Trains from Milan to Venice

That is enough time to milano centrale to catch the train you want at 22:15 as long as your flight is on time,
But you probably should count on staying in Milan for the night because the train you want to take at 22:15
to Venice requires that you wake up at 3:00 in Bologna to make a transfer to another train that leads to Venice at 5;00. Please note that this is outside the standard hours to check into most hotels. Furthermore it is not comfortable to sleep on a seat that does not lay flat.
You are correct the last train to Venice is the one you are considering at the time you stated.

The overnighter isn't a overnighter at all. If you read the fine print, it is a regionale (not the most comfortable of trains) to Bologna, followed by almost three hours on a bench at Bologna station in the middle of the night, followed by two hours on a real overnight train. In other words, it is an option only a computer program could dream off. If you can't make the 20.45 train - and I can't see how you could with a 19.35 landing - your only option is sleeping in Milan.

Thanks a ton. Will explore staying at Milan and leaving the next morning, makes better sense. Now that we are anyways staying in Milan, does it make sense to see around Milan for a day and leave to Venice in the evening? We had planned 3 days for Venice as we are interested in scenic places more than cities. But considering the travel time is 3 hours station to station, would you recommend travelling through the day to venice and have half a day extra in venice or spending a day in Milan and reaching Venice in the night?

It is actually about 2 1/2 hours from Milano Centrale to Venezia S.Lucia.
If it were me, I would spend the evening in Milan near the Centrale station, relax, recover from the long flight and go to Venice the next morning. If you do not want to book an advance purchase ticket, you can travel anytime beginning at 6:45 and there is a train every 30 minutes until 9:45 to Venezia S. Lucia. Afterward, at least every hour. The trains at 6:45 and 7:45 require a train change at Venezia Mestre. All the other trains are direct.

You can store luggage at your hotel in Venice until normal check in time (14:00 or a bit later) and tour Venice in the morning. The cost would be about 45 EUR per person or less. If you bought these tickets, nonrefundable and non-changeble 90 days in advance, it could be as low as 20 EUR per person. It is not so large an amount to make a big difference. Maybe you will decide to sleep in and take a later train, or perhaps you will wake up very early and want to get going early. When I travel west to east, I wake up early and am ready to go. But traveling east to west, I stay closer to the new time zone. Keeping options open as to morning departure time is worth the extra savings over locking in to definite departure time, in my opinion.

There are many reasonably priced hotels walking distance of Milano Centrale, The Hotel Berna is my favorite, but there are less expensive hotels on the same street, like the Hotel Garda.

Walk around in the evening go see the Duomo in the morning before you checkout of the hotel and then go to Venice

http://www.duomomilano.it/en/

I would search what things in Milan might interest you to see. The train station is not near the major sights (Duomo, etc.) so if you want to see those before heading to Venice, I would consider staying closer to that area. You could always take an afternoon train to Venice. It might be nice to arrive in Venice while it's still light out, to find your way around a bit easier.

The major sights in Milano are easily reached by metro, you will probably be happier staying at a hotel near Milano Centrale. I have stayed at Hotel Garda many times, it's very comfortable.

Venezia seems to be a priority, so I would stay at a hotel near the station and catch an early train to Venezia Santa Lucia the next morning. You could be there well before noon.

Hello - When we were headed from Milan to Venice, we spent a couple of hours in Milan - the duomo, a few other sites then took the train to Verona. We loved Verona - the colisieum there is spectacular and the quaint, cobblestone streets were a perfect foil to Milan.
One night and we took the very short train to Venice. I know Rick doesn't like to spend only 1 night places, but it made for a comfortable arrival day.

There's no reason for you to make yourselves spend time in Milan if your real interest is Venice. You don't have a terribly lot of time in Venice anyway - I would just get up and go there the next morning!