Munich to Venice - but my pass does not include Austria

I'm assuming you mean a night train "reservation", ie for a sleeping compartment. If you use the Bahn website online, there will be an option to purchase "book only extra charge". You can make those reservation at any time, but when you go to use the train, you will need ticket coverage for the entire trip. Buy it at the Reisezentrum in the Munich Hbf. Explain exactly what you want. You might have to purchase a ticket from the last stop on the train's run in Germany to the first stop in Italy. Be sure to tell them it is for the night train; it takes a longer route through Austria, not just through Innsbruck. If this is for the day train via Innsbruck, you cannot get seat reservations only online from the Bahn.

Thanks for the reply Lee. No, it's not a night train. It's the daytime EC81 from 7:31-14:40 which passes through Austria. The Bahn site does not allow me to reserve. The error message reads: It is not possible to make a reservation for international connections at www.bahn.de without the purchase of a ticket. Please remove the check mark from the field "Reservation for seat only", if you would like to buy a ticket for this connection. I'd like to make the reservation now in case the train fills up by the time we arrive in Munich (Oct 23).

If you call German Rail in Germany (49 1805 99 66 33), you can probably get the ticket coverage and reservations. They will accept payment by credit card and mail you the ticket. If there is not time to get the ticket/reservation by mail, I think they can arrange for you to pick them up at the Reisezentrum in Munich. I think RailEurope will sell you a reservation (at an inflated price) and mail it to you. They might try to claim that you have to have a railpass that includes Austria, but that's not true. Euraide will also purchase the ticket and reservation for you from their office in Munich and send it to you (time), but for a one ticket deal, their service charge would be too high. Unless you are traveling on a major holiday, you should be able to get reservations prior to train time in Munich. In addition to the direct EC to Venice, there are four other ECs daily to Verona, from where you can take any of many express and regional Italian trains to Venice.

Thanks Lee. I won't worry about it now. I'll sort things out when we get there.