· I have made that trip on the night sleeper a number of times, although not for about five years. The Riga train used to leave Vilnius at around 11pm and would arrive in Riga at 6am. The only drawback was the border control at some ungodly hour of the morning. They would lock the loos at the border crossing so you couldn't even combine this rude awakening with some light relief!

The sleepers, much like the French couchettes, are known as "coupe" (pronounced as an Englishman, not an American, would say the sportscar). They used to be mixed sex and I always found my fellow travellers to be kind and helpful, despite my beginners' grasp of Russian. Be aware of using Russian today as these countries are now independent and have their own languages. I learned to begin a conversation by saying in Russian "I'm sorry but I only speak a bit of Russian" to show I appreciated they may not want to converse in that language.

You do sometimes hear of problems on the trains so, if you are on your own, do as I was once shown to do by the Bulgarian conductor on a Budapest-Warsaw sleeper: wedge a shoe in the safety chain lock so the door cannot be slid back enough for a small hand to reach around and slip the chain.

The booking system is efficient, but try to book the previous day. Make sure you find your allocated space; I didn't on the first trip I made and, having stowed heavy cases and with absolutely no understanding of the language, was unceremoniously moved out and on to my correct seat. You'll find most of your fellow travellers will change into tracksuits and flip-flops ("Schlopskis" in Russian) when the train moves off, so a pair of flip-flops would be useful.

Be prepared to be ripped off by the taxi drivers when you arrive in Riga. They pounce on the rather bleary-eyed passengers who are in no real state to argue the outrageous fare suggested. Finally, have fun, I always had a wonderful time in that part of the world and I'm sure you will too.
John Sidgwick

· Yes it is possible but the service is not very frequent, fast or direct. It's only 350km but can take anything between seven and 14 hours. Most people seem to take the Eurolines bus or fly (only 55 minutes).

As well as using national rail companies' websites, I find the Thomas Cook European timetable a good way of getting the big picture on which routes are the main ones and so likely to have a quicker, more frequent service. It's good value at a tenner from Thomas Cook headquarters in Peterborough. Don't waste your time asking for the timetable at Thomas Cook branches; they are likely to tell you it doesn't exist.
Adrian Tayler

· I investigated this option earlier this year. There is no direct rail service anymore due to the state of the track (the official explanation anyway), and there hasn't been for a year or two. I'm not sure if it's possible to change trains, while staying within the two countries concerned. There are options via Belarus, but you'll need an expensive transit visa for travel via this route.
Don Bradley

· I advise going by bus rather than train for two reasons. First, the state of trains in the Baltic States is still rather poor, although things are improving. Second, the time taken by train is much longer than by bus. Eurolines operates a service that runs from Kaliningrad to Tallinn hitting Vilnius and Riga along the way. This service will leave Vilnius five or more times a day with a cost of about £7 return if only going to Riga. You can either book in advance at Eurolines or get better prices and services by going to a travel agency once you arrive in Vilnius. If you buy through the latter, they will have first-hand information on which bus stop you need. I have travelled Eurolines many times across the Baltic States and never had a problem.
David Galbreath, Aberdeen