krayne

My girlfriend and I have never taken trains in Europe before, and we will be taking an overnight train from Paris to Rome or from Paris to Venice. We're usually pretty comfortable sleeping leaning/laying on each other while sitting next to one another. How realistic is this on these overnight trains? Do we need to book a sleeper or couchette to sleep. We're looking to travel cheaply, so if we can stay in the regular seats, that would be preferable.

Jo

I took the overnight sleeper from Venice to Vienna, pre-booked in first class. It was absolutely horrible! The outside window had NO curtain or shutter and every time we passed through a station light streamed into the compartment. There was a curtain on the inside window, however. The pillow was a tiny square thing with no fluffiness whatsoever and was about as thick as five tissues. We were lucky to have the compartment to ourselves as it would have been worse had we had to have another two people in there, as I recall it accommodated four.

MichelleY

To me, there is no such thing as sleeping comfortably on trains. My husband and I slept in a couchette from Barcelona to Paris. I was miserable all night. He slept great as usual. Check into cheap airfares.<BR><BR>Good Luck,<BR>MichelleY

MelissaHI

The first time I took an overnight train, we were in regular seats...me, my sister, my mom and two students. One of the students fidgeted and kicked me all night! I did not get a good night's sleep at all. The next 2 times, I booked a sleeper, and that was well worth it, but I was headed for events that required me to be well-rested. BUT, if your main goal is to travel cheaply, the regular seats will do.

GeoffHamer

The night trains from Paris to Roma and Venezia don't have ordinary seats. The cheapest accommodation is in a six-berth couchette compartment. There are pictures and descriptions of the accommodation on www.seat61.com.

Genesea

Well, I normally can't sleep in the seats, but I have a friend that took a sleeping pill and he slept great! <BR><BR>The couchettes aren't that bad .. you can sleep if you get used to the movement of the train. I thought they were decent, but I didn't really sleep a lot because my mind wasn't used to the idea of sleeping on a train.<BR><BR>When we went from the south of France to Rome, we spent several hours in Toulouse going nowhere .. but the 6 seated compartments were only found on Italian trains. Here are a few hints on the compartments:<BR><BR>1) The chairs slide down to make a giant bed.<BR><BR>2) There are no locks on the doors, so if you want to lock it, you'll have to come up with something like using a belt and tying it to the baggage racks.<BR><BR>3) My traveling friends (we're all univ. students) have told me about getting robbed, etc., on Italian trains .. so maybe it would be a good idea to the rig the door shut.

Genesea

One more thing I forgot ... BRING BLANKETS! French trains can be very cold, and, of course, you'll sleep better if you're warm.

kaudrey

We did an overnight from Amsterdam to Vienna about 8 years ago, and thought it was a fun experience. It is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but we managed to sleep OK - and my boyfriend at the time was about 6'2&quot;. <BR><BR>But, you can't really lay next to each other. The &quot;beds&quot; are not wide enough, at least on the train we were on.<BR>Have fun - just think of it as an adventure!<BR><BR>Karen

hike

I don't think fodorites want to travel with blankets Couchetts and sleepers are of course equipped with those.

aj

We took the overnight train from Paris to Rome two years ago and really enjoyed it. We had a private sleeper car. I guess I am really not to &quot;picky&quot; if the bed is clean and it was. When we got back to dinner our beds were &quot;made down&quot; and we were ready to sleep. I slept very well and was refreshed when we arrived in Rome. The only down thing I could say is that my husband and I both had &quot;sea legs&quot; when we arrived in Rome. I wondered if it had to do with the rolling and rocking of the train while laying down? Any way it was fun and I would do it again.

Genesea

Hike,<BR><BR>Well, if they don't get a couchette, they'll be two sad, cold Fodorites without blankets!!

GeoffHamer

If they don't get a couchette, they won't be on the train. The train does not have any ordinary seats. The night trains from Paris to Roma and Venezia have only sleepers and couchettes.

elaine

just a comment re blankets<BR>Travel supply vendors like Magellan's<BR>have ultra thin, foldable heat-retaining blankets, they fold up into a manila envelope size, weigh nothing, they have a foil reflecting material of some kind. Not soft and fluffy, but they do provide warmth without bulk.

oberost

Couchettes were OK but would not do it again- Berlin to Paris! But, if you want to travel overnite there are only two ways? Couchettes or compartment.... I vote for the latter on my next trip!

Bootman4U

The &quot;Artesia&quot; service is generally running from Paris to Rome and there are at least two departures at night..one around 6 PM and the other around 7 PM or so. Yoy can book everything from the top of the heap &quot;Excelsior&quot; class on down to the couchettes. I've traveled on several of these &quot;premier&quot; trains overnight both between Paris and Rome and Paris and Barcelona and Barcelona and Milan...the ONE THING you MUST always remember on these trains regardless of what ANYBODY here says is this: you get what you pay for and there is a REASON they call it &quot;second class.&quot; If you cannot sleep in one of the couchettes because it is too hot, too noisy, too smelly, too anything else then I agree with the above person who suggested checking out cheap airfares OR you could do the same itinerary during the day. Trains, and especially sleeping on them, are not for everyone and that's one reason when I do go overnight I either go in First or I don't go at all...my personal preference. In my case the result has been that I have never had a bad experience with noise, have always slept well, never had bed bugs bite, never been robbed..and NO you do NOT need to bring a blanket but in couchettes generally people sleep in their clothes.<BR>You want a completely positive experience on your trip...make wise decisions. Good luck.

hike

My recent experience with a night train was in last March . Took Geneva (about 21.00) to Venice (07.15). Could not afford 1st cls, 1 or 2 bedded sleeper. Instead I took 2nd cls T4(4 bedded couchette). From my another experince to Barcelona, at worst I didn’t want to take T6(6beds – too stuffy). Shared the compartiment with one American-Canadian couple and one Swiss lady. Conversation was interesting mixing French and English. And the sleep was comfortable enough. Little problem with disturbing lights from outside. Reg.blanket, I was rather afraid it to be too warm so I went to the bathroom to change into a pair of bermuda sort of shorts. That was perfect. And Venice was waiting for me the next morning ! I would do it again. <BR><BR>By the way there was a breakfast package (juice, croissant and tasty biscuits) + a bottle of mineral water included, distributed next morning. Nice surprise since I was not expecting it nor mentioned anywhere I checked. The steward(conductor ?) even passed by to serve free hot coffee. Is there such included brekafast on other night trains, VCE-ROM, VCE-PAR, etc ?<BR>

BTilke

I've taken several overnight trains over the last few years and have soured on the experience. I don't sleep well on them or find them that uncomfortable. And the service is not always up to scratch. My most recent overnight train experience was a disaster and I lost a lot of faith in the supposed efficiency of Germany railways:<BR>I was booked on an ICE (high speed train) from Aachen to Frankfurt where I was scheduled to pick up the overnight train to Milan. Arrived in Aachen in plenty of time; in fact, I could have taken an earlier, non ICE train, but I like ICE trains, so waited. Bad mistake. The ICE train from Aachen was canceled, with NO warning whatsoever from the station. It was posted as leaving on time, I asked about it a couple of times (this particular train had actually been canceled two days earlier!). Several of us were left stranded. We went down to customer (non) service and had to be rebooked by a surly agent. I explained my need to get my overnight train (I had a meeting the next day with my boss in Milan). I had to take a regular train to Cologne, then pick up another ICE train to Mannheim, where I would meet up with my sleeper train at midnight. The train to Cologne was late and I just barely made the ICE train to Mannheim. Although I originally had a first class ticket, the agent had rebooked me in second class, even though she assured me it was first class. I took a first class seat anyway and when the conductor came through, I complained and showed him all the tickets. He was very apologetic and nice about the whole thing, kudos to him. I boarded my sleeper in Mannheim; I had paid to have a private first class sleeping compartment. The car attendant first showed me to the wrong compartment. When I got into &quot;my&quot; compartment, I saw that two bunks had been made up, the lower and middle. I figured he didn't know which one I'd prefer. I put my suitcase on the middle bunk while I got the lower one ready (I was very tired by then). He came by and yelled at me not to put things on the unused bunk. I thought he was rude, but it was fair enough that he didn't want me to mess up two bunks. But then he said that someone ELSE would be taking that bunk at 1 am!!! I told him NO WAY, I had paid for a private compartment. He insisted I was wrong, I made him go get my tickets and check again. I was right. His response: &quot;What can I say? Good night.&quot; Grr.<BR>Also, although they take your passports so border guards can check them without disturbing your sleep, with the heightened security alerts, that didn't happen. Both Swiss and Italian border patrol demanded to enter my compartment, once at 5 am and another time at 7:30 am. Understandable, but not exactly restful!<BR>On my return, I took day trains and broke the trip up with stops in Lugano, Basel, and Paris. Much more relaxing!