NightJet to Vienna from Germany - anyone done it?

[ronconcoke]

Hi, I'm looking to travel from Germany (Cologne to be precise) to Vienna this summer for 2 adults (possibly 4) and 2 kids on the NightJet sleeper service. It's hard to see on the Rail Europe website how this would work as looks like tickets don't go on sale until 90 days beforehand but I just wondered if anyone else had done this and how it worked/how they booked it? Is it included in an Interrail pass? I know seat61.com has info on it but wondered if anyone here had first-hand experience of it?

I've had a look at the OBB website, OP and it looks as though booking is already open - it mentions Interrail too.

https://www.nightjet.com/en/buchung/tarifinformationen/interrail-eurail-paesse

Ooh thanks for the heads-up, will get onto that!

We travelled from Innsbruck to Cologne on the NightJet last summer. Top tip - if you have a child under 6, make sure you say they are over 6 otherwise they will travel free but won't be allocated a berth....

we did brussels to vienna on nightjet last summer. booked tickets in January to get a train July.

the compartments had 6 berths but most only had 4 people in - in our case, we booked the whole compartment for our family.

the top berths are pretty high and the ladder is wobbly so fine for teens / preteens who can climb but not ideal for little kids or heavy adults

you can get food on board but it is pretty limited, especially for veggies. so on our return trip we bought sandwiches at the station.

Man in seat 61 documented his trip on twitter recently.

We travelled Amsterdam to Innsbruck and back again on Nightjet with 3 teens. Booked on OBB website exactly 6 months in advance to be able to book the whole compartment at a cheaper price than booking 5 individual places. Worked well but definitely needed ear plugs. We bought food (bread, cheeses, crisps, fruit etc) in a supermarket close to the station before boarding which worked well for us

We also did Amsterdam to Innsbruck return (and on to Italy). Booked the whole 6 berth for family of 2 adults and 2 teens which gave lots of space as the middle bunk could stay up. Top bunk is quite close to the ceiling. Eye masks as well as ear plugs!
The conductor brought round a breakfast tray of hot drink and roll with jam. Other food you had to pay for. If you have the money the 1st class 2/3 person berths with private bathroom looked very nice. Toilets are at the end of the carriage and also a separate washbasin - they were ok. I booked it all on OBB website. Trains were quite punctual and easy to find the right platform.
Teenager did say he never wanted to go on a long train journey ever again…(we did 10 trains in 2 weeks to get from London to Sud Tyrol and back, but was a great journey through the Brenner pass)

Innsbruck was a fantastic city for a short break - surrounded by mountains and cable cars to get you to the top, great public transport and lots to see as well as mountain walks. (Was not ski season)

Do you remember roughly how much you paid?

There don't seem to be any NJ tickets on sale for July at the moment, even though I keep looking daily. I've put in other dates just to see how much a private couchette compartment for the 6 of us (in March, for example) might be it's coming up with almost 1000 euros?! And that's with a non-cancellable ticket!

@ronconcoke It seems to vary when tickets go on sale, depending on when routes being confirmed. You just have to keep checking. We planned to use Interrail tickets for a nightjet last summer, but I found what was available to book with an interrail ticket wasn't the same as if you were booking without! I changed my plans because of this and I'd already git the interrail passes. I think the cost was around €180 supplement/reservation fee for a private compartment on top of the interrail cost. You can check rough cost against earlier available dates by adding interrail tickets to your booking on the obb site. I would advise waiting to book interrail tickets until you're sure of plans, as you can book nightjet tickets first with the interrail pass discount.

It’s priced dynamically like an airline. We paid about £250 each way for July last year, booked basically 6 months in advance- you couldn’t buy them until exactly that date so I booked the outward journey and then a week later booked the return

I can't for the life of me figure out the oebb.at website. So in theory they've released tickets for 20th July today, but when I try to book for 6 people it says that's too many for a single booking. They mention a page where you can do group bookings, then it all goes into German (my German is very rusty) and says I can't book for 6 people. On nightjet.com it just says there's nothing available (and I've tried changing the numbers to just 4 people etc). I've booked everything else for this trip including Eurostar and the European sleeper from Prague to Brussels, and all accommodation, but this train to Vienna is proving a very hard nut to crack!

Are they the new class of NightJet or the old ones? The new 'pod' ones look good. DH travelled from Berlin to Vienna and back in November and wasn't impressed with the existing service on the old trains, even though he booked a 'comfort' option (but not the top category, I believe). His comment was 'draughty and uncomfortable'. He was also sharing a cabin with a dad and his 5-year-old daughter who was a real sweetie but extremely excited by the whole thing; she chattered more than she slept, as it were.

'and the European sleeper from Prague to Brussels,' - I've heard baaaad things about the European Sleeper. Count yourself lucky if the loos work. Very disappointing because I really wanted to try it out, but DH is now off overnight trains since the Nightjet experience.

If you link the page I can try and work out what it says, but it wouldn't surprise me if the website is just - to use the Post Office's unfortunate term - not very robust.

this train to Vienna is proving a very hard nut to crack!

If the tickets only got released today the website might be overwhelmed - I read there's far more demand than places right now for overnight trains. Would you want to try phoning a helpline? My only contact with them was in April 2020 when I have to cancel a Nightjet booking (because international travel was banned at the time), and the helpline was great despite it being a thankless task. No idea if they speak English though.

Which journey are you trying to book? Amsterdam to Vienna? I’ve just gone on the site and can book a couchette (private so for all 6) on 20th July?
you can’t book a sleeper compartment- they are for up to 3- is that the issue?

Thanks - yeah I guess I'd need to call them. I can't believe that the website is that jammed/overwhelmed as I've checked it every day for travel days (ie Sat, Tues & Thurs) when they supposedly release tickets and it always says the same thing.

That's worrying about the European sleeper - I might have to have second thoughts now!!! I didn't do my research; clearly should have done.

Deutsche Bahn phone helpline is brilliant - I'd recommend giving them a call

"you can’t book a sleeper compartment- they are for up to 3- is that the issue?"

Ah, true. DH's 'comfort' option was a three-person compartment, then the fancy top option was one or two people. I've done six-person sleepers in the distant past, it wasn't fun. From memory the fancy sleeper is called a Schlafwagen and the more basic option is a Liegewagen (presumably because you lie there but don't actually sleep).

"That's worrying about the European sleeper - I might have to have second thoughts now!!!"
I heard three different awful reports for the Brussels to Berlin route last year when it started, hopefully it was just teething difficulties. However, they are using really, really old rolling stock and I think it shows in the level of comfort. I want European Sleeper to work, I really do, but the thought of paying for a terrible night's non-sleep with broken loos makes me waver with my environmental ideals - even RyanAir sounds better than that. I really hope your experience is better - I know the people who run it were very aware of the problems.

"Deutsche Bahn phone helpline is brilliant - I'd recommend giving them a call"

Wow, I'd heard this existed but thought it was a myth - the one customer selected each year to have a good experience with Deutsche Effing Bahn! Treasure it well, won't happen again.

Sorry, am a bit frustrated because DB is a national disgrace and the bloody drivers are going on strike again on Wednesday.

Brussels to Vienna. Trying to book a couchette for 6 people. Which website did you go on - Nightjet or Oebb?

Out of interest, why are you looking at this over flights? Is it cheaper? It's obviously a much longer journey.

Hmm I can’t get options for Brussels to Vienna either. Not sure why. You could take a train from Brussels to Cologne and then catch the sleeper there? Those trains seem to exist and sensible prices

Yes that could be an option! Thanks.

I haven't looked into flights. We want to do the whole holiday by train and it'll be my kids' first experience on a sleeper.