City Night Line to be discontinued?

Yes - the night trains are being discontinued - there are several threads here about it.

You could split it up - leave Munich in the afternoon or evening:

München Hbf 17:38 3:35 2 EC, S, R

Fortezza/Franzensfeste 21:13

Then finish in the morning:

Fortezza/Franzensfeste 06:45 3:55 1 R, ES F

Venezia Santa Lucia 10:40

There is a hotel in Fortezza.

There is a train that leaves and arrives an hour later if you prefer

This is just one option

Or you could fly (ugh!)

DB has not made any announcement to consumers. There is a chance that another railway could step in to serve the route from December. There is a direct Salzburg-Venice night train, coming from Vienna. Although it doesn't depart Salzburg until 1:30, you can board it at 00:30 or perhaps even earlier. Wait until at least mid-December to confirm the new plan.

We did the Salzburg-Venice night train in 2010. We didn't realize you could get on earlier, so we ended up hanging out at a McD's or Burger King until 1am - spent a few hours sitting there as there wasn't much else to do at that time of night.

The plus side - we arrived in Venice early. The down side - we had a private compartment with beds and the sleeping was NOT easy (and I can fall asleep in a movie theatre during really loud movies). We were able to drop our bags at the B&B, but then had to wander around for a few hours before we could go back and unpack and freshen up. Overall - very tiring.

So unless you are used to sleeping on trains (or maybe take a sleeping aid), the chances of waking up refreshed are pretty slim. After that experience - and the experience of travelling from my town to Ottawa by VIA rail and opting to try and sleep in a seat (which is just like trying to sleep on a plane) I would take a cheap flight before I'd do an overnight train...or opt to break it up like Christi suggested - tho not with that early a departure :)

then to wake up refreshed to start our next day in Venice.

The majority experience on this website is that most of us who have tried a night train arrive at the destination needing a nap, because we sleep very poorly, if at all, on night trains. In my one experience, even with a private couchette, I ended up losing most of the arrival day because I was too tired to do anything. A lucky few, however, are able to sleep.

We were really looking forward to this experience....and to be able to be in Munich until late our last day there and then to wake up refreshed to start our next day in Venice.

DB has done you a favor, trust me. Night trains are usually better in the imagination than the reality. Maybe they once were a grand way to traipse across the continent, but our experience on 3 trips (I know, slow learner) was that one trip was ok and the other two were deplorable.

"you could fly (ugh)".....you got it! We'll see if DB ends night trains, absolutely. City Night Line most likely will be abolished. But the entire system including those night lines in operation now on IC trains, I wonder, ...we'll see. There are still the EN night lines....olenty of them.