Deutsche Bahn (formerly Deutsche Bundesbahn)(Germany)

...is a service operated by Deutsche Bahn that runs through Europe, connecting cities in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Italy.

The service operates specially designed trains incorporating couchettes and sleeper cabins as well as seats and (apparently) cushioned axles for a smooth ride, and therefore a good night's sleep.

Why Did We Choose the City Night Line?
...to do, we contacted the Deutsche Bahn call centre in London. You can go on their website (www.bahn.co.uk) for timetables, availability information, pricing and you can purchase your tickets in this way. The website is pretty well laid out, but we didn't use it because we needed to get our discounts, which had to be done over the phone.

We made several calls to the call centre because we were booking very early and the different legs ... more

I was so looking forward to travelling to Vienna through the Rhine valley on the night train. I imagined gazing up at flood lit Austrian castles under the stars, eating a meal in the dining car amongst crystal and porcelain, clinking wine glasses with my husband as we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Somehow, the whole vision took place in black and white and amidst steam and whistles (think The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps or Brief Encounter)

Could the reality ever live up to my ideal?

What is the City Night Line?
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This is a service operated by Deutsche Bahn that runs through Europe, connecting cities in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Italy.

The service operates specially designed trains incorporating couchettes and sleeper cabins as well as seats and (apparently) cushioned axles for a smooth ride, and therefore a good night's sleep.

Why Did We Choose the City Night Line?
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In 2008 my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We had been away for a weekend to Umbria on our 5th anniversary where we'd vowed to do similar each 5 years and so we were looking for a suitably romantic way to mark the achievement that is 10 years of marriage. My husband travelled by train to Berlin a couple of years back and noticed on the Cologne to Berlin leg of his journey that you could get a night train from Cologne to Vienna. Due to my work, we are fortunate enough to have international rail passes that provide discounts on rail fares, so this had the potential for being a cost effective option for us.

I found the idea of a night train from Cologne to Vienna really appealing - a bit of an adventure and romantic in an old-fashioned way. When we had a look on www.seat61.com (more on this website later in the review), I was sold on the whole idea because of the following description:

"The train travels along the famous Rhine Valley between Koblenz and Frankfurt, so if you are in a sleeper and your compartment happens to be on the left-hand side of the train, switch off the lights and watch the Rhine pass by, mountains and castles lit by moonlight, while sipping a glass of Riesling. Wonderful!"

Information and Booking
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I have to say that I find the prospect of travelling by train in Europe confusing, in particular knowing how to best plan your route. Take the UK Rail Network with it's 20 odd different Train Operating Companies, each offering heaven knows how many different fare options and some operating on the same line but offering very different services. All of this can be confusing to a new comer, but add in the fact that you want to go through several different European countries and this could get very confusing.

Our starting point was the website www.seat61.com, which is run by a rail enthusiast. Given the status of this website, I wouldn't rely on it solely for travel information as there is no guarantee that it is up to date and accurate, but as a starting point for considering your options, I found it to be very informative and easy to follow. It seems to have won some pretty serious awards (including best website award at the Guardian & Observer Travel Awards 2008) as well, so it is obviously generally well thought of.

Once we'd got the basics of what we wanted to do, we contacted the Deutsche Bahn call centre in London. You can go on their website (www.bahn.co.uk) for timetables, availability information, pricing and you can purchase your tickets in this way. The website is pretty well laid out, but we didn't use it because we needed to get our discounts, which had to be done over the phone.

We made several calls to the call centre because we were booking very early and the different legs of the journey were only available for booking at a certain period of time ahead of departure, so I rang once to get information, again to book the Eurostar Leg and finally to get the DB legs. I found the staff to be not only very helpful and polite, but also enthusiastic. When I explained the trip that we were undertaking one operator was genuinely interested in it and offered advice about what to do in Cologne whilst we waited for our connection. You can contact them on 08718 808066. I would say that if you fancy travelling in Europe by train, but don't know where to start, they would probably be really helpful in helping you to plan your trip.

Connections, Travel Planning and Punctuality
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Our trip to Vienna went like this:
- Eurostar service from London to Brussels
- Thalys service from Brussels to Cologne
- City Night Line service from Cologne to Vienna

Working out which train to get for each of these legs is actually trickier than you might imagine. Whilst the staff at the DB Booking Centre were really helpful, you still have to make a call about what connections you are going to make and how much time you allow.

Making sure we were on time to catch a Night Train was really important. Missing it would have meant finding accommodation for the night and then buying another ticket for a train the next day.

In the event, we ended up spending much longer than we needed at Cologne waiting for our connection especially as this was the only train in the trip that was late. The upshot is that we could have got up and left home later than we did and spent less time waiting at Cologne, but for peace of mind I think we probably did the right thing giving ourselves plenty of time between each connection.

The whole trip nearly didn't happen as the fire in the Channel Tunnel took place soon after we booked and for quite a while we were unsure as to whether the first leg of our journey would happen at all. Fortunately, about 2 weeks before we left they announced a new timetable and around 1 week before we left we were assigned a firm seat. Luckily, we'd decided to hold on and not purchase a flight instead as the cost of the flight would not have been refundable. The whole thing was pretty stressful, to be honest, but there is no one to blame for this and Eurostar were clearly doing all they could to operate as effectively as they could in a difficult time.

Prices
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Well, this was not a particularly cheap way of getting from London to Vienna to be honest. If you want to get there quickly, then you would be far better off getting a flight. Flights are available for around £120.

For us, though, the journey was part of the weekend and the first night away was to be spent on a train rather than in a hotel and you have to bear that in mind when comparing the prices.

We also got our tickets cheaper because of our discounts and our decision making process would have been a lot different if we hadn't had that. Because we had discounts we were able to choose the more luxurious modes of travel, so we went First Class in Eurostar and took a luxury cabin on the City Night Line.

The total cost of our trip (London - Vienna) was £140 Per person, so just slightly more than flying. Without the discounts you are looking at around double this. If you are happy to travel overnight in a seat and will be travelling standard class on Eurostar, you might be able to squeeze the price in under that of flying.

Catching the Train
==============
We caught the City Night Line from Cologne, or rather Koln Hauptbahnhoff.

Our connecting Thalys train from Brussels arrived a couple of hours ahead of our City Night Line connection. Cologne cathedral is literally right outside the station and there is a large square with steps leading up to the cathedral where visitors mill and locals meet up. We idled away some time looking around the cathedral, eating in a nearby café and ringing Nana and Grandpa to check up on the kids.

Koln Hauptbahnhoff is large, full of shops and cafes, but not a particularly attractive place to hang around. There was an intriguing luggage locker system, where you put your luggage into what looks like a locker, but is actually a sort of luggage lift which takes your case away underground and stores it, then collects it again when you enter in the code that you are given at the time you deposit. We had visions of never seeing our case again, but we needn't have worried.

The train was late. Not a good start to be honest and the trouble was that because we didn't know how late it was going to be, we ended up sitting on the platform waiting for it for around an hour, whereas if we had known it was going to be that late we would have gone for a coffee. Given that the train was due to leave at 20:06 and we'd been travelling since first thing, we were by now pretty tired and could have done without the wait.

We were able to determine which part of the platform we needed to be on by consulting a diagram on the platform and our ticket so that when the train pulled in we were able to get on the correct carriage straight away. A steward checked our tickets and showed us to our cabin.

The Cabin
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The cabin itself was small, but well designed. We had two beds (like bunks), a table and two chairs, an area for hanging clothes and storing bags and a shower/toilet room. It was clean and the bedding was crisp and fresh. Towels were supplied.

There is a large window the length of the carriage which arches into the roof so you are able to look up at the scenery. Blinds afford you privacy and shut out the station and other lights once you want to head off to sleep.

We rather liked our cabin, small as it was, but if you are not very mobile, it would have been a real challenge. You ascend a couple of pretty steep steps to get to the upper cabins, of which ours was one, and getting up to the top bunk was quite a feat - there was no ladder and you had to just stand on the bottom bunk (trying not to squash your travel companion) and heave yourself up. I'm pretty impressed I managed it without straining any muscles, but maintaining any decorum whilst doing so was simply not possible.

The shower was miniscule, but worked and was hot and we both used it and were glad of it to freshen ourselves up in the morning ahead of our arrival.

Food and Refreshments
===================
I'd love to give you a blow by blow account of our dinner in the dining carriage, but I'm afraid that there was a technical problem which meant that there was no dining carriage on our train.

This was a real let down. Fortunately, my husband had insisted on buying crisps, chocolate and wine at Cologne station. I'd been saying that this was over the top as I wanted to have a proper meal on the train, but in the event these snacks ended up being our evening meal and I was might glad of them!

The steward brought us coffees (which we had to pay for) and a small bottle of wine each (which was complimentary). He was very attentive and polite. We sat in the privacy of our cabin and drank and munched into the early hours.

In the morning, the steward brought us breakfast, which was included in the price of the ticket. This was pretty impressive and comprised a croissant each, a yogurt, a roll, cheese, various hams and jams and marmalades. There was orange juice and the choice of coffee or tea. It was a filling and tasty breakfast.

The Sleeping Experience
===================
Well, I found sleeping on the train quite difficult.

Firstly, there is the simple fact that you are somewhere quite different/alien, which always makes it difficult.

Then, there is the movement of the train. It is not so much that there is a constant jostling and noise, because there isn't. It is more the fact you stop and start. As a commuter who is automatically programmed to wake when the train stops to make sure I don't miss my stop, each time we stopped I woke up, wondering where we'd got to on our journey.

Actually, the beds are quite comfy and if you are so disposed you probably could get a good night's sleep on the train, but it just wasn't for me.

Conclusion
=========
Well, it was not the romantic experience of my imagination in that we did not dine amongst crystal and porcelain, but instead ate crisps and chocolate, nor did we see any mountains and castles - we passed through the Rhine valley in the early hours of the morning when we were attempting to sleep. We did, however, have the privacy of our own cabin and we enjoyed taking the time to just sit, talk, gaze out the window at the lights of the cities and suburbs that we passed through. We talked, reminisced and laughed, all of which was pretty special thinking about it.

The reality may not have lived up to my idealised imaginings, but in a world where we are in a constant hurry to be somewhere, I found that travelling by train and taking 24 hours to get from home to Vienna, actually gave me the time to unwind, relax and to talk. Passing through France, Belgium, Germany and Austria on our journey gave us a real sense of what our trip meant (geographically speaking) and it felt really good. If travelling for you is as much about the journey as the destination, then I would definitely recommend the City Night Line.

I don't like to say that it was disappointing, because that would somehow devalue the experience and I certainly don't want to do that as I have very fond memories of it. It was an experience and it was fun. I probably won't repeat it anytime soon, but nor would I rather not have done it. I will always look back on it and smile. 

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