My daughter and I are taking the train from Florence to Salzburg in early April 2015. We're planning a relaxing day on the train after days in Rome and Florence sight-seeing and have heard about the Brenner Pass as a beautiful train ride. My question is which trains use this route? I am looking at Italio from Florence - Verona, then Bahn from Verona - Kufstein, then Railjet from Kufstein - Salzburg. I've read mention of going through Innsbrook for the Brenner Pass. Which route should we take to go through this pass?
Posted by
Corvallis OR
7033 posts
The route from Verona to Salzburg, by way of Kufstein, should go through the Brenner Pass. Looking on the map it looks like that route goes through Bolzano and Innsbruck and I believe between those two is where you would go over the Brenner Pass. I'm sure someone else here will correct me if I'm wrong.
Posted by
TX
980 posts
Yes, that route goes through the Brenner Pass.
DJ
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thank you!
Posted by
Innsbruck, Austria
27 posts
With the intercity trains: Take Florence train to Bologna. Then Bologna to Innsbruck (Via Verona, Bozen, Trento), then Innsbruck to Salzburg. The train ride is quite nice, and it is almost always sunny south of Brenner, norther of Brenner you need some luck with the weather.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
The route you want to avoid is the Austrian Rail connection from Venice to Villach, Austria to Salzburg. That connection does not go over Brenner Pass. The Bahn connection from Verona to Innsburck does.
BTW, by Colorado standards, at about 4500 ft, Brenner Pass is pretty wimpy. No 2000 ft drop-offs, but nevertheless it's pretty.
Posted by
Firenze, Italy
1529 posts
The itinerary through Innsbruck - Brenner - Bolzano - Verona is the shortest one. Nice landscapes but not exceptionally scenic. From Bolzano to Verona the train rides a very long and uniform valley where even the smallest piece of land fit for cultivation is allotted to wines or apple trees. Having driven it a lot of times I consider it as boring, but I have also observed people doing it for the first time and being astounded for the sheer quantity of fruit trees.
The other itinerary trough Villach and Tarvisio has comparable landscape, but probably railway service is not as frequent.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thank you for all the advice. I've made my train reservations and looking forward to a day of relaxation on the train after a week in Italy.