Sleeper trains?

Ames

Hi all,

I'm going interrailing in December. So far I've booked everything around getting 10/12 hour long train journeys during the day, but doing that loses a lot of time.

So I've been thinking about sleeper trains but I don't know how they work. can you actually sleep on them, or are you just sitting in a chair overnight? I need plenty of sleep, so I'm not sure about trying to get it on a train. Especially if there are a few changes.

Also, does anyone know how I book trains in advance?

zagfles

Brings back memories....

Until you get more up to date info...when I did it (20+ years ago :eek:), there were "couchettes" which were basically 6-seat compartments which convert into beds (3 on each side). Or the more posh "sleepers" which were 2-berth compartments with a sink etc, or really posh 1-berth in first class.

Or you can just sleep in a normal seat for free.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couchette_car

Humphrey10

http://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm#overnight
The rest of the website will probably be of use to you too.

Ames

Brilliant, thanks guys!

Looking at the prices, I think I'll stick to daytime trains, where I can admire the scenery, since they're about three times the cost of a hostel, and that's just for a couchette!

I'll have a good look around that site, thanks Humphrey.

Debbie_A_3

zagfles wrote: »

Brings back memories....

Until you get more up to date info...when I did it (20+ years ago :eek:), there were "couchettes" which were basically 6-seat compartments which convert into bedshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couchette_car

Me too! The couchettes were great, but they hit my budget of £10/day for everything (this was 1990). So I used to sleep in luggage racks, and on the floor in the gap under the seats once they had been pulled down flat in those six-person compartments. No idea if the railways still have these.

whatyadoinsucka

sleepers can be cheap, eastern europe, asia, india..
i usually get 3-4-5 hours sleep which is better than nothing.
it depends whos nearby, on a recent overnight couchette in india a man near by sounded like he was strangling a pig.. so little sleep if any for me.

keep hold of passport money.. ie put it in your pillow around waste or in sleeping bag

Ames

Thanks again.

I'm going to try it on Budapest - Venice, since it's a lot cheaper than a Venice hostel on NYE!

As for the snoring, I'm more likely to be the one keeping others awake - I've bought some nose things that are supposed to stop it, but since I live alone I can't test them out first. Otherwise I'll have spare ear plugs with me...

I'm going to get a money belt for under my clothes for my cash and documents.

zagfles

Debbie_A wrote: »

Me too! The couchettes were great, but they hit my budget of £10/day for everything (this was 1990). So I used to sleep in luggage racks, and on the floor in the gap under the seats once they had been pulled down flat in those six-person compartments. No idea if the railways still have these.

So you're a proper traveller then! None of this namby pamby real bed for the night I was always too much of a softy for all that and it was generally cochettes or hostels, maybe the occasional night sleeping in seats.

The cochettes were great, met loads on interesting people and loads of tips on where to go and what to see... One time was just me and an American girl in a cochette and I got propositioned but I was young and stupid (about 17) and didn't realise it:rotfl: We spent hours chatting before setting the beds up and once we'd got settled she started saying how she couldn't get to sleep and how her ex boyfriend used to give her a massage to help her sleep and stuff like that...I just said something like "I count sheep" and thinking shutup girl I'm trying to get to sleep. I did wonder why she hardly said a word to me next morning after being so friendly previous evening!

Ames

I'm sorry, but :rotfl:

hxm

I wouldn't bother with a couchette again after the one I travelled on from Krakow to Vienna earlier this year. I had the middle bunk of 3, there wasn't room to sit up. The poor girl on the top bunk got the worst deal and the lady on the bottom bunk had a small child with her. We all had luggage - no room to store it. The cabin was so small and stuffy, and the woman with the child wanted to leave the light on all night! I really, really wished I had gone for the cheaper option of a seat and I would have been able to get up and wander around if I couldn't sleep, instead of which I was imprisoned in this tiny space with 3 other people. NOT doing that again!

Ames

Thanks for the warning hxm.

Something else that's just occurred to me, what are the facilities like on trains over there? Are there toilets? Not just on the sleepers, but in general in Eastern Europe.