It looks like these tickets are available on the Deutsche Bahn website, but they require the tickets to be shipped to you, and I don’t think they’ll ship to the U.S. If you want to give it a shot anyway and see if it’ll work:
http://reiseauskunft…

Maybe someone else will have a solution for you.

Issue is Oktoberfest?? A couple of things to clear up to get started.

1. Are you buying a ticket with reservation or “just a reservation” to use with a railpass?

2. Rail Europe is a travel agency. Travel agencies sell reservations and train tickets with a high mark up (I think they actually buy them from Deutsche Bahn). Add shipping and handling and you often end up paying nearly 50% more for a ticket and 100% more for “just a reservation” when you buy from a travel agency.

Things that might work (assuming you can get what you’ve bought from raileurope refunded).

Buy ticket and reservation or “just reservation” (click on “book only extra charge” for just a reservation) from Deutsche Bahn as Augustin says. The website was recently updated with a pop-up about printing your own ticket. You can also try Trenitalia, the Italian national rail company website. http://www.fsitalian… This old post has some information about how to buy “just a reservation” from them. http://www.eurotrip…. Unfortunately, it’s very likely that Trenitalia won’t accept your credit card if it wasn’t issued in Europe.

Try another travel agency… The ItaliaRail agency (banner along the side of this page or http://www.italiarai… ) is usually cheaper than other travel agencies if the trip involves Italy. Other travel agencies include www.railpass.com, www.eurail.com

Why not take a day or evening train to Vienna and then an overnight from there? This would require 2 days of a flexi or select eurail pass if you’re using one.

No luck…

Trying to buy a ticket with reservation. We do not have passes and will most likely not buy them as we are simply flying into Munich and then taking a train to Florence and will not be on trains for much else other than a day trip to Siena.

Was able to get a full refund from RailEurope

Attempting to buy from Bahn online for 2 days now and after completing all info and payment, get a message saying that they are unable to process. There is a notice that it will be unavailable 7/31-8/1. I have e-mailed (twice) the UK booking center for assistance with no reply. Tried calling the UK number from the states and had no luck.

No luck with Trenitalia or Italiarail with the City Night Line tickets.

Any other travel agencies other than raileurope? I would like to save money, but at this point I just need to secure tickets for that date or risk losing money on hotels already booked. Really do not want to be in a sleeper car of 6.

A possible issues with Bahn.de is that they may not sell this ticket more than 60 days in advance. Try again as soon as it hits 7/30/11 in Germany (sometime tonight)????

www.railpass.com www.eurorailways.com www.eurail.com (site has recently been updated and maybe they no longer sells point to point tickets?) and www.ukrailways.com might sell the tickets. You can also try www.ricksteves.com Rick Steves does not sell point to point tickets, but I think there’s a link to a travel agency that does. The site he links to for reservations is way out of date, so I’d be careful about purchasing if it’s the same site. I don’t know if www.tgv.com sells tickets outside of France or not. You need to indicate you are from Germany or UK (somewhere other than US) on that site to avoid getting linked to raileurope and you’ll need to be able to pick up the ticket in Germany.

You could also try a regular travel agency in your hometown…..

PS, the Austrian national rail company still shows 10 positions available in 2 person compartments from Salzburg to Florence on that date. You shoul easily be able to find some available seats on a train to Salzburg to catch this 20:12 departure.
http://www.oebb.at/e…. Click on “travel abroad.”. I clicked Germany as home country.

Thank you, “Oldlady”! This may be the perfect solution. I was completely set on Florence (and our return flight is already booked out of there), but taking a train to Salzburg made me decide to spend the night there so that we could have a full day touring and then take the overnight train on October 1 to Florence. I have checked and there is availability. Going to run this change in itinerary by my husband and book tonight or first thing tomorrow. Looks like Salzburg may be a great place, too!

You will have a connection at Villach — 1 hour 20 minutes, between 22:46 and 0:06. Also, you arrive in Florence at 6:18 which means only a max of 6 hours sleep time on the train. That’s not great, but it seems like the best deal. You could also take a direct overnight from Vienna, but it leaves earlier and you’d spend more daytime hours in transit, which would seriously limit your time in either Salzburg or Vienna. I prefer Salzburg to Vienna, so I’d opt for whatever gave me the most time in Salzburg.

Another option from Salzburg would be the train at 1:34 which would allow nearly 7 hours of sleep time before an 18 minute connection at Venice Mestre between 8:21 and 8:39, arriving in Florence at 10:30.