My husband and I are planning on taking the night train from Venice to Paris. <BR>2 questions: How far ahead do I need to book these tickets? Is the best way to do this through the rail europe site? (I've checked the rail europe site, and it gives a price of 295 euro for a ticket in a double "excelsior" compartment.) I see in another post that Ben Haines notes that rail europe tacks on a hefty service fee, but I'm a little skittish about waiting until we're actually in Venice to book. (we'll only be there 3 days before we go to Paris.)<BR>Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

Although I have not made this particular journey, the price seems pretty high to me. Have you considered flying? My husband & I were going to train it from Venice to Naples and found that flying was actually a bit LESS expensive last year. We saved a day of travel by flying. Just a thought.

DJ,<BR>I agree, the price does seem high.(?!) But after looking at flights and tacking on the extra night in a hotel in either Venice or Paris...expensive any way you look at it. This way we figure we don't lose a day traveling since the train leaves Venice at 7:45pm and arrives ~8:30am.

I used the night train from Paris to Venezia a couple of weeks ago, but in an ordinary T2 compartment rather than an Excelsior. The train has just one Excelsior carriage, so it would be best to book in advance. The T2 compartments are comfortable but have just a wash basin, with toilets at the end of the carriage. I used the restaurant car for dinner and for breakfast. I booked a couple of weeks in advance in the UK through the UK office of Deutsche Bahn - they can book tickets throughout Europe via the German computer system. If the train is fully booked, it's easy to go to Bologna or Milano and change there onto one of the other overnight trains to Paris.

Thank you. Good to know about Milan or Bologna in case the train from Venice is booked. Anybody have any experience booking from the US? or using the rail europe site?

I paid a lot extra for raileurope for a busy date and it turned out useful. The local systems were on strike/slowdown and you couldn't even approach a ticket window, but intnl trains still left on time.<BR><BR>But I don't think your case demands such insurance if your additionally willing to downgrade your accomodation if needed. They have lots of shared bunkbed compartments which just expose you to a little extra snoring (and maybe poor ventilation).