Where when to buy train tickets
 

We arrive in Belgium a few days before we leave for Bratislava. We need to buy overnight train tickets/reservations and I definitely want the 2 person sleeper cars. Will I be able to buy my tickets/reservations in Belgium or Paris? I'm afraid to wait too long as our itinerary hinges on catching certain trains. What do you think? Where should I get our tickets. The overnight trains we plan to take are Bratislava to Prague; Prague to Krakow and Krakow to Vienna. Thanks!

Those are overnight? Bratislava (45 minutes by shuttle bus to Vienna - -are you flying on Skyeurope?) to Prague should only be "half a night". Even Krakow to Vienna seems too short for a "whole night"?

I admit, I have not looked up actal schedules.

Anyhow, buy all your tickets at once if you choose, in Belgium.

Best wishes,

Rex

You can buy your tickets once you arrive but do so immediately after arrival. I think you might benefit from perusing some on-line timetables to give you an idea of schedules.
The Germanrail site can be reached at www.bahn.de and then use the international guests option...someone here may give you a more direct URL for it...that timetable is very comprehensive for all of Europe.
In the meanwhile, the trip Brat. to Prague is only about 4 1/2 hours during the day; there is night service which runs from June 13-December 11th leaving Brat at 11:40 PM and arriving Prague at about 5:30 AM; night service Prague-Krakow leaves Prague at 9:16 PM and arrives Krakow at 5:48 AM the next morning.

I know the trips can be shorter than a overnight train, but they do offer non-stop overnight trains (and this will help maximize our touring time).

We are flying SkyEurope and those were the two trains schedules we were planning on taking. So you think we should be fine buying the tickets a few days before we get to eastern europe.

We once waited until we arrived in Europe to try and book an overnight sleeper car. On one of two legs, we did fine. On the second, despite enquiring over one week in advance, our only option was a second class reclining seat car--filled I might add with heavily drinking Norwegian soccer enthusiasts heading for the world cup matches. It was one of the longest nights of our lives--though certainly memorable. So, you might want to contact either DB or Rail Europe and make the reservations for overnight trains before you leave.