I'm considering taking an overnight train from Moscow to Warsaw next summer, and have heard all kinds of stories regarding theft, "sleeping gas" being piped into cabins so the passengers can be robbed, problems with Belarussian authorities (as the train passes through Belarus), etc. Any thoughts from anyone who has done this trip?

Belarussian police/authoriies can be a problem, and you'll find various news reports of that on the Internet. Check the Belarus forums here as well. One alternative to transiting Belarus might be to go via Uraine instead, altho' a bit out of the way geographically.

My friends drove thru Belorussia - each cop on the road stopped them and they had to pay their way out. They actually overheard like one of the cops were warning the other cop over the radio about my friend's car...

I'm an Eastern European and I really love train travel. I've traveled extensively in the region both on rail and on airlines and I cannot emphasize enough how much I would advise you NOT to take the train.



Yes, I know many who have had pleasant enough experiences on the local trains (generally within a given country is better than international) and I myself have had some great fun on trains from Germany to the Czech Republic and Hungary.



Having said this, Eastern European trains are slow, uncomfortable and can be dangerous on certain routes. The route you mention is subject to frequent delays, bad food and the whims of the authorities. There are frequent robberies (yes the gas stories are true) and especially in Belarus, you are not really in a position to complain with the railroads or local police since one or both are usually in on it. If you choose to do it, and do run into trouble, DO NOT PUSH the situation with local police or you are in for a rough few days in a local lock up. If you really must to do it, go with a local or groups of locals, dress down and interact and have fun with as many local people as possible.



You can now fly a variety of airlines in the region and the time saved and risk avoided is truly worth it.

We took the train from Brussels to Moscow through Belarus December 2004, and the only difficult bit was filling in the Belarus/Russia immigration forms.

I never heard of this before - I ws thinking about taking this trip next year - perhaps with my boyfriend perhaps alone (single female)



I would be interested to hear if this is just tall tales.



Also, could people tell me how the scenery is along the way and what facilities there will eb on the train - a dining car to get food etc?

While waiting in line one morning last summer to tour Lenin's tomb and the Kremlin we encountered a Canadian family of four -- middle-aged parents and 18 year old twins (boy & girl) who had just spent an incredible month traveling by train across Europe from London to Moscow, sometimes sleeping overnight on the trains or stopping off in various cities for 1- or 2-night stays. They'd had a fabulous time all the way, and the youngsters were really excited! Moscow was their last stop for 2 days before leaving the next morning to fly home to Canada. The twins were adamant that next vacation they wanted to do a similar trip again, but spend more time in Moscow and couple of Eastern European cities they didn't get enough of.

This might be a good place to look:



expresstorussia.com/russian_train_tickets.ht

I too am considering a trip on a train from Moscow to London. I am just starting my planning but it looks like I will not be able to buy the ticket until I am in Russia. Anyone know if that is correct? And if so how crowded are the trains in May? Will I be able to get the tickets for the dates I want?