Did the same trip, just the other way, in 2010. Clean, comfortable, cheap (comparing to night trains in Central Europe). Couldn't get much sleep though, because as the only European in the car, so many people wanted to chat with me. And we were all very slow in looking up in the dictionary.
I used night trains in Poland back when that was the option I could afford to travel. God, never again. Drunken people arguing, folks smoking cigarettes, thieves and bedbugs are only some of the attractions I've had to endure. I remember one time the ticket lady outright told me "i recommend not to fall asleep sir, they're stealing luggage here".
We did the Paris -> Barcelona night train back in 2013 - reading TFA this sounds like it was just before they stopped running them, though I recall back then that they'd only recently re-fitted out a lot of the carriages.
It was a 2-berth cabin, with big comfy chairs and a teeny tiny shower/bathroom. Boarded at around 9pm, disembarked at 9.30am. On boarding they showed us to the cabin, then ushered us off to the dining carriage (while they converted the room to bunks).
The package was £289.00 for the two of us, but in addition to a quite fancy meal, as others note, that covered transport and accommodation for two people. Part of the motivation of course was just to try something different. But would, had we stayed in Europe, done overnight trains semi-regularly. (The only other overnight train we've done was Mumbai to Bangalore - a profoundly different experience.)
More anecdata - the sleep quality was excellent, and I usually sleep very lightly & poorly the first night somewhere new.
All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc.
Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen here as some kind of benchmark are noisy with earplugs. They stop multiple times in the night so you wake to the beeping of the doors opening and closing.
I think there’s a market for rail travel. I love the idea. But it’s just not comfortable at all, or at least not economical to travel comfortably.
Right, it was more like an early morning train but practically everyone slept. Not the best rest of my life, agreed, but it was terrific (we went on babymoon to Berlin).
I've been on one night train (Moscow to St Petersberg) and, for the experience, I greatly enjoyed it. Was it the most comfortable? Naw. The bed was too short, too hard, and it was far too hot and stuffy in the cabin. But I'm glad I did it.
Ah, the Ol' Chug-a-Lug. I took the midnight train from Rome to Paris almost 15 years ago on sabbatical in Europe with my wife and largish dog. We had a sleeper car. It had a bit of Old World romance but I wouldn't say it was luxurious back then. 14 hours overnight. We were train noobs and didn't know more than a smattering of Italian so were quite confused when we found our compartment. Where were the beds?!?! After an hour sitting uncomfortably on a bench seat, the conductor arrived, schooched us aside, and pulled out two fully-made bunk beds hidden in the wall. He also impatiently demanded we let him take our passports for unknown reasons (Switzerland!). Compared to the wretched discomfort and inconvenience of contemporary, public, red-eye plane travel, it was preferable, and even charming. Would recommend.
Took a night train in central Europe once. It was a lot of money, and to reserve a whole compartment was even more. And if you don't get the whole compartment the other travelers may talk at all hours of the night on the phone...
Then there are border crossings where they check passports. Such checks make it impossible to get uninterrupted sleep.
Didn't know overnight trains had disappeared. When I lived in Europe as a poor student from the US I would take night trains every single time I could. I had an Interrail pass and once everyone was settled down for the night go look for an empty seating or sleeping area with a door. I could usually find one and then I would just lay down inside with my feet agains the door, use my pack for a pillow and go to sleep. I traveled a month like that and never paid for a hotel.
Barcelona - Seville did the same, as it went through the high speed rail network, and I couldn’t sleep during the stop because the absolute silence, meanwhile while it was moving I sleeped very well. shame that they closed the line, I recall boarding at 9, having a nice dinner on the restaurant, and sharing the bunk with my girlfriend. Then, waking up, taking a shower in the smallest posible bathroom and be ready to visit the city.
I have taken them several times. Prague-Warsaw, Prague-Frankfurt, Vienna-Venezia, Prague-Tatras, Prague-Krakow.
First of all, trains shake a lot. I could at best take hourly naps, it was better than nothing, but far from optimal. The loud proclamations of station speakers whenever you stop somewhere do not help your sleep either.
Second, night trains are a paradise for opportunistic thieves. Yes, it is a solvable problem, but I haven't seen it solved.
I took a night train from Prague to different locations many times, but I cannot sleep well there. The incessant shaking of the carriage wakes me up, half of the journey my head is lower than my legs, and loud station announcements during stops don't help either.
I envy anyone who can catch more than 2-3 hours of sleep on a night train.
Alternate view: I did it in coach but with stops in between (so not 30+ hours at a time) and would recommend my version. One of the highlights of the trip was talking to everyone else in the train, which is bound to happen when you're in what amounts to a very long corridor for 12 hours at a time. Most youngish solo travelers seemed to be doing it this way.
As an American with little access to trains, I was excited to try a sleeper train from Vienna to Poland. But I was disappointed to find that it was pretty uncomfortable -- lots of stopping and ringing bells throughout the night.
It occurs to me that I've done nearly every leg on this route at some point. Except of course taking a different route through china and Vietnam since that high speed link through laos didn't exist 20 years ago.
I did that Thailand night train back and forth to Surat Thani at least a half dozen times back when I'd spend my winters there. It's probably my favorite of the bunch for sheer atmosphere.
It's a shame that night trains in general are vanishing these days. You used to be able to do Europe without ever staying in hostels, hopping the longest train you could find each night and waking in a new city.
Now you can go back and forth between Paris and Venice, and that's about it.
I took an overnight train from Paris to Munich. Got on the train from Paris in the evening. My private stall had three seats with a folding table and a sink. The seats folds down and you can unfold three beds from the wall. I had a good sleep, woke up, got some breakfast delivered, took a shower and I was in Munich.
I took several night trains in my life (Prague-Warsaw, Prague-Tatras, Wien-Venezia, Prague-Frankfurt) and while the experience is interesting, the shaking movement of the train underway plus the freaking loud station loudspeaker announcements whenever you arrive somewhere resulted in very bad sleep. 2-3 hours at most.
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