OBB Nightjet from Munich to Amsterdam: A Review
Image courtesy of Unsplash.
I took the OBB Nightjet from Munich, Germany, to Amsterdam, Netherlands, on August 9, 2024.
Maybe this comes as obvious, but trying to take a shower on a moving train is harder than it seems, especially if you’re dealing with a back injury (oh, gosh).
But as I bumped from wall to wall in the tiny shower cubicle, I was still impressed by the overall cleanliness of the Nightjet and the bathroom, at least before everyone else got to it.
I’ve heard a lot about European night trains. They’re supposed to be fast, efficient, and accessible — perfect for the traveller on the go who wants to save a night’s hotel money and earn one extra day of sightseeing.
Well, that’s the idea. I’ve never had the chance to ride any cheap European night trains before, and I might never will now with the skyrocketing inflation we face. If the Nightjet is anything, it’s definitely not economical anymore.
Which is conflicting because as we, as a human race, lean more and more toward sustainability initiatives, it makes sense that rail travel should become the standard, with a Golden Age yet to come.
Then, why is it so expensive?
The cheapest option I found on my Nightjet from Munich to Amsterdam was around 76 EUR, which is really not bad … if you want to be sitting upright in a 6-person cabin for 11 hours. As The Man in Seat 61 put it,
“travelling overnight in a seat with nowhere to lie down, no attendant on duty and no lock on the compartment door, is a false economy, the equivalent of trying to save the hostel fee by sleeping on a park bench.”
You could try your luck and gamble for an empty cabin all to yourself, but the chances are extremely low. You can also reserve the whole seat car for yourself to stretch out, but that’d cost you 200+ EUR, which would buy you a private sleeper with wash basin and shower included, so why not go for the sleeper?
Then there was the couchette option (lie-down sofa-beds that can be converted as needed, depending on the train model), which wasn’t even an option for me because every one was already sold out (and, believe me, I tried to buy a month ahead of time).
Finally, I had the sleeper option (lie-down beds that can be folded back into the wall to make space if passengers alight before you).
A 3-person shared sleeper bunk. The top bunk has been folded into the wall.
Straps are available to use for middle and top bunks to keep belongings (and you!) in bed.
Trains, like airlines, now use dynamic pricing. Prices can fluctuate up or down depending on season, day, and demand.
I’ll spare you the whole story of my grapple with the booking system, but basically I went from 164.90 EUR ➔ 209.90 EUR ➔ 199.90 EUR ➔ 189.90 EUR, all because I tried to exchange for the lowest price I saw of 154.90 EUR.
Lessons learned:
Book early, book direct.
And ALWAYS buy your new ticket first BEFORE cancelling your old one if you see a better price.
Don’t check back too often in a short period of time. I think I was landing on their website so many times the algorithm thought there was increased demand, and my new ticket suddenly went from 154.90 EUR to 209.90 EUR right before checkout, citing, “There are no more seats available for the price tier you have chosen” (liars!).
There are some other rules you should follow, like never print or convert your boarding ticket into a PDF until the last second possible. If you do, they are automatically non-cancellable anymore, even if you paid for the Flex ticket.
Tip: Europe has a multitude of discount rail cards that can get you sweet deals on train travel. I used the German 3-month-trial BahnCard Klasse 25, 2nd class.
It’s strangely cheaper to book a Flex ticket with full cancellation available with this discount card than the Standard ticket (which doesn’t allow full cancellation), but I’m not complaining.
At the train station, I noticed my platform had 2 final destinations listed. Luckily, there was an information booth, and the employee told me that meant the train would be splitting midway (like my brain did when I first heard about this from a friend), and I’d have to make sure I got on the right side of the train when boarding.
My train at 22:52 on platform 13 would split along the way to reach Amsterdam and Hamburg.
An info screen on the platform tells you where to stand on the platform (alphabet letters) for the cars headed to your destination:
All the train cars are marked individually with their range of rooms on a sheet of paper taped to the doors. When in doubt, stand in the middle of the platform.
I passed by the completely private luxury cars, with single beds, desk, wash basin, and all. One of those had been my original room before I rebooked for a lower price for the shared one.
Some tight-squeezing by later and many classic Canadian “sorry’s,” I finally made it to my room. My other 2 bunkmates were there already, and I was on the bottom. The top bunk girl leaned over in the dark and kindly asked answered any questions I had.
Sleeper bunks are separated into ladies and gents. You select your gender when you book the ticket.
A fair warning: These 3-person bunks don’t have enough head height between each bed to sit up in. I was hunched over anytime I needed to riffle through my bag, which was agony as I dealt with my back injury.
In fact, unless you’re in a luxury sleeper room, the shared ones are extremely tiny. There’s space underneath the bottom bunk for luggage and an alcove higher up for the middle and top bunks, I assume, but everything felt like playing Tetris.
Even the hallway of the train car is extremely narrow, barely able to allow two people to pass by. Hence, you see the importance of nailing your exact car and room number on the platform before you get onboard!
There’s also a flyer for breakfast (included in the sleeper car ticket) on the bed that you’re supposed to fill out right away and hand to the train attendant. I could barely see a thing in the pitch darkness, so I made the best I could out of Google Translate while also trying to keep my phone flashlight on and hoped for the best.
Sleeper cabins also get goodie bags, which include earplugs, a sleep mask, a pen, slippers, a bottle of water, and some Tutti Frutti. I used the slippers immediately, but I didn’t take anything else.
Each train car has 2 toilets: one with a shower and one without. I recommend washing up as soon as possible before it gets messy with the tracks of 20 other people onboard. Remember to grab your cabin door key card (1 to share amongst all 3 passengers) when you go out.
I was pleasantly surprised by the blasting AC. In fact, it was downright chilly in there, and if it wasn’t for the comfortable duvet and even more surprisingly comfortable mattress, I probably would’ve caught a cold. The low temperature did help me unwind after my hectic day, but, sadly, despite the soothing rumbling of the train as it pedaled along, I couldn’t fall completely asleep the whole night.
A knock at the door woke me with the delivery of breakfast — a standard tray of some dry bread, tea, yogurt, an apple, marmalade sauce, and cheese rolls that I couldn’t eat. The flyer had said to select 6 components, if I understood it correctly. I’m not sure if I actually got all my 6 components, or something with the translation was off, and the train attendant decided to make an educated guess.
Our top bunk mate was already gone, and the middle bunk lady had folded the top bunk into the wall to make space. Huh. I didn’t know you could do that. Also, how do you do that? Are there instructions somewhere next time I don’t have a European native to help me???
A couple stops later, Middle Bunk Lady also hopped out, never to return.
It was now me alone in my room. The day was bright out, and I stood by the window watching the countryside pass by. It amazed me how similar farms around the world are, away from the cities.
The scenery changed to low houses, then smaller towns, and finally I alighted in the middle of Amsterdam Central Station, where my next adventures awaited me.
In short, the OBB Nightjet was definitely a fun experience, but it’s pricey, and I wouldn’t rely on it for cost-cutting.
My train also arrived an hour later than the original listed time. It wasn’t a problem for me, since I had no urgent appointments, but make sure to schedule the possibility of delays into your travel time if you have connections or priorities at your destination.
Below is a table summarizing the pros and cons of the OBB Nightjet from Munich to Amsterdam:
This is, of course, not an exhaustive list. The train I took was one of their older models, and according to their online photos, some of the news one are pretty sleek. I’d love to try out another distance ride sometime with more experience up my sleeve!
No cheese rolls for me, please.
*All photos by Lonely Girl, Lonely World unless otherwise stated.
Image courtesy of Unsplash.