night train reservations..please help

Yes, you can make reservations now. However, there are several sources for buying them, some more expensive than others. Which you should choose depends upon how many total reservations you will need, including high-speed day trains as well as night trains. How many is that?

I need to take following night trains

Amsterdam to Vienna
Innsbruck to Venice
Florance to Zurich

Also, is there a speed train between Venice to Florance? I would like to save time there.

Thank you so much Tim!

There is no direct Amsterdam-Vienna night train. There are several different routes with connections for which one leg is a night train. See the timetables at www.bahn.de.

For booking reservations over the phone at in-Europe prices, call City Night Line 49-1805-14-15-14 or German Rail 49-1805-99-66-33. Dial 011 (US international access code) + number.

For booking reservations at in-Europe prices plus a single processing fee of $50, call the US office for EurAide, 1-781-828-2488.

You can also book with Rail Europe, but the price per reservation is higher.

Yes, high-speed EuroStar Italia trains run directly between Venice and Florence. However, the in-Europe reservation fee is 15-20 euro, much higher than for many other fast trains.

there is a 1834 train in amsterdam with a change in frankfurt arriving in vienna at 908.according to www.bahn.de.

From BAHN.DE, Second class CNL couchette (4 berth) is costing about 200 Euros for 2 from Frankfurt to Vienna. Am I doing it right? Are they usually that expensive? At the same time I am looking at raileurope.com, second class CNL couchette (6 berth) is costing about 120 Euros for two. raileurope.com is not providing an option of selecting 4 berth one. Is it too crowded to travel in a 6 berth couchette?

You must be looking at the point-to-point fare, not the supplemental price for railpass holders. The in-Europe supplemental price is €29 for a bunk in a 6-person couchette and €39 for a bunk in a 4-person couchette. 4- and 6-person couchettes are the same size. The only difference is how many bunks they contain. So there is more "elbow room" and less of a crowded feeling in a 4-bunk couchette. And finding a place for the luggage for four people is easier than for six.

Tim may correct me, but I think that this time of year you would be OK making your reservations when you arrive in Europe, which would avoid the Rail Europe mark-ups.

Maybe not, if those specific trains are critical to your trip. But maybe, if you are flexible.

City Night Line has a night train (CNL 40401) all the way from Amsterdam to Vienna's Hütteldorf station, but it only runs on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.

That train leaves Amsterdam at 5 PM, which means the "7 o'clock rule" would not apply; it would take two days of your railpass. However, if the fare is still available, you could book online the ICE leaving Amsterdam at 16:34 to Oberhausen (18:24) for as low as €19 (Europa-Spezial Niederlande fare), which is probably less than a day of your railpass. In Oberhausen change to the CNL train which comes through after 7 0'clock (19:12-19:14). Book the CNL accommodations from Oberhausen to Vienna.

Note that your Eurail pass must include Germany as well as Benelux and Austria.

There is a night train from Florence to Zurich. Its the 314 Luna departing at 21:56 from Florence-Campo di Marte. Campo di Marte station is a commuter train station near the Florence main station. You will need to take a short ride on the local to get to the Campo di Marte station.

If you are going to the Zurich Flughafen (airport), you will have to get off this train at Zurich HB (main station) at 8:42am and tranfer to a train going to the airport. It's a 10-minute ride.

The fare is 75Euro but if you are able to purchase from Trenitalia, they have a SMART fare of 45Euro.

Is there an option of "supplemental price for railpass holders" on BAHN.DE ?

You used to be able to get "reservations only" (Aufpreis) online for night trains when CNL (they're owned by DB) had their own website, but since it has been incorporated into the Bahn site, I no longer see it - they now sell just tickets w/ reservations. Note that sometimes they have Savings Fares that are not much more than the price of the supplement alone.

You can get reservations if you call the Bahn directly in Germany (most time there will be someone there who speaks English). You can also get night train reservations from Euraide (www.euraide.com). Euraide doesn't mark up reservations like Rail Europe does, but there is a once per order (any number of reservations) fee of $50. They have an office in the Munich Hbf, with a German Rail ticket terminal, and they print the reservations over there at the regular price and send them over here.