The Caledonian Sleeper was my first long-haul overnight train experience, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to get from London up to the Scottish Highlands!
When I was interrailing around the UK back in 2021, I had my first sleeper train experience. This was something I’d wanted to do for a long time, especially after watching my favorite travel YouTubers, Kara and Nate, ride the rails in various countries, like traveling the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway and spending nights on trains in India, Azerbaijan, and Egypt.
I had just spent a few days in Wales, exploring Cardiff and visiting a potential university for my master’s, as well as going over to Barry Island to explore where Gavin & Stacey was filmed, visiting all of the locations from the show. My next stop was Inverness, Scotland, and I was getting there by the Caledonian Sleeper train.
From Wales, I made my way back to London, as I was boarding the Caledonian at Euston Station. The journey was expected to take around 11 hours and 30 minutes overnight, and I was scheduled to board my train at 8:45 PM.
I ended up having to go very far down the platform to find my carriage. With the Caledonian, there are different sections of the train, as it gets smaller along the way when carriages are detached at different stations; I was near to the front since I was going all the way to the last stop. There are also different carriages for each type of accommodation.
An attendant was waiting at the door of my carriage to check me in, and I was given a key card to access my room.
I booked a Classic room for £195. This came with twin bunk beds and a small sink with two hand towels. There was also a door connecting to the next room for groups of four people. The nice thing about the Caledonian is that, even though there were two beds, I had the room to myself. I was a bit worried that someone else would come to share the room since I was traveling alone, but it seems that it doesn’t work like that on this service (which was great since I had a massive suitcase that took up most of the cabin).
It was a nice space! There were plenty of charging ports, access to the lights from the bed, and the mattresses were quite comfortable. I'm 5'9" and I didn't have any issues with the length of the bed. There was room under the lower bunk to put away some things and I used the top bunk as well to hold my stuff.
There were two bathrooms down the hall that were shared with the rest of the carriage. It was very simple, with a toilet, sink, mirror, and trash bin. Just think of a standard airplane bathroom.
There are three other options that can be booked on the Caledonian. The simplest is the regular seat for £55. Depending on how far you’re going, and of course whatever your budget is, this would be the most affordable option, but also the most uncomfortable for an overnight. The Classic room is the second cheapest option, followed by the Club en-Suite for £270. This room also has twin bunk beds, but comes with an en-suite shower, priority access to the Club Car, and has breakfast included. The most expensive room is the Caledonian Double en-Suite. With a rate of £425, this room comes with a double bed and en-suite shower, as well as priority access to the Club Car, breakfast included, and access to the station lounge at Euston.
With the Classic, room service is available. When you first enter your cabin, there is a menu and a card to hang on your door which you can fill out with your order for dinner or for breakfast. I bought my own dinner at Itsu to bring onto the train beforehand, but I did fill out the form to get a bacon sandwich delivered to me for breakfast for £5. There was also a continental breakfast, Scottish porridge pot, and Lorne sausage roll available.
The train left Euston on time at 9:15 PM, and I got settled in my bed, watched a movie, and had my dinner. I heard my attendant pass through collecting the food cards, and could hear people walking through the hall to go to the bathroom.
For a train journey like this, I would recommend having a small travel bag prepared so you don’t have to go looking through your suitcase to find your things. My tote bag had a pair of pajamas, my eye mask, a toothbrush and toothpaste, face wash, a phone charger, and a change of clothes for the next day. I also had some makeup, deodorant, perfume, dry shampoo, and a hairbrush to look fresh in the morning since I wasn’t going to be able to shower.
I brought a couple of bottles of water on board with me as well. Although you have a sink, the water isn't suitable for drinking, so it's good to have that sorted before you leave the station.
Once I was ready for bed, I made sure to set an alarm for 7:45 AM, an hour before we were due to arrive in Inverness, just to give myself ample time to get ready and get all of my stuff together.
I won’t lie, it was not the best sleep of my life. I had my AirPods in to cancel out some of the loud background noise, and the train was constantly jolting as it moved along the tracks. I usually sleep badly when I have to set an early alarm and be up for something, so I think my anxiety of sleeping through my alarm and missing my stop (even though it was the last stop of the journey and they would have kicked me off), kept me awake as well.
Throughout the night, I heard the cabins on either side of me coming and going. The cabin to my left definitely slept in or didn’t realize what time it was, because I heard them cursing and having a panic at about 2 AM as they scrambled to get all of their stuff when we pulled into a station.
It was quite cool to fall asleep in the Midlands of England and wake up in the Scottish Highlands. I was woken up with my breakfast at 6 AM, despite requesting it be served around 8 AM, so I sat in bed watching another movie and looking out the window at the countryside. It was beautiful! We were about an hour behind schedule now, due to a delay that happened near Edinburgh.
I finally made it to Inverness at around 9:45 AM, which suited me even better because I couldn’t check into my hotel until noon and this cut away at some of my waiting time. As this was the last stop, it was a leisurely deboarding process and there were very few people compared to when I left Euston. The train was also only four or five carriages long now, compared to the 16 that we started with.
Overall, I thought it was a really great and easy experience, and definitely worth the money! If I had done this journey during the day, I wouldn’t have been able to get a direct train, and it would have taken even longer to get up to Inverness. It was really handy to just fall asleep and wake up where I needed to be. A flight was also an option, but it was even more expensive than the Caledonian when I was booking my tickets.
My bed was comfortable, the breakfast was good, the bathrooms were clean, and the attendants were nice and helpful. I think the Caledonian Sleeper is a very solid option for getting to the Highlands of Scotland and would highly recommend it to anyone considering!
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