Simon

Agree, grateful for this review to confirm I never want to do this (said as someone who hates getting up for early flights)!

Kate Hyde

I took the Cornish Riviera back in 2019. Spent the day at Penzance Lido and then took the Pullman Dining train back. Excellent way to spend a day in the summer if the weather is half decent.

This was before the HSTs were replaced with the inferior IETs though.

Kate Hyde

I find the Cornish Riviera expensive, and once for me it broke down and we were bundled onto a normal train at 2am in Plymouth. Better I find coming back from Cornwall to break the journey in Plymouth – much cheaper and a better nights sleep in a hotel.

lumma

It’s basically no different than biz class on a plane. If they sort you out with little lockers to secure your valuables, then I don’t need my own compartment, that set up is great for me

Rob

Rob, 1k is a round-trip with single compartment en-suite toilet. I understand that my case is not common, but I am looking for a family trip, like 3-4 people, and continent is better. UK trains are not for families.

Lonli-Lokli

https://paliparan.com/2023/12/12/new-nightjet-expensive-prices

Rob

Vienna-Amsterdam starts from €109.90 in a 2-bed sleeper, per person per berth, don’t know where did you found 1k. The distance between Vienna and Amsterdam is 581 miles, while London-Edinburgh is just 332 miles.

Comparing the train costs in the UK in Europe is just unfair, UK trains are pricey and unreliable.

Ryan

We flew back from Kiruna after taking the train up. It’s a mental thing – at the end of your holiday you just want to get home as quickly as possible.

It is not sold out southbound, as it almost is northbound.

This suggests to me it is being bought by those who are attracted to this waking up in the highlands offering.

Surely everyone who travels north aren’t all flying back?

Are we seeing well heeled tourists subsidising the other routes south from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen perhaps?

Roy

*not because they actually want to.

Can we have an edit button please? 😀

ken

As others have said, true reason we have some of the most expensive rail fairs in the world – not just sleepers – is largely a function of government policy that rail should be as close to self-funding as humanity possible.

Plus, no ÔBB-style embracing of the sleeper train. Like most other European operators, the British railway runs sleepers under protest, not because that actually really to.

Lewis

The original plans had something like that, but sadly they had difficulty meeting the crash safety regulations and were dropped.

I agree it’s a pity they didn’t put more effort into making that work.

Roy

*I believe there are *two* types of sleeper cars

Damn autocorrect.

ken

There are only two double beds on each section of the Caledonian Sleeper AIUI.

I believe there are other types of sleeper cars: most have standard and club rooms only. The other type of sleeping car includes, in addition, a couple of t
double rooms and a couple of accessible rooms. Therefore is, I think, only one of these cars per destination.

krys_k

The schnitzel is indeed wonderful, although the potatoes are always undercooked for my taste.
For good views I guess you didn’t go west from Warsaw where (apart from the old engine shed with turntable) it’s almost as flat as the Fens for three hours.
Which rather explains why the Red Army advanced 500km in 3 weeks in January 1945.

MKB

Yes, but sleeping laterally means the likely worst case would be a broken leg – longitudinally could be a broken neck.

lumma

Yes, exactly the luxurious bits I do want, without expensive things I don’t need.
And how sensible to arrange showers, breakfasts, and lounges at hotels at each end.
Showers on the train are inevitably small, difficult to do, and so expensive.

Rob

EUR1000 gets you return for a whole compartment sleeping 6, without shower !
Each way with shower, single occupancy is EUR500, double is EUR580, triple EUR690.
You can pay more for flex, but that seems niche.

memesweeper

I read Lewis’s comment as meaning US “First Class” or Club World!

Rob

Less than €100 first class single sleeper Genoa to Naples last June

Lewis

British Airways Club Europe is worse than a lot of 2nd class seating. I’ll take the train over the plane for comfort (and more chance of getting work done as less faff/time padding on departure).

If only they’d made a seating carriage like this and charged say £100 for it

Alex G

And presumably you still need a car when you get to Inverness, so would need to add vehicle hire to the budget? We visit Scotland quite a lot and it takes us the same amount of time to get to the start of the Highlands as it does to get to London. I love the idea of a holiday on a train but am probably imagining the Orient Express!

My late grandfather once travelled to America to take a specific train journey from San Antonio in Texas to San Francisco!

MKB

You can control it yourself

Rob

I booked the European sleeper from Rotterdam to Berlin over Easter for £240 total for two adults and four children. Obviously not the same as the Scotland sleeper but an incredibly good deal for transport and a night’s accommodation.

John

The day trains can go 125mph Vs 87mph for the class 92s on the sleeper and can corner faster

Michael C

Is it cheaper if you look further out? For a random day in April, a family of 3 or 4 to/from Glasgow is £285 for the standard bunks (with an interconnecting door) or £385 for the club bunks (no interconnecting doors because the loos are in the way). For the same dates from Inverness, it’s £385/405.

We’ve done it a few times from Glasgow to London, because we can put the kids to sleep at my parents’ house at their usual bedtime, then wake them up at 10pm, bundle them into a cab, and have them back in bed on the train 20 minutes later.