Belgrade Travel Forum

Further to recent queries about this train has anyone used the overnight sleeper service and if so what were their impressions?

yes, many times.

The strategy depends, when you travel.

A rough picture how the train would look is here:

http://diesirae.atw.hu/menetrend/nemz_vonatok.htm look at the row#18, called "341-2 Beograd".

The first 2 cars are Serbian coaches in pretty good shape.
The third car is Austrian sleeper in very good shape, excellent but expensive (32 Euro extra)
The fourth car is Austrian couchette in very good shape, 14 Euro extra
The fifth car is Bulgarian sleeper in... undescribable shape, if it ever reaches Belgrade from Sofia, that is. 11 Euro extra.

If you want to have a bed: expect to pay 14 Euro or if you feel rich and famous, 32 Euro extra to your 15 Euro ticket. The Bulgarian car often does not reach Belgrade on-time and will be transfered to Budapest with the morning train. It's better to use Austrian couchette than the Bulgarian sleeper.

Just FYI:

- the Austrian sleeper is ex-Orient Express, huge bedrooms, very nice but expensive.
- it can be Serbian sleeper, that is made at "Gosha" factory but under "CAF" (Spain) license, still OK
- the Serbian cars are refurbished, "Gosha" cars (CAF license), taken care of
- the Bulgarian sleeper is second-hand DDR (GDR) car, never refurbished, inside still "DR" insignia.
- the Austrian couchette is just modern couchette like thousands others in Europe, good enough. If you are lucky and the train is not booked you might be well just alone.

In Summer except "Exit" the train will be ca. 80-90 full. During "Exit" it will be a major zoo, much more cars added but still zoo.

Wow! That's a pretty comprehensive answer, thank you. We are going on Wednesday next week which is the day we fly into B/pest so we have to hope that there are some spare beds otherwise it's the reclining seats.
As you are so knowledgable I have a couple of other questions:
1. What happens at the Serb border? Do they wake you up and check your passports (I'm guessing they do).
2. Is there a refreshment car and how good is it?
3. Do you recommend we take something to eat/drink with us?

Thanks - what is it with eastern border guards? I once fell asleep on a train from italy to Lille going via Switzerland and Germany and slept through all borders untroubled by anyone.

There will be Serbian and Hungarian border guards only. The ticket conductors never wake up people in couchette and the sleepers because the car attendants will collect the tickets in Belgrade. I did not find the border procedure to be very disturbing itself but I know the border guards actively communicate with each other and have passport / ID scanners on both sides. In 99% of the time it's a very fast routine. Unfortunately it is still there because unlike in the case you mentioned Hungary is the external Schengen border.

Anywhere on mainland europe is east for us ;)

A big thanks for all the advice given in this forum. When we arrived at lunchtime in Keleti station we were really tired and didn't fancy hanging around until 23:30 so we got the afternoon train instead. I have to say the journey is one of the most boring I've ever done. 7 1/2 hours of flat featureless plain and a slow trundling train but it was worth it. We had a fantastic time in Serbia with our friends and I only got one insult when someone said "didn't Clinton teach him to speak Serbian?" which was quite funny really. Can't wait to go back but next time I think I'll try Zagreb to Belgrade, now if anyone has experience of this...............

Money Money Money as Abba would sing. We saved £200 by flying to Budapest and taking the train. There are no low cost airlines flying from the UK to Serbia so its either BA or JAT and they are both expensive. Sofia ia an option though. What is that route like?

- JAT to Belgrade usually is pretty inexpensive if you do it timely.
- Sofia-Belgrade is less boring than BP-BG, but the trains are usually late
- Flying to ZG is usually more than flying to BG.
- BP-ZG is somewhat better, but you have to buy a round-trip, otherwise expensive
- The only good thing on the daytime BP-BG train are:
a) the ZS dining car (still preparing the food, not a frozen)
b) the Russian or Ukrainian sleeper (you ask the attendant to let you in, give 1500 Ft or 500 Din ca$$h, get free tea and take a nap or retire in privacy)
c) look out the window and have a nice and fuzzy feeling: "it's not boring, what I see is the Bread of Europe growing from horizon to horizon" - than fall asleep again.

The ZG-BG route is the same and the same fuzzy feeling. There is no daytime sleeper there unfortunately.

When we flew to Belgrade the cheapest deal I could get was £379 return for 2 adults flying from Heathrow. Budapest cost us £119 from Luton (a lot nearer) and then £45 for the train so it was a no brainer. I can get return flights to Zagreb for £106 for 2 adults and I think Sofia is cheap as well. The upside is that we got to see Budapest so I won't mind doing the same again if I get to see Zagreb or Sophia. Here in the UK there is a low cost airline war going on but none of them fly to Serbia. I recently got 2 return flights to Bergamo in Italy for £12!!! You can't get 2 adults from Bridgnorth to Birmingham (40km) by public transport for that. It's just crazy and it won't last so we've got to get it while we can.

I've driven from Cologne to Dusseldorf and I wouldn't say they were right next to each other (ie I wouldn't want to take a taxi) but I take your point.
I don't think I'd do that because the risk factor is higher. I've been delayed enough to know that you can't rely on planes. If you miss a train its okay you can get the next one but a plane is different - could be full, you'll have to pay a surcharge, there may not be another for a day or more etc.
Anyway it was a good suggestion and one that I hadn't considered and I might look at it in the future especially if I can get a connection at the same airport.

Yeah, if you build in stop overs it will be fine but then the cost of hotels has to be a factor too.
Have a good trip. I've got the post trip blues right now so I'm trying to book a holiday to make me feel better - no money though so I'm just getting depressed.

It might have been a long slow journey but i enjoyed the trips from Budapest to Belgrade - we had good company both ways.
I bet the trains in Germany are fast and run on time

Next time consider flying via... Oslo as well! Norwegian.no has several routes to Belgrade, Pristina and the croatian seaside resorts, u can find good deals for 40-80 euro one way (plus 40+ kg baggage allowance...)
Happy travels!

Thanks - I could see Olso as well :)