We wanted to take a night train five years ago, from Ljubljana, Slovenia to Budapest. Unfortunately it only ran twice a week and I did not know that at the time so that killed it right there.
We were also going to take one in Turkey, Istanbul to Nevashir... but it wasn't running at the time.
It is just something I wanted to try. Bucket list kind of crap.
Besides, it sounds romantic and adventurous. So this finally was our opportunity.
We left Warsaw at 21:15 right on schedule. Train 407, the Chopin Night Train. The platform diagram told us to wait in Sektor 2 to load into car 355. Car 351 stopped in front of us, and after guessing wrong about which way it was to our car, we found it and made our way down the very narrow aisle to our two person room on wheels, bunks 21 and 25.
We have an actual sleeping car attendant who greeted us, took our tickets (and returned them in the morning with the border documentation attached) and who brought us coffee in the morning. When we got in our compartment, the beds were already turned down for us.
The little room-on-wheels is about 6.5 feet by 4.5 feet (maybe 2m by 1.5 m). It is kind of set up like a little camper, or a room on a ship, and is exciting and efficient in the same sort of way. So, of course, we just had to explore every nook and cranny of it.
Took us like five minutes, max.
We kept running into each other.
We have a closet, sink and small cabinet against one wall. There is a fold down chair in the corner by the window.
The closet has enough room to hang three things (our coats) and I can put either my pack or Gail's suitcase standing up in the bottom.
My pack went in the dresser, Gails suitcase on the chair. I moved the suitcase by the door when I wanted to sit. I spent a bit of time sitting on that seat, legs up. Pretty comfortable.
The cabinet is stocked with four bottles of water, plastic cups, and two muffins. There is room for the water we brought.
The sink has a hinged cover so it doubles as s table top. The water is not potable (thus the bottled water) but you can wash up. There is a trash bin underneath.
On the other side are two bunk beds (a third is folded up against the wall on top; but for the life of me I don't see how you could fit into it.)
The bunks are like cots, little mattresses, a sheet and the duvet. There is a small pillow, and the head end props up so you can lay in bed and look out the window.
The view is better from the bottom bunk. Up top I have to sort of lean over to look down out of the window.
There is no ladder up. But it's easy to step on the air vent, then window sill to get up.
My upper bunk has a baby rail so I won't fall out.
There is a mesh pocket by each bed, and light controls so you can turn the main room light on and off, and individual reading lights. A kind of storage shelf runs across the top of the room. There is also room to tuck our shoes under the dresser.
We each got a "gift bag" containing a bar of soap and a disposable "towel" the size of a wash cloth. I am keeping that. Need a washcloth here as most guest houses don't provide them.
Well it is all so very exciting. It is pretty small. Very small. “Compact.”
We got settled in, and went out to explore the hallway. We found the two bathrooms (one with shower) at either end of the hall.
We tried taking photos. It is really hard in such a small place.
We cruised along, gently swaying, with the occasional bump and jerk. I discovered that we could watch the country roll by out the window if we turned off the main overhead light and just used one of the "mood lights.”
So, by mood light, we had dinner. A turkey with cranberry sandwich, and a bottle of red French wine, using the cup holder by Gail's bed to hold the bottle.
There is a sun screen and also a shade pulled down over the window but we put them up and left them up. Cool air is forced into our room but I found I could also open the top part of the window (but it was noisy so we left it shut).
Eventually we climbed in our bunks and though we both tried to stay awake, we were rocked to sleep.
I slept pretty good. It was a hassle to get up, climb down, dress and stumble down to the WC in the middle of the night. The bed was better than an airline seat, a sleeping bag, or the floor. It was not as nice as our bed at home or most hotels. I did sleep pretty well however.
During the night we crossed into the Czech Republic, then Slovakia. I was awake in my bunk looking out the window as we crossed the Hungarian border.
I watched the Hungarian country side roll by until it was time to wake Gail st 7:30, about an hour before we were to land in port.
Gail said she slept great, really peaceful with the gentle rocking.
She agreed the one hassle is the bathroom down the hall.
I think this train would be too crowded for more than a two day trip. I guess the rooms must be bigger in trips like the Orient Express.
I wish I knew ahead of time that they provided water and that we had the sink for sure (there was some question about that). It was great bringing wine and food. I wish there was a dining car for more and earlier coffee.
Part of the trip was the gentle rocking clicking click I expected, but a lot of it was the more high speed hum with the occasional jerk. I woke twice and we were totally stopped, probably at the borders.
This was pretty fun and totally worth doing, at least once. A little expensive.
Would we do it again?
Yes.
Here are the details on how to set up this trip if you want to do it yourself:
You cannot buy Polish rail tickets in advance. You have to be in country. You can however find all the train schedules here.
I read about the overnight Chopin train on another web site.
You have to have advance reservations to take it. So, I figured there were three options: first just show up in Poland and hope we could get tickets. Second google a ticket purchaser like this website. They buy for you, you pay them and they deliver the tickets. Third is to contact your hotel direct and ask them to help.
You should prepare in advance with food and drink.
Don't count on making a tight connection leaving Budapest. Our train was a half hour late arriving.
The biggest hassle was going down the hall to the bathroom. There are rooms available with a bathroom in them, but of course they cost a lot more. There are also "hostel / dorm" rooms, six bunks to a room. I saw a lot of people in those, and peeked in the windows as we got off. They looked pretty good if you are a solo traveler.
We had bunks 21 and 25 but sure enough they were in a private room. And we had a sink, contrary to what we were told third hand. So trust the ticket buyers information. This is all current as of June 2017