THE BORDER BETWEEN ASIA AND EUROPE — Today is our last full day on the train — hurrah! — and since I’ve already told you about what we do and what we eat onboard, I thought today I’d tackle the question of what the digs are like.
For all of our train rides within Russia, we’ve been traveling platskartny, the lowest of three levels of sleeper car. There are two upper and two lower berths in each compartment, plus two more berths stacked along the opposite wall. There are no doors in platskartny — the corridor runs through the compartments.
Sitting pretty in platskartny.
In other respects, the service is just as good as it is in the higher classes. You get a package of clean sheets when you get on board, and each berth is equipped with a pillow and thick wool blanket. The provodnitsas — carriage attendants — are vigilant about cleanliness, regularly vacuuming the floors and using generous doses of bleach on the toilets. Plus, the openness of the carriages gives you a certain amount of safety through publicity.
Yet somehow, both of our guidebooks warn strenuously against the discomforts of platskartny. They recommend traveling kupe (coupe), which for twice the price gets you a four-berth compartment and a door that shuts.
We rode kupe for our two international legs, with mixed results. The seemingly brand-new kupe compartment that we occupied from China to Mongolia was admittedly a step up, with very effective air-conditioning and an electric . But our Mongolia-to-Russia compartment was stuffy, and as far as decor and comfort go, no better than platskartny.
I’ve traveled sleeper class in India and hard sleeper in Vietnam, and platskartny is nicer than either of those. If you’re on a budget or enjoy mingling with the locals, platskartny is your best bet — no matter what the guidebooks say.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the info and the photo. I traveled kupe, which was reasonably comfortable, but a bit isolated. How noisy was platskartny at night?
I didn’t find it very noisy at all, actually. Everyone went right to sleep, pretty early. (On the other hand, snoring is the only sound that really keeps me awake.) The car was pretty light, though – the blinds weren’t very good and we were so far north that “night” was actually pretty short. They also leave some of the car lights on all night. That said, I slept very well compared to past overnight train experiences.
Thanks – the all-night lights would be a big problem for me. Guess I’ll stick to kupe, although I mostly met other foreigners, or Russians who just wanted to sleep!
Thanks for the info, and especially the photo. :-}
Plats is the best way to go for that all authentic train ride through Mongolia or Russia. I don’t understand why the guidebooks recommend against it. The only benefit I can see, comes from 1st class, where you obtain a toilet, but this comes at the price of being surrounded by other tourists. 3rd class all the way!
Agreed! There are so many better ways to spend your money – namely, food! And museums, of course.
Hi Jessica, very interesting post. I’m currently preparng my trans-mongolian trip now. Could you tell me what the security was like on Platskartny. Are there places underneath the beds to store backpacks, or did you have to leave them out of sight?
The bottom berths in platskartny lift up to reveal a storage compartment underneath that is big enough for a couple of packs. The berth functions as a lid for the compartment, so as long as someone is sitting/sleeping on it, it is quite secure. When we left our berth area, we usually carried our computers and other valuables with us, but felt safe leaving our main packs in the storage compartment even though it wasn’t locked.
Thanks for the concise info–exactly what I was looking for. I’m reading the “Trans-Siberian Handbook,” and I raised and eyebrow when it advised avoiding platskartny, so I had to look it up. Platskartny it is for me.
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