How can we get from Salzburg to Florence?

Posted by Michael (just North of San Diego ,CA, USA) on 02/20/14 01:21 AM

My wife and will be travel from Salzburg to Florence Mid-April and could use some newbie advise.
Is it better to take a flight or is train travel feasible? I assume it is more cost effective to obtain tickets online ahead of time and We have set aside a whole day to accomplish the travel.

If by train what is the most appropriate train station and can we get on-line tickets that can be printed out via the internet or just ticket reservation numbers? Either way do we have to validate our tickets/reservation numbers at the station?
Being new at this we'd like to allow a generous amount of time to make any train transfers that may be required

If by air what is the most cost-effective airlines?

Any help would be appreciated.
Mike S.

Posted by Emily

Vienna, Austria

02/20/14 06:51 AM

5372 posts

There are no direct flights and no direct trains, so this makes for a full day of travel.

For trains, as your journey begins in Austria, you should use the website of the Austrian National Rail Company, OeBB (www.oebb.at). Select the link for English, plug in Salzburg and Florence and have a look at schedules. Buying a ticket that goes from Austria into Italy can be complicated, however, as Austria and Italy don't really cooperate on ticketing. You might want to post your question on the train forum on TripAdvisor for some expert advice. Overall, however, buying the ticket online, in advance will save you loads of money as opposed to buying it at the station on the day.

For air travel, just use a search engine like kayak.com for the best fares. Often "normal" airlines offer similar prices as low cost carriers. Traveling by plane will take just as long as by train, however, and will be numerous times more expensive.

Posted by Zoe

Toledo, Ohio, US

02/20/14 11:06 AM

11613 posts

To compare schedules, look at bahn.de, the German rail site. Then go to either trenitalia.com or oebb.at to buy the ticket (you may need to use both sites).

Posted by LaRae

Orlando

02/20/14 04:56 PM

516 posts

Try these two sites for EU carriers: www.skyscanner.net or www.dohop.com

Also cheap www.easyjet.com or www.ryanair.com

Posted by Sam

Green Bay

02/20/14 04:58 PM

20032 posts

To fly, you can go by Air Dolomiti from Munich airport, tickets are not cheap, about 130 euro pp with one checked bag. You can get to Munich airport from Salzburg to Munich airport by taking a Meridian train to Munich Ost station and changing to an S-8 train to the airport. Its a 2 hour journey, add 2 hour check in allowance, 1 1/4 hour flight time, plus 3/4 hour to collect bags and get a cab into Florence, it's 6 hours.
The trip by train is 8+ hours with train changes in Innsbruck and Bologna.