4 ms·

Flying is a lot of hassle though. You need to go to the airport which is far away from the center. In most cities half an hour to an hour. And you have to arriv

Flying is a lot of hassle though. You need to go to the airport which is far away from the center. In most cities half an hour to an hour. And you have to arrive at least an hour before your flight takes of. And you cannot buy a ticket spontaneously. I love trains. They often go every hour. You can spontaneously take them. Right from the center. And you arrive right in the center. And you can freely chose your seat. So you can pick a pleasant neighbor. Or just change seat if your neighbor annoys you.

johannes1234321 6y ago
Especially night trains - if you are able to sleep in that somewhat noisy and shaky environment. You travel overnight, where you can't do anything anyways and come up in the other place in the morning and have the full day available. When flying you typically need a hotel night more and have to get to city center first.
- TooCreative 6y ago
  I never tried a night train. Are there any good ones in Europe?
  - johannes1234321 6y ago
    Austrian ÖBB, which runs in multiple countries like most lines going through Germany, is working on modernizing their trains, but they also have quite old cars. Not sure if there is a good site showing car types and train lines. https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/nightjetzukunft https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/nightjetzukunf...
    - TooCreative 6y ago
      I was on that site a couple of times but never managed to find out which routes offer a single cabin for yourself. I would not want to have strangers sleeping next to me.
      - johannes1234321 6y ago
        During Cornona this probably is different, but here's the relevant page: https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/ganzes-abteil-buchen https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/ganzes-abteil-...
        TooCreative 6y ago
        Well, that is a page which describes the options. Bit have you tried the "Book ticket" button? For me, it simply goes to the start page. So I still don't know how to find the routes that offer these options.
        eesmith 6y ago
        https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/nightjet.htm https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/nightjet.htm suggests that (nearly?) every route offers a single compartment. That is, "Most Nightjet trains use Comfortline sleeping-cars built by Siemens in 2003-2005 for German Railways' City Night Line sleeper trains." and "Below: Comfortline sleeper layout. All compartments can be sold as a single, double or triple."
        TooCreative 6y ago
        Well, have you tried it? Every time I try to book a trip, the single compartment is grey and says that this option is not available for this trip.
        eesmith 6y ago
        When did you try? I picked 14 April 2021, leaving Wien Hvf (U) at 20:13 arriving Berlin at 08:55. "Sparschiene Nachtverkehr Nightjet + Anschlussticket Nightjet." "Sleeper Bed", "Compartment with 1 bed (Single)". € 216,00. Bear in mind the comment at https://www.nightjet.com/en/ https://www.nightjet.com/en/ : "Due to the travel restrictions caused by the corona pandemic, we are reducing the Nightjet traffic to probably 8 February 2021 ... As a precautionary measure, no bookings are currently possible for the affected trains from January 10th to March 24th, 2021", confirming johannes1234321's comment "During Cornona this probably is different".
  - lmm 6y ago
    The Italian ones are nice, as are the UK ones (if a bit cramped). The Nightjets mentioned in the article (mostly taken over from DB's CityNightLine a few years ago) are variable; the Poland-Ukraine one is pleasant enough but poorly timed. I had a pretty bad time on a Hungarian Railways one. The Russian Railways ones from Paris and Nice to Moscow have a reputation for luxurious looks but bad (or at least not westerner-friendly) food.
- standardUser 6y ago
  Personally, I can't start a day without a proper bathroom to shower and groom myself. An overnight train doesn't even come close to a hotel replacement in my book.
  - kennydude 6y ago
    Ideally you could have a lounge area at the start and end stations where passengers can shower and generally freshen themselves up. Kings Cross in London already has shower facilities, which are wonderful for long days as a tourist.
  - johannes1234321 6y ago
    For a true hotel room comparison you can go to Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Stars_in_Kyushu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Stars_in_Kyushu In general however it is a compromise. At least "true" sleeper cars often have a (shared, small) shower, but yes, no comparison to equally expensive hotel rooms.
    - lmm 6y ago
      > For a true hotel room comparison you can go to Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Stars_in_Kyushu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Stars_in_Kyushu That's a super-expensive luxury cruise train that only does irregular (and mostly circular) tours - it's the equivalent of the Venice Simplon Orient Express. There's one scheduled sleeper train left in Japan, the Sunrise Izumo/Sunrise Seto.
      - m4rtink 6y ago
        We almost rode Sunrize Izumo last year in Japan! We even booked accommodation accordingly, leaving out the one night we ecpected to spend on bord of Sunrise Izumo going from Izumo to Tokyo. Unfortunately even though we tried to book the train as the first thing after arrival, right on the Narita train station ticket office, it was already fully booked. :P At least we managed to book the marvelous SL Hitoyoshi steam train from Hitoyoshi to Kumamoto over Hisatsu line. We were actually double lucky on that one, as SL Hitoyoshi is actually out of service right now as floods in July 2020 washed away key bridges on the Kuma river, cutting the rail connection between Hitoyoshi and Kumamoto, until the bridges are repaired... Still we did go to the very inaka Izuma anyway and spend a very nice old school and almost mythical four days there. And what we did about that missing accommodation? We booked a night in a ryokan in the splendid Kinosaki onsen town instead and it was indescribably good decision! :) It took as like 6 hours by multiple small local diesel trains to get from Izumo to Kinosaki, possibly the only tourists to arrive from that direction in quite a while! :) And on the very elegant Kinosaki station we even discovered a special gate reserved only for guests arriving by one of those luxury cruse trains - namely Twilight Express Mizukaze: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Express_Mizukaze https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Express_Mizukaze Likely inspired by the special gate only ueed by the Emperor on Tokyo station. :)
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
Well I sort of prefer night trains also, in theory at least, but I have to say where I am in a suburb of Copenhagen, it takes me 20 minutes to get to the center station where I could conceivably board a night train. And I couldn't really spontaneously take a train to the center station where I would then catch a night train because of course I have to make sure I get there in time for the train going to where I want to go.
- flemhans 6y ago
  The upcoming night trains will depart from Høje Taastrup since they arrive from Sweden, and don't want to go to the Central Station just to turn around (takes another hour or so to do).
  - bryanrasmussen 6y ago
    So even longer for me.

johannes1234321 6y ago

Especially night trains - if you are able to sleep in that somewhat noisy and shaky environment. You travel overnight, where you can't do anything anyways and come up in the other place in the morning and have the full day available. When flying you typically need a hotel night more and have to get to city center first.

TooCreative 6y ago
I never tried a night train. Are there any good ones in Europe?
- johannes1234321 6y ago
  Austrian ÖBB, which runs in multiple countries like most lines going through Germany, is working on modernizing their trains, but they also have quite old cars. Not sure if there is a good site showing car types and train lines. https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/nightjetzukunft https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/nightjetzukunf...
  - TooCreative 6y ago
    I was on that site a couple of times but never managed to find out which routes offer a single cabin for yourself. I would not want to have strangers sleeping next to me.
    - johannes1234321 6y ago
      During Cornona this probably is different, but here's the relevant page: https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/ganzes-abteil-buchen https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/ganzes-abteil-...
      - TooCreative 6y ago
        Well, that is a page which describes the options. Bit have you tried the "Book ticket" button? For me, it simply goes to the start page. So I still don't know how to find the routes that offer these options.
        eesmith 6y ago
        https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/nightjet.htm https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/nightjet.htm suggests that (nearly?) every route offers a single compartment. That is, "Most Nightjet trains use Comfortline sleeping-cars built by Siemens in 2003-2005 for German Railways' City Night Line sleeper trains." and "Below: Comfortline sleeper layout. All compartments can be sold as a single, double or triple."
        TooCreative 6y ago
        Well, have you tried it? Every time I try to book a trip, the single compartment is grey and says that this option is not available for this trip.
        eesmith 6y ago
        When did you try? I picked 14 April 2021, leaving Wien Hvf (U) at 20:13 arriving Berlin at 08:55. "Sparschiene Nachtverkehr Nightjet + Anschlussticket Nightjet." "Sleeper Bed", "Compartment with 1 bed (Single)". € 216,00. Bear in mind the comment at https://www.nightjet.com/en/ https://www.nightjet.com/en/ : "Due to the travel restrictions caused by the corona pandemic, we are reducing the Nightjet traffic to probably 8 February 2021 ... As a precautionary measure, no bookings are currently possible for the affected trains from January 10th to March 24th, 2021", confirming johannes1234321's comment "During Cornona this probably is different".
- lmm 6y ago
  The Italian ones are nice, as are the UK ones (if a bit cramped). The Nightjets mentioned in the article (mostly taken over from DB's CityNightLine a few years ago) are variable; the Poland-Ukraine one is pleasant enough but poorly timed. I had a pretty bad time on a Hungarian Railways one. The Russian Railways ones from Paris and Nice to Moscow have a reputation for luxurious looks but bad (or at least not westerner-friendly) food.
standardUser 6y ago
Personally, I can't start a day without a proper bathroom to shower and groom myself. An overnight train doesn't even come close to a hotel replacement in my book.
- kennydude 6y ago
  Ideally you could have a lounge area at the start and end stations where passengers can shower and generally freshen themselves up. Kings Cross in London already has shower facilities, which are wonderful for long days as a tourist.
- johannes1234321 6y ago
  For a true hotel room comparison you can go to Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Stars_in_Kyushu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Stars_in_Kyushu In general however it is a compromise. At least "true" sleeper cars often have a (shared, small) shower, but yes, no comparison to equally expensive hotel rooms.
  - lmm 6y ago
    > For a true hotel room comparison you can go to Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Stars_in_Kyushu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Stars_in_Kyushu That's a super-expensive luxury cruise train that only does irregular (and mostly circular) tours - it's the equivalent of the Venice Simplon Orient Express. There's one scheduled sleeper train left in Japan, the Sunrise Izumo/Sunrise Seto.
    - m4rtink 6y ago
      We almost rode Sunrize Izumo last year in Japan! We even booked accommodation accordingly, leaving out the one night we ecpected to spend on bord of Sunrise Izumo going from Izumo to Tokyo. Unfortunately even though we tried to book the train as the first thing after arrival, right on the Narita train station ticket office, it was already fully booked. :P At least we managed to book the marvelous SL Hitoyoshi steam train from Hitoyoshi to Kumamoto over Hisatsu line. We were actually double lucky on that one, as SL Hitoyoshi is actually out of service right now as floods in July 2020 washed away key bridges on the Kuma river, cutting the rail connection between Hitoyoshi and Kumamoto, until the bridges are repaired... Still we did go to the very inaka Izuma anyway and spend a very nice old school and almost mythical four days there. And what we did about that missing accommodation? We booked a night in a ryokan in the splendid Kinosaki onsen town instead and it was indescribably good decision! :) It took as like 6 hours by multiple small local diesel trains to get from Izumo to Kinosaki, possibly the only tourists to arrive from that direction in quite a while! :) And on the very elegant Kinosaki station we even discovered a special gate reserved only for guests arriving by one of those luxury cruse trains - namely Twilight Express Mizukaze: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Express_Mizukaze https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Express_Mizukaze Likely inspired by the special gate only ueed by the Emperor on Tokyo station. :)

bryanrasmussen 6y ago

Well I sort of prefer night trains also, in theory at least, but I have to say where I am in a suburb of Copenhagen, it takes me 20 minutes to get to the center station where I could conceivably board a night train. And I couldn't really spontaneously take a train to the center station where I would then catch a night train because of course I have to make sure I get there in time for the train going to where I want to go.

flemhans 6y ago
The upcoming night trains will depart from Høje Taastrup since they arrive from Sweden, and don't want to go to the Central Station just to turn around (takes another hour or so to do).
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  So even longer for me.