Help!! Where can I get the cheapest Sleeper Train reservation?

Call Swiss Rail, 011 (US international access code) + 41 (country code for Switzerland) + 43 210 56 56. The hours are 08:00-19:00, M-F.

Assuming you want to buy point to point tickets, you can purchase them on the Italian rail website, http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html, if you can overcome the registration problems some people have had. I would suggest registering separately first, then booking when your password comes through. The overnight train actually leaves from Spiez, so you'd have to enter that as your point of origin to buy tickets on line. You'd have to take a local train around the south shore from Interlaken...about a 20 minute trip or so. You can also order the entire journey from Interlaken thru the Swiss railway system....they'll respond via e-mail after you enter the journey details and request info. http://www.sbb.ch/en. If you have a rail pass and just want sleeper accommodations, you may be stuck with RailEurope, Euraide, Italiarail or some similar agency. You can try noting that in the above procedure for the Swiss railway system, but I'm not sure how successful that will be....anyone know?

Norm is correct that you have to get to Spiez to pick up the overnight train. A couple of pieces of information about the sleeper. First, there is only 1 sleeper that will take you through to Florence from Spiez without a train change in either Milan, Bologna or both. This is the Basel/Rome overnighter train EN 313 that leaves Spiez at 23:10 (11:00pm) and arriving at Firenze Campo di Marte at 6:46am. Note that this is not the main Florence station (the main station is Firenze Santa Maria Novella). You would leave Interlaken Ost on IC train 3396 at 22.25 to meet the train at Spiez. You can leave on two different earlier trains from Interlaken Ost at 17:25 or 17:56. In both cases, you change to night trains at both Milan and Bologna and arrive at Firenze Campo di Marte at 05:30am. I don't know how to get to the main Firenze Santa Maria Novella station from the Firenze Campo di Marte station.

FYI...Campo di Marti is a commuter station just to the south-east of downtown Florence. Simply get off the overnight train, head to the news stand inside, any purchase a one-Euro Florence transit ticket. That'll be good for a rail journey over to Florence SMN train station....don't forget to validate it in one of the trackside machines. At that hour of the morning, trains for SMN will be coming along every few minutes...it's only a 10 minute run. But beware...they don't stop for long!

I don't know if this helps, but do you know that you don't have to buy your tickets and reservations in Interlaken?

You can buy them whenever it is that you buy your tickets to Interlaken (or earlier in Europe) if you will know at that point which train yo want to take to Florence.

Thank you all for your advice...I neglected to mention that we will have a Saverpass, which cuts Swiss Rail out of the picture, I believe. I have heard that I can reserve once I get to Europe through a travel agent...I am arriving 10 days earlier in Amsterdam...Can I make this reservation at the Amsterdam train station or do I need to wait until I actually arrive in Interlaken on the 22nd?
Once again, thank you!

If you intend to book a couchette or sleeper, you best book this as quickly as possible. These do sell out. Also, if you buy your tickets in Interlaken, you will need to pay in Swiss Francs. Not a problem with a Visa Card or MasterCard. Or, you can easily get Swiss Francs from a nearby ATM.

I assumed that you had a railpass when I suggested calling Swiss Rail. I know that a person can call SNCF to make a reservation for train travel in France when using a pass. Therefore I am again assuming that you can get a reservation by calling Swiss Rail for a train that originates in Switzerland.

Sarah...did you try e-mailing or calling Swiss Rail to see if they can make a sleeper-only reservation for you? This might be your best bet right now, at least 'til you know one way or the other.

Thank you for all of your suggestions: Rick Steves Rail told me that I can not make a reservation through Swiss Rail if I have a rail pass.
I will double check however, in the event that they are mistaken.

Ciao!