Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Sleeping Berths

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)

- Europe (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/)

- - Sleeping Berths - Couchettes (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/sleeping-berths-couchettes-42408/)

Sleeping Berths - Couchettes

My wife and I are planning to take the overnight train from Paris to Rome. Will we have our own compartment or will we have to share one with strangers? I get different answers from people that have travelled. Thank you in advance for your help.

I notice your post is headed "couchettes". If indeed you have booked sleeping space in couchettes, then yes you will be in a sleeping compartment with 4 other people (6 total in couchetttes).

We took a sleeper from Warsaw to Budapest. It was a three-person "room" and we would have had a third person in it with us except that her friends "took pity" on her and took her off to share with them. I believe there are double sleepers and triple sleepers. If you don't wish to share (which I think a married couple and a stranger is a pretty awkward situation) be sure you are reserving a double.

You can reserve a sleeping compartment for two for about $85 a person. It's locked and secure. Be sure to tip the conductor. You can reserve the train and the sleeping compartment through Rail Europe. I just did it yesterday for a trip from Paris to Florence.

Just did Paris to Nice in couchettes of 6. I was with a group so we were together, but the remaining people got put with anyone. The lack of space and amenities made it less than enjoyable.

Couchettes you share. (6 people in 2nd class/4 in first). Sometimes I've felt safe in a couchette and at other times I have not. It can be unnerving as people roam through the train at stops during the night. I have found this especially to be true in Italy. In Germany, things seemed quieter. Most couchettes now have a door lock -- I use it, but it means being awakened if someone in your cabin is joining the train at night. My valuables go under my pillow. But I have never had a bad incident -- just a bad night's sleep. I much prefer a sleeper cabin. (Voitures-lit in French; Bettplatze in German) A sleeper for two can be reserved through Rail Europe and you get a cozy little compartment. My husband and I took the overnight train from Paris (Gare de Lyon) to Rome (Roma Termini) in 1996. It was wonderful and romantic. We packed in a great picnic dinner of meats and cheese, bread and wine. And dined as the train pulled out of the station at 10 p.m. The conducteur comes in to help you turn your seats into comfy bunk beds. If you are lucky, as we were, the moon will be bright and you can enjoy your private picture window on the night landscape -- later you might awaken to the stars and the alps rolling by. The conducteur takes your passports and handles the border crossings while you sleep and wakes you with cappuccino as you order it. Do be sure to tip him -- he is well worth it. In the morning you can open your door and the hallway window, walk to stretch your legs and enjoy the italian countryside rolling by. We arrived in Rome fresh and ready. All this for no more than a budget hotel. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Best wishes -- K

Hi, Gene. A couchette is a bunk bed and usually, there are six of them in each train car; three stacked on the left side and three stacked on the right side. May I suggest that you and your wife reserve a first class cabin with wagons lits instead? I'm sure you both will feel more comfortable sleeping on a real bed in a real sleeping car. It's not so much fun to ride on an overnight train but I'm sure you will both feel better and more secure if you had the cabin all to yourselves rather than share it with total strangers. Bon voyage to you and your wife.

Kate Cohen - would you please tell us how much is "no more than a budget hotel". $85 x 2 (which is 1,105 South African Rand, more or less) buys a super-luxurious room in my country.

Deduct the cost of what you would have spent for the train trip anyway (even sitting up all night in second class) and I think you'll find it is a pretty good deal.

Deduct the cost you would have spent for the train trip anyway (even sitting up all night in second class) and I think you will still find it is a pretty good deal.

Let me, then, stand corrected.

Do let me, then, stand corrected.

Let me, then, stand corrected. But in 1996 we paid around $60 each more than the regular train fare to Rome. But, coming as I do from Los Angeles, where $120 would not buy anything "super luxurious," (then or now) I thought it was rather a good deal. Especially considering that the most luxurious of rooms would not allow me to go to sleep in one country and wake up in another. If it were twice the price, it is still a wonderful travel experience. And while I like a great deal as much as the next traveller (The hotel for my upcoming Paris trip is $71/night) -- can money be all that it is about?