherever they have them in the compartment) and leave them there. Getting luggage into the upper rack is not only an art form, you have to be able to size up whether the suitcase will actually fit up there. On one of many night-trains we have taken over the years, I saw this guy almost get taken out by his suitcase in trying to stuff his hard-sided suitcase in the upper rack. It was like trying to get a size 9 foot into a size 6 shoe. He ended up halfway out in the corridor, arms upwards inside the compartment and no hands left to undo what he had started out doing. He gave one last push and let go, and the suitcase, which had a mind of its own, jumped back out, fell to the floor just as the guy managed to get the rest of his body out into the corridor.
On sleeping: some people can't do it, because the train can get loud going through tunnels or stopping in the middle of the night to add or subtract some of the cars. For me, the movement lulls me to sleep, but I do wake up at some stations when the workers are being noisy, and peek out to see where I am, then go back to sleep. I also love going to the bar car and meeting people from all over the world, and sharing experiences.
Have fun!
T-3's are generally really good, but some of them are much smaller than others, and within the room itself, one berth will generally have more or less head room than another. Some also have more luggage space than others, but I'll tell you what we do, to avoid having to open all our suitcases at night when we're packed in like sardines (unless you want everyone to move out of the compartment into the corridor while one of you rummages through one suitcase): pack your sleepware, toiletries, reading material, and a change of clothes in a day pack. That way, you can shove the suitcases under the lowest bunk or up in the racks above the door or window (or wherever they have them in the compartment) and leave them there. Getting luggage into the upper rack is not only an art form, you have to be able to size up whether the suitcase will actually fit up there. On one of many night-trains we have taken over the years, I saw this guy almost get taken out by his suitcase in trying to stuff his hard-sided suitcase in the upper rack. It was like trying to get a size 9 foot into a size 6 shoe. He ended up halfway out in the corridor, arms upwards inside the compartment and no hands left to undo what he had started out doing. He gave one last push and let go, and the suitcase, which had a mind of its own, jumped back out, fell to the floor just as the guy managed to get the rest of his body out into the corridor.
On sleeping: some people can't do it, because the train can get loud going through tunnels or stopping in the middle of the night to add or subtract some of the cars. For me, the movement lulls me to sleep, but I do wake up at some stations when the workers are being noisy, and peek out to see where I am, then go back to sleep. I also love going to the bar car and meeting people from all over the world, and sharing experiences.
Have fun!
