Train Travel on Christmas Day- Salzburg to Venice

You are going to have to wait until the schedule is actually released—-neither OeBB nor Trenitalia will sell you a ticket for a train beyond the current schedule. And buying the ticket now will not ensure that the train will run; they can always change the schedule and even cancel the train. We had that happen with an Austrian train we bought 3 months in advance.

It might be safer to adjust your travel schedule so you do not have to travel such a long distance on Christmas Day. Or fly.

Thank you, Lola! We thought that we were being smart by traveling on Christmas day (vs. sightseeing in a city when so many things are closed for the holiday), but we may have to re-think our plan. Any idea how far ahead of time the new train schedule will be posted?

That journey begins with an Austrian RailJet or RailJet Express train from Salzburg to Innsbruck. From there it can be another RailJet, or a EuroCity, and/or possibly an Italian Frecce train. All of these may have different schedule release times for the new mid-December schedule.

I am not at all familiar with the Austrian train system and their scheduling practices, so I cannot help. Hopefully someone who is more knowledgeable will come along and answer your question.

Also worth noting that Austrians celebrate Christmas on Dec. 24, so that will be the most quiet day but Dec. 25 and 26 are also public holidays (but more will be open).

Schedule should be published mid October. You can expect it to be similar to the current schedule, so just look up with next sunday as travel date to have an idea. Then book some time late October or November.

This is mass transit. Don't overthink it.

As every year at this Sunday, on December 15, 2024 there is the coordinated train schedule change of all European train operators.

All current timetable information past this date is tentative as long as the new schedule has not been confirmed (usually during November).

It is true that the new timetable starts on the Sunday after the second Saturday in December. However the schedule rarely changes much. Railways have already ordered the paths they want by now, and I have not hear of big changes in this part of Europe.

“ This is mass transit. Don't overthink it.”

I have seen you say this over and over. I know you mean to be helpful but sometimes it comes across as rude. You have to understand that many North Americans asking questions here do not use mass transit and have never even been on a train. So they don’t know how it all works. Maybe this person saw posts about how the Tube and other trains in London and the rest of the UK completely shut down on Christmas Day. It is natural for them to wonder if that happens in Austria too..

My intention is to be helpful. I see a lot of people worrying unnecessarily about ground transportation in Europe. What you should realise is that these trains are not there for the tourists. That tourists can go from one country to another is mostly a side effect of a network that is primarily intended for locals. And those locals do not worry about wether there is going to be a train months from now.