Night trains (the sleeper trains, not the ones where you have to sit and they go at night) sound great in theory but, after having taken one once, I’m not sure whether I’d enjoy it as a regular means of transportation.

I don’t think it would scale and thus would always be pretty expensive.

I had to push my heavy luggage up high into a compartment above the beds, and navigate in very tight quarters, which works fine if you’re young and have no back problems, but older folks might struggle.

I traveled in a 2-bed compartment with my partner, not sure whether I’d enjoy a cramped 6-bed compartment.

I’d much rather have a good connection in the morning and enough space on the train to use the trip as a work day (remote worker privilege, for sure) or reading day, and arrive in the evening, or, if the distance is very long, have affordable accommodation at the major train stations (not overpriced hostels with a club in the courtyard, which happened to me in Paris once).

So all in all, I feel like the sleeper train thing seems more of a touristy event-thing than a regular mode of transportation, at least if other options are available …

Sorry to disappoint you … in Barcelona-Sants, you have to go through one … not the body-scan thing yet, but you have to pass your luggage through a scanner, there’s a line, and you definitely have to bring some time, be there 20 min before at least …