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 modest 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 type of accommodation second-class passengers share four-berth compartments with washbasins that are segregated by sex.

Washbasin photo 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.

Luxury-class single or double. I saw one of these cabins but wasn't lucky enough to sleep in it. (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

In this article:

Lisbon-Madrid Night Train - Introduction

Accommodations

Dining car

Tickets and reservations

Also see:

Madrid-Seville AVE Trains

Do you find our site helpful?
Share it with a click:

Follow @durant_imboden

From Europe for Cruisers:

Short-term car leases:
cheaper than renting!

Do you live outside the EU? Save on car rental with a tax-free Peugeot 'Buy Back' or Renault Eurodrive tourist lease. Minimum driver age is 18, there's no upper age limit, and rates include full insurance.

For details, see our article on Short-Term Car Leasing.