How to book Nightjet from Vienna to Munich?

That was probably the reason many years ago. But now that we see that smaller operators like Westbahn can be used without any supplement, it must also be possible for DB/ÖBB to get their fair share of the income for the route in Italy. I think they just keep the supplement in place because most pass holder users will travel anyway, so it's easy income.

In most larger stations you always have convenient luggage lockers to stow your stuff temporarily away. (Best bring a bit of cash/coins for that).

For day trains, Venice-Munich I refer to @Angelo 's advice. Book them via the Czech Railway, most cost efficient. Since there's a weird fee of €10 to cross the Brenner pass/Alps.

(This is a very good case of how absurd and complex international European trains can be btw to find the best ticket/seat reservation. 😅 But it's a golden tip! ) 

@BrendanDB I wouldn’t say it is a weird fee… this trains are run by ÖBB/DB as „private business“ in Italy without any subsidies. So the other option instead of 10€ extra for rail passes would be that they don’t accept them at all between Brennero and other Italian destinations. so I think the 10€ extra are still the better option 

@Schelte: I wouldn’t say the nighttrains are so bad… you Save Travel time and also in hotels you don’t have always super comfy beds (too hard, too soft, thin walls to neighbors etc). But on this route I would also recommend a daytime train as the views are quite nice 

Thanks so much for your golden tip haha I wouldn’t have ever thought about booking the Venice to Munich train on Czech Railway 😆 

Yes it’s indeed very complicated of European trains bookings/reservations, I am so overwhelmed each day planing our trip. Thanks god I found this forum and so many lovely people help me and answering my a million questions 😝 

of course you do NOT have to buy two times reservations ;-).
It seems for first class they include the reservations for free - if you have second class, then it charges you 6 euro extra (but supplement is then only 10 instead of 15 euro).
DB and CD include also in second class supplements a free reservation, ÖBB doesn’t.

Oh makes sense, from last timetable change you get a seat reservation for free via ÖBB if you book 1st class. Same happens for Interrail/Eurail fee for ECB.

@BrendanDB In this case I would not reserve directly via ÖBB.

@bleusquirrel Don’t forget to buy also the 10 EUR fee for Eurail user fee to use DB-ÖBB EC in Italy. You can buy it online via Eurail.com including the reservation for free (+2 EUR booking fee) or via Czech Railways cd.cz you get it without booking fee for about 10 EUR with the reservation for free. 

It's a pretty scenic route and I love Venice too. Honestly would recommend it if that's possible.  Nightjets are not very comfortable unless you're in a hurry, and private cabins cost nearly as much as a hotel in Venice.

Or spend the night somewhere en route (though only Verona and Innsbruck/Salzburg are possibly interesting, and that is relatively close to each end)

It’s that slight awkwardness that can sometimes lead to very memorable conversations with strangers. 😁 And if you don’t really want to talk, you’ll be totally fine too. You’re not really travelling in peak periods, so I wouldn’t expect full trains.

As far as I know most long distance trains in Germany are run (and priced) commercially, so I think this fee is more a consequence of how Eurail distributes income - also considering they are covered by the German Rail Pass. Plus, as Freccia's reservations cost €10 these would be very attractive for domestic trips in Italy too.

I don't say they are bad, though I did think that a few months ago when my sleeper carriage was broken and I was given a seat in the open-plan seating car as alternative. 

Many people don't sleep well in night trains, and even less if you have to leave the train at 5:50 AM. In hotels where you pay €180 (the cost of a private double sleeper) for a double room you generally do sleep reasonably well.

I'm very much a fan of night trains (particularly due to their efficiency - travelling while you sleep), but they do have limitations. 

Not true. The NightJet from Venice to München on the 31st of May is already on sale through ÖBB. 

Be sure to check to München Ost, and to indicate Interrail as a discount card (and not click on book seat reservations only, but a regular ticket with Interrail as a discount card) - as explained in the instructions.

You can’t book both trains in the same way. Italian high speed trains you should book via ÖBB using the one way ticket option and Interrail/Eurail as discount. Same for the Eurocity to munich. Do not select only a seat (I know, it sounds wrong but it works so) Cost 10€ (or you use RV (local express trains on the same route) there you don’t need a reservation at all till Verona). Then from Verona you can book via CD.cz (not more than 90 days before, choose as Discount Interrail/Eurail to get the right price about 10 EUR in 2nd class, 15 EUR in 1st), there you can choose a specific seat (you need to know before the number of carriage and seat, look for the seat maps of DB-ÖBB Eurocity on seat61.com) and there you get with the surcharge the seat reservation for free on top online. 

If you have further questions, feel free to ask!

I did indicate “Internal/Eurail” as a discount card, and I must've accidentally clicked the “seat reservation only (no tickets)” instead of “one-way tickets and day tickets”. That’s probably how the 6EUR turned out. 😬

 I chose the correct option (one-way tickets and day tickets) when I checked the Italian trains, they all cost 10EUR per person per ride with pass.

I reckon CD has changed their booking system, I tested with a very recent date, it still popped up with the same notifications as below:

I was given two options of making the reservation later on by the custom service of CD as below:

Maybe I will email them to ask if booking on cd.cz is still possible in the future. 🙂

There are not a lot of face to face, solo seats on the TGV. Only one or two per carriage. When I travel with my partner or a friend, we always sit next to each other. It’s more discreet and at least as nice. Tables provide usually ample of space on TGV Duplexes, whether you set next to each other, or in front.

For the Eurocity Venice-Munich, there’s not much to choose from I think. I think that’s the typical ÖBB 1st class carriage (with secluded compartments of 6 people - the so called abteilwagen). Very nice carriages btw, I love them. Guaranteed to be quiet and a bit of a Harry Potter vibe 😅.

Here you can see the carriages of EC88: https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=OeBB&kategorie=EC&cislo=88&nazev=DB-ÖBB%20EuroCity&rok=2023

There seems to be a first class carriage (no. 263) with compartments and an open carriage (no. 262).

Should be possible to tell your preference the booking system. 

O didn’t try it lately. Sorry

bleusquirrel wrote:

@BrendanDB @Angelo Thanks for both of your advices :)

I’ve just readjusted the plan to stay in Venice for 2 nights and also found this day train from Venice to Munich which looks like a good alternative of the night jet. (see screenshot below)

I think I will book through the Eurail.com :) 

I still have one question...for the second train - Verona Port Nuova to Munich, it says you can buy a reservation if you like but it’s not required, however, I still want to make a seat reservation as it’s a long ride and I want to be able to choose the face-face duo. So my question is where can I book this reservation if I want to? and how much approximately would the additional supplement be? (oops just asked a second question😬)

Thank you :)

 

For one question you only need to read my reply :)

Don’t forget to buy also the 10 EUR fee for Eurail user fee to use DB-ÖBB EC in Italy. You can buy it online via Eurail.com including the reservation for free (+2 EUR booking fee) or via Czech Railways cd.cz you get it without booking fee for about 10 EUR with the reservation for free.

If you buy this fee via DB or Trenitalia ticket office or CD.cz or Eurail.com (Eurail ask 2 EUR booking fee on top) online you get on top of this fee a reservation for free. If you book the fee via ÖBB you pay 3€ extra for the reservation. 

Via DB online (4,50 EUR per trip) you can choose your seat from a seat plan. Via CD.cz you can require a seat that you want. You need to know the carriage and seat number. 

Via Eurail.com you get a seat automatically via the system, you can’t choose a specific seat. 

For the Frecciarossa to Verona, you can also book the reservation via ÖBB (using one way trip and Eurail as discount, so you don’t pay the Eurail booking fee), or you use the direct service Venice-Munich EC82 starting at 13:35 from Venezia S.Lucia

Actually you can check that before booking (but if you booked already then probably it’s so or so too late :-D):

If you click on Offer and price details on the last page before you are proceeding to the payment:

And then it shows you the places:

If you booked already, you should also be able to see the seats that were allocated to you. 

What you see on DB and ÖBB are normal reservations without the supplement. DB does not sell the supplement online; to book this train on the ÖBB website, you have to indicate "Interrail/Eurail” as a discount and then look for normal tickets (and not use "seat reservation only”).

As to the CD website: you see the same thing if you try to book a reservation for next week, even for the direct train. Since CD redesigned their website, it doesn't seem to be possible anymore to book a reservation/supplement for this train. Maybe you could ask CD when that will be possible again?

Yeah, only for Venezia-Verona you’ll have a seat reservation in that case.
For Verona-München you’d have to pay extra (6 euro) for seat reservations. As ÖBB is selling only a supplement for EURAIL without seats… Deutsche Bahn would sell it including seats (but only at the ticket office and not online). And Czech Railways too, but seems they stopped selling it online :/.

If you want to buy two reservations extra, then choose “Seat reservation only (no ticket)” in the beginning of the process (and search only Verona->München):

The usual surprise for OZzies: too early. Probably becse final timings have not yet been able to set-there may be chance on works somewhere along this 600+ KM of line or other things that impair trains on fixed rails, even more so as not all lines are supervised all hrs of night, whereas airplanes can simply fly a little onward or buses/cars have plenty of alt. roads.

ONly advice is wait&check every now and then-or sometimes big hurrahs go up in the sky in railwayforums when long awaited events finally happen. NO, these trains are not complete fully booked so long advance-except in some cases the nearly fought over very few private 1st cl. compartmts deluxe. I hope you have found the way to RES with passes as you state Oebb correctly?

Venice has a relatively expensive travel ticket that covers all the trams, buses and ACTV water buses in the greater Venice area. There is a relatively new tram service from Venice Mestre to the Island (needs a change from Mestre station).

https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/which-venice-pass-do-i-need.htm

Yes, exactly. You make two bookings and then can pay it all by once (as it is shown on your screenshot).
If you click there on “Click here for service and price details, print timetable” you should be able to see the seats assigned to you (as I showed on the screenshot earlier). 
You can try multiple times, but you have to adapt the “preferences” for that. Because otherwise it will offer you usually (from my experience) the same seats as long as nobody else books them (I book regularly through ÖBB website nighttrains for my father and it is like that in that process).
 

Click on Reservation Details:

And then you will be able to choose your preferences:

If you do it all at once, you have to click on the trip “Verona-München” to see the reservations:

If you click on it, then you will see your seats:

A couple of thoughts - 

I would assume that the 10 euro supplement, like reservations, would simply be incorporated into a normal retail ticket. I travelled this run and the 10 euro included a reserved seat.

For anybody needing or contemplating hotels in Venice - simply stay in Venice Mestre - 10 mins from the island, much better quality hotels at very reasonable prices. Several good 3 and 4 star hotels very close to Mestre station - all trains from the island (V, St Lucia) stop at Mestre. Certainly cheaper (and more comfortable) than a sleeper and even a buffet breakfast.

Have you tried that recently? The Interrail and Eurail discounts have disappeared from the CD website since they redesigned their booking page and the "Reservation only” option does not work for this train :(