My husband and I want to take a night train from Nice to Venice. There is one train May 11th that leaves Nice at 9:07pm and arrives in Venice at 7:23am. I got this information from the sncf web site and decided I wanted to book our tickets for a first class double sleeper. When I tried it said I can only book the ticket 28 days prior to departure. I don’t have a problem waiting to book our other rail tickets since day trains offer plenty of options but this is one night train. Plus, I’m a little leery of canceling a night in Venice without having a booked ticket on the night train. Does anyone know if there is any way of booking rail tickets that would bypass that 28 day limitation?

Hi J,

Don't worry.

No one else can book those tickets earlier than you can.

This travel agency has been recommended for SNCF tickets. You might want to call them.

BETS 1-800-441-2387

Something is wrong here..I just tried booking the train on the www.voyages-sncf.com site for those dates and went as far as confirming a 1st Class Double no smoking compartment and was not told about having to wait until 28 days out to book.

Often you have to wait 60 days/nights out...

did I do something different than you did?

Give us more info before you end up calling an agency.

jazzie - Something was indeed wrong when you tried to book your tickets. The ordering "window" has been increased to 90 days (used to be 60). Try again.

I don't know what I kept doing wrong but I finally got it booked. Thanks for your help.

Jazzie...I encountered a similar problem last year when I wanted to book an overnight train from Venice to Naples. Having had good correspondence via email with the Venice hotel I would be staying at, I emailed them and asked if they could be of assistance. They purchased the tickets directly for me and I paid them (in cash) when I got there. The best part was because there was a special going on, I saved even more money than anticipated. Perhaps this can work for you as well.