Night trains in Europe

I recently dove into the world of night trains in Europe, and I wish I would have done so earlier because it's such a convenient form of travel.

1. You save a day on travel, because you get to your new location while you're asleep
2. Night trains are often cheaper than flying
3. You get one night of not paying for a hostel/hotel
4. Falling asleep to the sway of a train works faster than a sleeping pill

My first overnight train travel was last summer on a trip through the Baltic countries. We were trying to fit in five cities within four countries during a two week trip (I'll admit, I was being a little too ambitious while planning this trip) so the idea of overnight travel was rather appealing.

The Red Arrow Train

Overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg

I was able to do a lot of research online before the trip proving that it was a logical choice to take an overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. However, I had trouble actually booking a ticket. I knew that I wanted to take The Red Arrow Train leaving from the main train station in Moscow, but I couldn't figure out the next step. I had been advised to not use cards in Russia so I wasn't too fond of the idea of booking my ticket online. In the end, I decided to wing it and figure it out once we landed in Moscow. Turns out it's very simple to just go into the train station and purchase the ticket using cash. As much as I loved Moscow I struggled a lot with my limited Russian. People in general were nice, but the city and tourism industry are not very welcoming or helpful towards westerners. Had I not been traveling with someone fluent in Russian I would've been helpless. I don't expect the entire world to be accommodating towards English speakers, but I guess I'm used to traveling in more touristy areas that provide English options. I would definitely advise prewritten Russian phrases to anyone traveling who can't speak the language. 

My train ticket, all in Russian

There are multiple classes available in an overnight train, the most expensive being your own compartment to yourself and the cheapest option: sleeping in more of a hallway situation. We opted for the cheapest option where beds lined the hallway throughout the car, which required a little more vigilance. There were no doors to separate and secure your area and our bags were just under our beds, free to anyone walking by in the middle of the night. I slept with a small purse in my bed with me which held my passport and all valuables, which made me feel a lot better. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the complete lack of privacy, it served it's purpose and I quickly fell asleep to the rocking of the train.
A breakfast cart came around in the morning with food and drinks for purchase, I believe that the more expensive tickets included breakfast. The overall train ride was from about 11pm-7am which meant an early wakeup call and left us a little tired upon our arrival in Saint Petersburg, but overall it was a successful first overnight train experience.

Overnight train from Vienna to Venice 

My next overnight adventure went a little smoother than the first, because I knew what to expect. I was traveling throughout Europe with two friends and we were able to book in advance for the majority of our trip. We booked through the Austrian railway system and it was all extremely easy to research and book online. The difference between this night train and the one in Russia is that the Austrian train only offered compartments. We opted for second class, which put us in the tiniest compartment with a total of six people. Although we were basically all confined to our specific bunk for the duration of the trip I liked the security of being in an actual compartment with a door to lock. 

 We left from the Vienna train station around 9:30pm which was nice because it was early enough to stay awake for a bit to get to know our roommates.

 We were the first three in our compartment so we hoped that we would get lucky and it would stay that way, but two other girls hopped on just as the train was getting ready to pull away. Fortunately they turned out to be other Americans who were also doing a quick trip around Europe, so we had plenty to talk about. There was very limited floor space and we couldn't even fit all of our suitcases under the seats. We ended up putting one bag behind the ladder and then those on the top bunk had a small shelf up there we we shoved things. We all sat on the bottom bunks for the first hour or so, and then when it was time for bed we actually had to call in someone for help setting up the beds. It turns out that the backrest of the bottom bench actually popped out to form a middle section of beds. This basically left everyone with the option of standing in the middle section or laying flat in our own beds. It was definitely cramped, but once we were all tucked in and ready for bed it worked out nicely.
In the morning we were woken up with free breakfast as we rolled into Venice, which we all had to awkwardly eat as we each lay in our own beds. Because of the cramped space we took turns clearing out, letting those on the bottom bunks leave first and then worked our way up until those on the top bunks had their turn.

We arrived in Venice around 8:30am after a very restful sleep and were rewarded with this perfect site of The Grand Canal. 

In general I preferred this train ride over the Russia one, mainly because we had good company, free breakfast and an actual door to lock. But other than that they were both equally safe, comfortable and convenient.