Munich to Venice?
 

I'm trying to book 5 tickets (3 adults, 2 youth) from Munich to Venice on the overnight train.

We don't have a railpass, as this is the only segment we would be travelling by train. Currently, the only quote I've been able to get is from the db.de site, which gives 420 USD all-in in second class.

I was wondering if there is a way to get cheaper fares on these trains or if there are any other sites I can use to book these tickets?

Is that $420 for all five (in which case it's a good deal) or each (in which case it's ridiculous). If it's for all five, does it include a couchette reservation, or are you planning to spend the night in individual seats?

You're probably already aware of the Rail Europe site, but if you're not, you can get pricing on routes like the one you want there too. Or at least, you can usually get prices there. They seem to have just "upgraded" their price & route quoting system, and I haven't been able to make it work since they did. Since you've already checked the German site, I suspect you also already know that Rail Europe prices are often higher than what you might find with a more local search.

Hi Helena,

Thanks for the information about RailEurope. In fact, I was under the impression that their prices were at or below what I would find doing local searches (i.e. I thought of it as a kind of Travelocity for rail). The only reason that I used the db.de website was that I could not get RailEurope to quote Munich-Venice.

The quote from db.de is for all 5 people, and it says reservations are included. However, I cannot get it to say what kind of seat I would be getting, only that they are 2nd class seats. It would be on the NZ though, if that helps.

I have just had a play with bahn.de - picked a random date (20 May as it happens), entered your itinerary, but just for one person. It came up with a price of EUR 92.40. When I clicked to book it I was given the option of either booking at the quoted price, with an ordinary seat, or to click on another link to book a couchette or sleeper. When I selected "couchette/sleeper" I was invited to register or log in. I didn't proceed any further.

So - it looks like you can book sleeping accommodation online, but you have to register first.

(NB I used the German version - things may be slightly different in the English version)

Kein Problem. Ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch :) .

I'll try your advice. Also, I've been researching these pages and found another website:
http://www.nachtzugreise.de

Which seems very promising.

Thanks for the link - very promising indeed!

Have you looked at their "SparNight" special (bottom right-hand corner)? 39 EUR per person in a couchette, subject to availability. That's a pretty good deal if you can get it for your chosen date.

Yes -- that's what caught my eye when I visited them the first time.

In the end, I was able to buy 5 tickets in a couchette (liegewagen) for 39 EUR/person. Unfortunately, I had to adjust my travel plans a bit since I could not get couchettes for the reduced price on June 8th. They were only available on June 9th. Too bad, because the day before yesterday they were still available. I guess I should have bought them immediately, but I didn't know it was such a good deal at the time.

Edited to add: the transaction just posted on my visa at 1.30USD/EUR. Still not too bad in USD.

Consider TrenItalia
 

You may want to consider using http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html .

They have often very good specials ...

We bought our tickets 2-3 days before the trip at the train station itself. They were sleeper berths, 6 to a compartment, there were 4 of us and they blocked the other two for us, making it private. It was reasonable, unforyunately, I don't remember the cost.

When we arrived at Venice, before leaving the station, we bought ticktes to Rome, for a couple of days later.