Spruced-up sleeper trains are rolling out worldwide, from wallet-friendly overnight services connecting European cities to refurbished American Amtrak trains or Belmond’s new luxury Eastern & Oriental Express between Singapore and Malaysia.
And their growing popularity isn’t just due to the demand for more sustainable forms of transport, but the realisation that travel isn’t all about the quickest way to get from A to B – it’s about gaining new perspectives on the destinations we visit.
I love a luxurious sleeper train journey. One of my favourites was my three-night adventure from Perth to Sydney on board the swanky Indian Pacific. Highlights included the three-course dinners and fine wines, but I also loved watching squadrons of kangaroos bounce across the outback, and the sense of sheer remoteness in stops such as Cook, population four, 100km from the nearest sealed road.
But my most memorable sleeper train journeys have been the most basic. Take the train journey from Hanoi to Sapa in North Vietnam. I paid $53 for an eight-hour journey in a four-berth cabin, and loved watching the city slip away and cloud-capped mountains slide into view. Even better value was the $38 ticket in October for a 17-hour ride from Ho Chi Minh to Da Nang along the railway which reunited the country after the Vietnam War. The route skirts the coastline, weaving between cloud-dusted hills and glorious beaches. My Vietnamese cabin mates didn’t speak English but insisted on sharing their food.
One of my favourites was my three-night adventure from Perth to Sydney on board the swanky Indian Pacific. Picture: Supplied.
Other sleeper journeys have been enjoyable but downright bizarre, such as the one I took from Pyongyang to Beijing. The station was packed and my guide explained that the passengers were some of the lucky few allowed to travel outside North Korea, and Chinese citizens heading home after visiting for business. Which, apparently, often extended to smuggling – I watched in awe as passengers, under guards’ noses, dragged huge sacks filled with cigarettes and soju onto the train, squeezing them into every nook and cranny. On board, I took a brief walk along the carriage and on my return my cabin had been filled with sacks of cigarettes. It was a momentary peak behind the country’s veil of secrecy.
In the US, Amtrak sleeper trains might not be stuffed full of smuggled cigarettes but they’re similarly basic. On board the California Zephyr, which chugs from San Francisco to Chicago, my one-bed cabin was tiny and dirty but the stunning landscapes kept me sane.
On board the California Zephyr, my one-bed cabin was tiny and dirty but the stunning landscapes kept me sane.
In the coach class cabin, I spent hours chatting to passengers who’d booked reclining seats for the 51-hour journey. They came from all walks of life and included a student taking the journey as a tribute to his mum (she’d taken him on the train when he was a toddler), an Amish lady and a tattoo-covered skinhead.
This month I’m taking the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Edinburgh. I’ll speed through the beautiful Scottish Highlands, dozing on a mattress made by a brand beloved by the British royals. My one concern? There won’t be Amtrak’s skinheads, Vietnam’s food-sharing cabin mates or friendly North Korean smugglers. Then again, with sleeper trains, I can always hope.