Intercités de nuit

Introduction

Sleeper trains are seeing a revival throughout Europe, and with good reason: they’re both cost and time-efficient for travellers, giving you an extra two days on the slopes compared to daytime travel. They’re also fun. There’s nothing like watching the night lights of Paris slip by as you speed towards the mountains, before drifting off to the train’s steady motion. Better yet, the Intercités de Nuit has roll-down windows and aircon, meaning there’s no chance of a stuffy sleep.
 
For travellers curious about what the Intercités de Nuit experience is like, we’ve prepared the guide below.

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Couchette compartments

A couchettePhoto: SNCF

It’s probably the most important question when it comes to booking your overnight ticket—how well will I sleep?
 
For bon viveurs, SNCF sadly gutted sleeper compartments on all French trains in 2007, leaving only couchettes. These are multi-person cabins with fold-down padded bunks (called “berths”). In Intercités de Nuit’s first class, you’ll find four-berth couchettes, while in second class, couchettes are six-berth.
 
Both classes of couchette are suitable for families and groups of friends, with lockable doors and plenty of space for luggage. Via SNCF’s Espace Privatif option, you can book an entire compartment for yourself or your group. Public couchettes are by default mixed-sex, however, female travellers can book women-only compartments. In both classes, you’ll receive a fresh pillow and lightweight sleeping bag, as well as a water bottle, earplugs, and eye mask.
 
Beyond having slightly more space, we’ve found that there’s not much difference between the Intercités de Nuit’s two classes. The bedding is the same, and the bathroom facilities are shared. For that reason, unless you’ve found a particularly good deal, second-class is good enough.
 
There are also seated carriages on board the Intercités de Nuit. However, we can’t in good faith recommend these unless you’re the planet’s soundest sleeper. Overnight seats may be the ultimate budget option, but you really get what you pay for.

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Food on board

Intercite de Nuit at BrianconPhoto: Daniel Elkan

Sadly, SNCF hasn't made a meal of food facilities on board it's sleeper trains. Unlike some sleeper trains to the Austria Alps, such as European Sleeper, there’s no dining car on the Intercités de Nuit. Nor will you receive a complimentary breakfast with your ticket (as you do on ÖBB’s Nightjet, also to Austria).
 
In the morning, you have the option of buying a cup of coffee and pastry from a small booth in one of the second-class carriages. However, unless you’re an early riser, you won’t have much time to savour these before your train arrives at its destination.
 
For these reasons, we’d recommend that you dine in Paris before boarding—Paris Austerlitz has some lovely restaurants nearby serving French classics. Make sure to bring plenty of drinks and snacks on board with you too, which French afficionados of the train always do. In our experience, a bottle of red goes perfectly with the night breeze blowing through your couchette’s open window.

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Luggage on board

Intercités de Nuit trainPhoto: Daniel Elkan

Luggage can be stored below your couchette’s bottom berths and above the door. Ski bags will fit under the berths, however, with added suitcases, you might need to prop them up. This can create quite a squeeze (especially in second class), so if you’re travelling in a group, it can be worth booking out an Espace Privatif and storing your ski bags on a spare berth.

You can find out more about this in the Seat61 Guide to Intercites de Nuit.
 
Compared to flying, SNCF has an generous luggage policy, allowing you to take one suitcase, one piece of hand luggage, and a piece of “special baggage” (baby stroller, labelled ski bag) with you, or two suitcases and a piece of hand luggage. All of this is included in the price of your ticket.

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Amenities

The Intercités de Nuit has simple bathroom facilities (a shared toilet and sink) and only one bathroom per carriage. You won’t find any showers on board, although first-class passengers can take advantage of the washroom facilities available at Paris Austerlitz.
 
Wi-Fi is not yet available on Intercités de Nuit’s Paris to Briançon line. However, if you have a decent data plan, you’ll get a 4G connection along most of the route. For charging phones and laptops, there’s a plug socket below your berth’s reading light but remember to bring an adapter!

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Eurostar + Intercités de Nuit - a film we made

Back in 2011 SnowCarbon made a little film about the journey by Eurostar and Intercités de Nuit.

Our destination back then was Cluses station, to ski in Morzine, Les Gets and Avoriaz in the Portes du Soleil.

Back then, Intercités de Nuit also ran to Cluses, Sallanches and St Gerais as well as to Moutiers, Aime la Plagne and Bourg St Maurice.   SNCF plans to reintroduce the trains on those routes in a few years from now.

You'll see that in this film we certainly felt the journey was part of the holiday - great times!

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Seat61 film guide to Intercités de Nuit

Sometimes, you need to see before you try. For an up-to-date look inside the Intercités de Nuit, check out this short video by veteran train blogger The Man In Seat 61.

(Note that the above journey is from Paris to Nice—amenities can vary by train).

See also the Seat61 Guide to Intercites de Nuit which has plenty of useful info.

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