My night train trip from Basel to Hamburg

Until a few years ago, I regularly took the night train to Hamburg, as my parents have a summer house in southern Sweden. In recent years, I have taken the 'regular' day train instead. Since I live in Basel, I can board the train in the morning and arrive at the holiday home in the evening. However, this time, I decided to stop in Hamburg to visit friends.

Last-minute souvenir for my friends in Hamburg: typical Basler Läckerli

Since I am on a longer holiday and therefore flexible, I am looking for the cheapest ticket in a 4-berth compartment in a couchette coach on nightride.com. With two weeks' advance booking, I manage to snag a ticket for CHF 140 during the high season. The 6-berth compartment is even half the price at CHF 70 – but as I get older, I increasingly value a good night's sleep.

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Departure from Basel SBB: Sleeper coach gets downgraded...

…but luckily not mine 🙃. Since I'm familiar with the blog post and various media reports by Timo, my colleague at nightride.com, about issues with night trains, I am curious to see how my journey will go. The Basel-Hamburg route is generally less problematic than others. Cancellations are rare. If there is a problem, it is usually a downgrade from a sleeper coach to a couchette coach.

This also happens to my train: one of the two sleeper coaches is downgraded to a couchette coach. Fortunately, it doesn't affect me, as I've already booked a spot in a couchette coach. The affected passengers seem annoyed but not too upset: The replacement is a modern Liegewagen comfort, where ÖBB has converted old seating coaches into modern, high-comfort couchette coaches. It will be interesting to see if and how much compensation the passengers receive.

See our blog post on reclaiming money in the event of a downgrade.

Downgrade of a sleeper coach: Only half as bad thanks to the modern ÖBB-couchette coaches comfort

We depart at 22:23 with a 10-minute delay. According to an inquiry, the brake check takes longer, and it's in the passengers' interest to do this thoroughly.

First impression on the night train

I'm lucky: I'm also travelling in one of the modernized Liegewagen comfort. The amenities and comfort are excellent – no comparison to the old 'bunk beds' in earlier couchette coaches. The bunks are more comfortable, and I find them wider. The compartment's design is bright and modern. The toilet is barrier-free (more about accessibility in night trains here) and spacious. As a welcome gift, a bottle of water awaits me.

My berth in the modernised ÖBB-Liegewagen comfort. — My berth in the modernised ÖBB-Liegewagen comfort

I'm sharing my compartment with three other travellers. We're a quiet and night-train-experienced group, with communication limited to the essentials. We stow our luggage, and each of us settles in. I don't need to eat anything since I treated myself to a slice of pizza on the platform (Vito Pizza in the railway station passage, highly recommended).

Shortly after Basel SBB, we stop at the Badischer Bahnhof at the border with Germany. After leaving Switzerland, it's time to show our tickets. There are no border controls, although two police officers walk through the train.

Lights out

We all seem to be exhausted. I quickly ask if it's okay and then turn off the main light in the compartment. Everyone is engrossed in their smartphones. I start organizing the photos I took of the night train.

But soon, I notice that I am getting tired. While I'm not usually the best at falling asleep, I quickly fall asleep in moving vehicles.

I brush my teeth, put on earplugs and a sleep mask – and I'm out. I wake up once during the night because, being not very smart, I drank the complimentary water bottle before falling asleep. Besides that, the night – or the journey – is quiet.

The only thing that bothers me is the temperature being too warm for me and the blanket being too hot. But that's just me; I almost always find it too warm when sleeping.

Breakfast and arrival in Hamburg

At some point in the morning, the train attendant wakes me up. I didn't even notice that two of my fellow travellers had disembarked. I am given a simple breakfast with two rolls and jam.

I supplement it with some bread and salami I brought with me. My remaining fellow traveller also slept well, and we start to talk. He's also heading to Scandinavia but will continue his journey immediately.

Right on time, just before 8 AM, our train rolls into Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. I wish my compartment mate an excellent onward journey, and I disembark. Hamburg immediately makes a good impression: The temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than in Basel 🙂. I set off to meet my friend.

Conclusion of my night journey

The trip went smoothly, and I slept well. The new Nightjet coaches are a noticeable upgrade from my previous experiences on this route. The price of CHF 140 is fair, especially considering I booked on short notice.

My only minor complaints are the overly warm blanket and the delayed departure – but we arrived on time.

Have you had an exciting night train or bus journey and want to share your experience with other night travel enthusiasts? Then write to us at info@nightride.com—we look forward to hearing your story!