Over night train travel in Europe recommendations

I've been looking at how best to do my ED by seeing a lot while constrained by several parameters. I must go to business in Leipzig. I can't take ED delivery until August 13th. I must return home on August 20th but I have 18 days to be in Europe on vacation in total.
It seems to me the best thing to do is:
1. fly from my home to Berlin and then go to Leipzig by train. Flying to Berlin is uber cheap.
2. Get business done in Leipzig and then explore countries other than Germany via overnight train.
3. When I'm able to pick up from the Welt, drive through the Alpine road and or Wine road and or Castle road and possibly northern Italy for the seven days I will have my car.
This brings me to the thought of where to visit via train. I really want to take advantage of travelling while I sleep.
On a side note: its too bad I can't drop the car off near Berlin. Advice and opinions are welcome and encouraged. TIA



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You see Paris, Prague, Amsterdam, or any combination that you schedule allows. I've take the overnight train from Amsterdam to Prague, and then Prague to Frankfurt.

Berlin to Prague by train is a day trip...no need to go overnight. After a couple of days you could go onto Vienna . We started yearly trips in 1999 and did most of our travel by train or regional airlines. The service was very good throughout Germany , the Czech Republic, etc. We then rented a car in 2006 to get to smaller cities in Northern Italy, etc. That worked so well that we made use of the advice here and did two ED trips to other destinations. It all depends or where you want to go.

PS both Hamburg and Bremerhaven have drop offs and are relatively short drives from Berlin . The worst part will be the traffic leaving Berlin .

For all things European Train, try The Man in Seat 61 http://www.seat61.com/index.html

Its focused on the UK to the Continent but has lots of good info.

Cheers