I have an additional question, how much is it typically for night train reservations, ie sleepers or couchettes if I have a railpass for the countries I will be traveling between? I am thinking of doing the barcelona to paris train? how much do you think this will be? and where do I look up that sort of thing?

Almost all night trains require reservations. You can make them at any train station (so you could make reservations for a Paris-Barcelona train at the train station in Munich — or anywhere). About 3 days in advance is usually OK.

Price depends on the country, the specific train and the type of accomodation. Prices range from about 20 euros for a couchette or sleeperette (reclining seat) to 200 euros for a deluxe single. Most 6 couchettes will be in the 30 euro range.

The slow, non-premium type of overnight trains usually don’t require reservations if all you want is a seat. They do tend to get very crowded in those sections though so try to show up a bit earlier and be prepared to move if your seat winds up reserved by someone else.

have any of you taken the barcelona paris train? is it safe to leave passports with the conductor?

I took a 14 hour train from Paris to Rome and the conductor took all our passports. He assured me that we would get them back at our destination. And we did, but yes it is still scary. Just make sure you have a back up plan…(i.e copies, phone #‘s etc) It’s a safety concern for them. They keep passports at Rome hotels also…

Interesting train/passport story. Last week on a night train from Venice to Paris, we were sharing a couchette with a young man from Bangladesh, who was studying in Moscow. We all turned over our passports and tickets to the conductor for the border crossings. Worked fine going from Italy to Switzerland, but at the French border in the wee hours of the morning, we heard a banging on the couchette door. The Polizia! They wanted to speak with the young Bangladeshi man – asked him if he had a visa and when he said he didn’t, they had him collect all his belongings and left with him. My guess is that he got left at the station in Switzerland.

But, there was no problem getting out passports and railpasses back that morning. They were delivered directly to our door by the conductor.

Noreen,

I have taken the night train from Paris to Barcelona with no problems. I actually had a really good sleep. No problems with passports either. They collected them in the evening, and we got them back in the morning.

we have to travel from Munich to Piombino Italy. we were thinking about taking a day train in the morning to catch the ferry at 10pm that night. does anyone know how long the trip is from Munich to Italy? if we have to we will take the night train the night before instead of the day train. any help is greatly appreciated.

I don’t think I would want to give them my passport and then they just take off possibly never to be seen or heard from again. Can’t you go with them to check your passport and then get back the passport. I am not sure I would feel comfortable giving my passport to a stranger.

I was told by a friend that at the boarder crossings they wake you up to check your passports even on a night train is that true?

I also heard that Italian trains are not fun at all I have heard some pretty good horror stories.

I think the reason why they take your passport in the evening and keep it for the night is specifically so they don’t have to wake you through the night at a border crossing. On a day train, they will just come around and check everyones pasport without collecting it.

On my Europe trip this summer, I have arranged my schedule to avoid all possible long trains and night trains. I did it once, and it was fine, but I don’t want to get into it again. I am going to be taking all short morning trains, and when the train ride would have been very long and/or overnight, I choose to take budget flights instead. Rather than spend a night on a train for 12+ hours, i’m going to be on a short 2+ hour flight.

Good luck with whatever route your choose.