Sleeping on Trains

There's something romantic about the notion of sleeping on the train, you can leave Barcelona in the afternoon, fall asleep on the top couchette to a relaxing chug-chug-chug sound and wake up in Paris for breakfast of croissants and coffee in a café near the Seine.

You can cover 1000km in a night, saving time for sightseeing or whatever you plan to do when you get to your destination.

Sleeping on the train is also a great way to save money. You save the cost of a night's accommodation and get more mileage out of your rail pass. If you've got an unlimited travel pass, you should try and get an overnight train whenever possible. If you've got one of those passes which allow you a certain number of travel days, you can maximise its value by taking a train after 7pm -- some rail passes classify this as the following day effectively giving you a 29 hour day of train travel.

There are several different types of accommodation on trains. These range from first class sleepers that include your own private room complete with clean sheets and breakfast, down to the more affordable couchettes and sleeperettes.

Although many trains have comfy seats that fold down to make a bed, these trains don't always operate on night routes meaning that you often have to book a couchette or sleeperette. These are quite good value, but they can cost as much as a night in a hostel in some cases.

Couchettes are basically compartments fitted with either four or six bunk beds. These have firm, but comfortable mattresses, sheets, blankets and pillows. If you travel by couchette, try and get the top bunk -- you will sleep better, and you get loads of shelf space to put all your gear. Costs vary depending on the country, although you should budget around a US$15 supplement for a couchette.

Sleeperettes are available in some trains for around a US$11 supplement. These are just really comfy chairs.