Solo Backpacking in Europe: Thello -The Sleeper train
so how was my experience in sleeper train…
A friend of mine, told me, if I’m going to Europe, better experience trains, and try sleeper train.
While I’m planning for my itinerary, all of my transfer from one country to another is just plain and train.
So it will be my first time to experience a sleeper train, I mean a bed on an overnight travel (why not).
There are of course expensive one, but comfortable. And there’s cheaper one..but not so comfortable. I said not so comfortable, because I think this will be not advisable for tall and has a big body built. I’m just petite so, I don’t have any problems on stretching my legs ?
I reserved ahead of time so my fare was just €35. From Venice to Paris.
The train was on time, and it will just stay for maybe 10 minutes, for the passengers to get in.
There is 6 couchettes for each room.
You can choose coed or men or women. I chose the room that will just accommodate women.
I’m was contemplating if I want to sleep at the top bunk or at the middle.
But I chose the middle bunk, mainly because I always have the urge to go to the washroom, and it will be hard for me to go down if I’m at the top bunk…haha
Each bunk, have bottled water (which is beside the bed), bedding sheet, blanket and pillow. But, the pillow is not what you think it is. It’s like you don’t have a pillow at all ?. I didn’t choose the bottom bunk, because of what I saw on some reviews, when you unfolded/arrange the middle bunk, the divider (I don’t know what it’s called…like a camel bone, ?) will be at the top of the person who will be sleeping on it. But it will be on the top of your feet, but still ?
Each bunk also has reading lights. And a door lock.
The room is not that big, so if you have a large luggage and you’re the last one, you will hard a hard time on where to put it. But there’s a place for luggage, it will just be hard for you put it on the top and put it down again.
I just put my backpack under one of the bottom bunk. Luckily, we are just 5 on the 6 couchettes, so the other passengers were able to put their luggage on the vacant bottom bunk. But if we’re 6, I don’t know where the luggage would have been,?.
There will be attendants that will get your passport and will return it early in the morning. This is for border cross checking.
Make sure that your passport/visa should be valid to to enter/cross a particular the country. This information is on Thello’s site. So you can check before reserving online.
I had a good sleep, surprisingly…maybe I’m just really tired,?.
But every now and then, someone will knock or get out, so yeah, from time to time you’ll wake up. Unless you’re not that sensitive.
Will I recommend Thello sleeper train, yes.
Will I ride it again, yes.
Again, it depends, on what you’re after and again this is not good for big people, IMO ?Because you will need to fold your knees when you’re sleeping ?
fascinating. i had no idea there were dorm like sleeper trains! thanks for sharing. did you feel safe giving your passport to the attendant?
Joy at The Joyous Living
Yeah, at first I was worried because they asked for my passport at night and it took a while for them to return. Then one of the passenger told me, they usually return it in the morning to not disturb the sleep of the passengers ?
I wonder how cost effective this is for a solo traveler? I often travel solo, but would want the whole room for myself lol.
Haha, it’s really cheap, but of course you will share it with other passengers, so this might not be ideal for you then ?
Wow this was very different from the sleeper train I went to from Switzerland to Austria. The train basically had three very thin beds lined up side by side (like if they were all put down at the same time, they could make one full-size bed). Lucky for me and my friends, no one else was in our room or in the room next to us, so we had a spacious night :).
Wow, I think I will try that too 🙂
This is something that I failed to try when I backpacked around Europe. But I’m going back this year so I will try the sleeper train. Sounds like a very cool experience.
My Kids love to travel by train. The European Sleeper Train looks very clean and rather cool – something we must try next time we are in Europe 🙂
I haven’t personally but many students before starting college tour Europe by train and it’s a fantastic experience for bagpackers. There are also train that connect cities at night that offer private cabins.
This sleeper train looks quite a bit more comfortable than some I took back in 2001 when I did Interrailing around Europe. No better way to travel! There’s nothing quite like waking up in a completely new place to explore 🙂
This seems like a really cost effective way to travel. I imagine the rocking of the train helped you get a good night’s sleep!
I love taking trains, but never tried taking one in Europe over night. We did however travel with Trans-Siberian in 2018, that was great! Trains you describe sound and look very reasonable!
I am from the UK and I didn’t even know Europe had sleeper trains haha (we don’t have them in the UK) But it looks really good actually! I am glad you had a good nights sleep, I have done sleeper buses in SEA and I didn’t sleep well there! Glad you had a good time 😀
This train looks pretty cool and the price is not steep at all, I will keep it in my mind when I will need to make it from Venice to Paris or Paris to Venice. I didn’t find in your article how long did the journey take you? The train looks super modern and clean, free bottle of water is great bonus!
It took like more or less 10hrs. So I was just sleeping until we were in Paris.