Overnight Train: Koblenz to Vienna

1. You can book an entire couchette compartment for your family at a flat rate. See nightjet.com.

2. Provided that you are sure you did not choose the price for a seat only car on the DB website, there are several possible reasons for the price difference. It may be that the DB portion is billed at the saver fare, but this requires a binding booking. Or the cheapest contingent may already be sold out at ÖBB. Or your travel date is so far in the future that not all fares have been posted on the ÖBB website yet. When is your travel date?

I can't answer your question, but I have one...

"...the Koblenz to Vienna overnight train..."

AFAIK there's no single overnight train for this run. One or more connections is necessary when starting from Koblenz. And my concern would be that the preliminary train or trains, if delayed, might cause you to miss the night train. Are you actually seeing a through-train connection between Koblenz and Vienna?

We have tried looking at nightjet.com but have so far been unable to get it to show any options for fares.

I may have just figured it out, it seems you have to know the starting point of the route even if you plan to board somewhere in the middle? If I search that way I do see fares available so I will explore that option some more.

Our plan would be to catch the NJ699 in Wurzburg so would need to get their from Koblenz via another connection.

AFAIK there's no single overnight train for this run.

That depends on the travel date. Normally, NJ 469 arrives in Koblenz at 11:24 p.m. on its way from Brussels to Vienna. At the moment, it does not do so due to restrictions on the left bank of the Rhine.

Our plan would be to catch the NJ699 in Wurzburg...

Dates would be helpful. I do not see that train number anywhere. On random dates I see NJ499 pulling into Vienna at 9:48; boarding time for that train in Würzburg is 02:29. Ugh. On other dates there is a NJ train arriving 9:17; you'd have to board that one in Würzburg at 01:48, still the wee hours. Both of these schedules show a connecting train option from KOBLENZ, which will get you to Würzburg at midnight.... and thus require a layover of roughly two hours at Würzburg station prior to departure for Vienna. Is that what you have in mind? Maybe you have found something that works better for you on the date of mystery?

Another option, one that I use frequently for long journeys: Build in an overnight stopover in a place of your choice (in lieu of the sleeper train.) If this were my trip, I'd be on a late-afternoon train to maybe NUREMBERG (around 4 hours) for one night in a hotel near the station - and on a second train in the early morning for the last leg to Vienna (around 4 hours.) It is possible to book both legs on a single saver fare ticket.

Sample date Dec. 30:
Koblenz > Nuremberg direct ICE 16:48 - 20:30
Nuremberg > Vienna direct ICE 08:33 - 12:47

Hi,

I am not sure if a night train exists but this route can be still done by night train.

Another option: I would go early evening Koblenz to Frankfurt, then take the night route dep close to midnight to Vienna. Night train from Frankfurt to Vienna I've done years ago in 2009 but solo, sitting in a compartment.

Now all you need to do is find the night train from Frankfurt to Vienna on the schedule. I can't find it, but maybe it will show up later. Knowing the travel date would be helpful.

If this was tonight, when the direct train is diverted, you would take the 1548 to Stuttgart, then the 2029 Stuttgart to Vienna EN50237, arrive Vienna 0632.
You could take the 1748, however to my mind connection times at Stuttgart of 6 minutes, or Goppingen of 7 minutes are excessively tight.
So have dinner during a 2 hour Stuttgart stopover.
Hopefully it's a night when the direct train is running.
Tonight you connect from.Frankfurt at Ulm into that same Euronight.

Thank you for all the tips. I have been exploring the nightjet.com site and finally got it to give me offers on certain routes. I think I also figured out how to fully articulate every part of a particular route on the DB site so the totals are closer. I actually meant the NJ499 above. I have found the 40421 which would allow boarding in Münster or Hamm at a more reasonable hour at about the same travle time from Koblenz as Würzburg.

We are not traveling until June though I do not have exact dates for this leg yet. We are exploring a couple of options between Rhine -> Austria -> Bavaria or the reverse. The night train is not strictly necessary but we aim for experiences on our trips and this sounded like it might be interesting to explore.

One thing I still haven't quite figured out, is there a way to put 5 people into a 4 berth couchette? I'm thinking not, and the quote from the site, "If your group consists of 5 persons and you want to travel in your own compartment, then you simply book a ticket for a free couchette berth." means booking all the berths in a 6 berth compartment? I haven't actually seen an option for 6 berths on the routes I have been exploring so it's possible this won't work at all for us.

We are not traveling until June

So, relax. It's far too early to make a booking (DB is also unable to determine a price at this time. Therefore, something must have gone wrong with your request mentioned above).

But on the DB website, you can see that NJ 469 (Brussels–Vienna) regularly departs from Koblenz at 11:26 pm and arrives in Vienna at 10:13 am (I just checked for June 5).

means booking all the berths in a 6 berth compartment?

Yes, but at a reduced rate.