the bed moves | 7 nights | from $2,890 per person
The Alps by Sleeper Vacation Package, Seven Nights
The Alps by sleeper vacation package is a circuit of night trains with day stops between them. Three of the seven nights are spent on a moving train, and the berths are small.
What the bed moves means on this trip
- Beds across the trip
- Five beds across seven nights: three sleeper berths on three different trains, and two hotel rooms holding the remaining four nights. How those four nights split between the two hotels is set when you book, either three and one or two and two.
- How the bag moves
- You carry it, every step. There are no porters on the night services and the compartment corridor is 22 inches wide, so plan on one bag each under 40 pounds that you can lift to a rack at shoulder height without help.
- The longest single move
- The second night train, boarding at 8:42 pm and setting you down at 9:10 am: 12 hours and 28 minutes in the compartment, including a border stop where the train stands still for about 40 minutes.
- Time actually spent moving
- Roughly 34 hours of the 168 are spent moving, about one fifth of the trip. Because 27 of those hours are overnight, only 7 hours of daylight are given up to travel across the whole week.
- What stays in the room
- On the three train nights nothing can be left anywhere: the main bag and the day bag both live in the compartment with you. Only at the two hotel stops can you leave things in a room and walk out with a small bag.
- What the rhythm buys, and what it costs
- Moving at night buys you four valleys that sit a long way apart without spending a single daylight hour on a long transfer. It costs you sleep: the berth is 27 inches wide, the train brakes and restarts through the night, and most people reach the first day stop on about five hours.
- Who this rhythm does not suit
- Anyone who sleeps badly on a moving train should not book this, because three of the seven nights offer no alternative. Nor should anyone taller than 6 feet 2, since the berths measure 6 feet 2, anyone with a case over 24 inches, or anyone who needs a bathroom inside the room every night: two of the three trains have washbasin compartments with facilities at the end of the car.
The last row loses this desk bookings and it stays on the page anyway. A rhythm that does not suit you is far cheaper to discover here than on the fourth morning.
What sits inside the price
- Seven nights of beds: three in a two berth sleeper compartment held for the two of you alone, four in mid-grade city hotels with private bathrooms.
- Every rail leg of the circuit, three night crossings and four daytime runs, with a reserved berth or seat on each one, so no leg depends on finding space at a counter on the day.
- Breakfast on all seven mornings: four in a hotel dining room, three brought to the compartment about 40 minutes before arrival.
- Transfers between station and hotel at both hotel stops, four moves in total, by car for two people and two bags.
- A local guide for 3 hours at two of the four day stops, on foot, in English.
- A printed timetable for the whole circuit with platform numbers, the walking time at both daytime changes, and a direct number for the person holding your booking.
What you pay for on your own
- Flights from Colorado Springs to the start city and home from the end city, priced on their own; count on from $900 per person round trip outside July and August.
- Lunches and dinners for all seven days. Budget $55 to $85 per person per day at the level of the places you are staying.
- Mountain railways, funiculars and lake boats at the day stops, $25 to $70 each, bought on the day.
- City tax paid at the hotel desk, $2.50 to $5 per person per night.
- Sole use of a compartment for one traveler, which adds $610.
What it costs
from $2,890 per person
- What it covers
- 7 nights, a circuit of night trains with day stops between them, two hotel stays, no car.
- What it assumes
- Two people to a room, unless the seven rows above say otherwise for your case.
- What pushes it up
- Which month you pick, which grade of room, how late you leave it, and how far the beds sit from each other.
- When it hardens
- The day it is written down with an operator named on it. Before that it marks the bottom of a range and claims nothing else.
Settlement happens between you and the operator, on their system. Nothing is collected on these pages and no card reaches this desk.
Months that work, months that do not
The Alps by sleeper vacation package runs from late May to mid-October. The strongest stretch is the first three weeks of June and the middle of September: the night trains keep their full pattern, the day stops are open, and the valley heat has either not built up yet or has gone.
July and most of August work badly. Daytime highs in the lower valleys sit near 90 F, the older sleeper cars vent rather than cool, and berths for those weeks are taken about five months ahead, which pushes you into the compartments with a washbasin and no shower.
There are two stretches I would talk you out of. The fortnight either side of August 15, when public holidays in three of the four countries close half of what you came to look at and the trains are at their fullest. And the last week of October, when two of the three night services drop to three runs a week, the second change stops connecting, and the circuit can only be closed by adding a daytime leg of about 7 hours.
The four things we pin down before booking
Four decisions stay open until the booking is confirmed, and all four move the price. Berth grade comes first: a two berth compartment with a washbasin, or one with a private shower and a power outlet at each berth, about $240 more per person for the three nights. Then the split of the four hotel nights, three at the first stop and one at the last, or two and two, which decides whether you get a real rest day in the middle. Then whether the mountain rail day goes in on day 5, at $95 per person. Then the date itself, because berths open around six months out and the compartments held for sole use go first.