 Durant
& Cheryl Imboden'sEurope for Visitors europeforvisitors.com |
||
|
|
|
Lisbon-Madrid Night TrainPage 2
ABOVE: A First Class or "Preferente Clase" cabin with upper and lower berths. AccommodationsThe Lusitánia Comboio Trenhotel has several types of accommodations, including: Second-class seats.These are popular with holders of Eurail and InterRail youth passes, who pay only a few euros for a seat reservation. If you crave sleep, you may need earplugs: passengers often bring guitars and sing or socialize well into the night. First-class seats. For a 10-euro reservation fee, holders of a first-class Eurail or InterRail pass can settle back in a reclining seat and pretend they're on an airliner. Tourist. In this class of accommodation, passengers share four-berth compartments with washbasins that are segregated by sex. (The reservation fee in October, 2008 was 30 euros to holders of a second-class rail pass or ticket.)
Luxury-class single or double. I saw one of these cabins but wasn't lucky enough to reserve one. (There are only five on each train.) "Gran Clase" staterooms cost about 44 percent more than first-class cabins, but they have private sinks, showers, and WCs, and the reservation fee includes dinner with wine and breakfast. Next page: Dining car
|
|
|
First-class
single or double. On my trip, I had one of these "Preferente Clase" cabins
with an upper and lower berth. The small but comfortable stateroom had a
stainless-steel sink plus a medicine cabinet with a bottle of drinking water, a
towel, and an amenity kit. The communal WC was at the end of the sleeping car.
(The bedding consisted of a foam mattress, sheets, small pillow, and woolen
blanket; I had no trouble sleeping once I got used to the clackety-clack of the
train.) The reservation fee included breakfast.
