"it costs about the same as a hotel" - would that be for per person or total?

I have been looking online but am having difficulty finding choices for the type of cabin....

:-/

Also would should I lose a day from Paris or Venice? hmm...

A double cabin supplement was similar in cost to a double room in a 3-star hotel in Paris.

I'm not sure why you say "lose a day", since it's an overnight train. You are in Paris one day. In the evening you get on the train, in the morning you are in Venice.

thats true - so I guess you actually waste less time taking the overnight train. What I mean is would I just stay in venice for 2 nights now as opposed to 3.

I checked SNCF and could get us both to Venice for 150 Euro. I see no options for type of 'room'. It gives us seat number... ex: Coach 98 - Seat 55/56 - Upper.

www.rail.ch - will not let me book tickets. It is saying it is too far in advance. I am trying to book for August 18 - is this normal?

SNCF gave me the information posted above.

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't understand why an overnight train shortens your stay in Venice.

You have to get there somehow, either a flight, day train, or night train.

I don't know what you are doing the rest of your time but with a trip almost 3 weeks long, I'd definitely stay in Venice at least 3-4 days.

we have 3 nights schedules for Venice...the hotels on either end of Venice (Paris 5 nights/Florence 3 nights) are already booked - this means we would have to cut a night from Venice if taking the overnight train....

You were planning on flying instead? Or taking a day train? Why not go back to your original plan, since this seems to be kind of complicated & cuts out one night in Venice?

If you haven't booked a hotel in Venice, and you're talking next month, I would get on that as a priority.

Hopefully someone else can help with your online train ticket questions, I've never done it that way so can't assist.

thanks so much Suze :-D

beph03 - I assume that "Coach 98 - Seat 55/56 - Upper" refers to your train car number and the bunk numbers and position in your couchette. I just checked the SNCF site and entered a mid-August date for the night train. It looks like that E75/person fare is for a bunk in a 2nd class six-person couchette. For the date I chose there were also bunks available in a 1st class four-person couchette for E80/person (much more spacious and comfortable).

thanks tim :-)

SNCF does not allow you to book trains from Paris to Venice that travel during the day online....is there a place I can pre-book. Or should I wait until we arrive in Paris and then book when we get there (we will be in Paris for 5 nights)

According to bahn.de (the best site for timetables for nearly all of Europe), the fastest daytime route has only one change (in Milan). Leave Paris Lyon at 08:04 and arrive at Milan Centrale at 14:47. Leave Milan Centrale at 15:05 and arrive at Venezia Santa Lucia Lucia at 18:08. You can book Paris-Milan at sncf.com and Milan-Venice at trenitalia.com.

I agree with the others who recommend the night train. It gives you either an extra day in Paris or an extra day in Venice. Since it sounds like you haven't booked a hotel in Venice yet, you could simply book four nights there. If that's more time than you really want to spend in Venice, then check with your Paris hotel and add one more night. IMO, where Paris is concerned, more is always better!

For me, a 10 hour day-time train ride "loses" the most from your itinerary. Since your trip is still several weeks away I'm guessing you could change any of the hotel reservations by a day, if you wanted to?