My husband and I are travelling to Austria .We have 2 train travels planned .
1.Innsbruck - Salzburg
2.Salzburg - Vienna
RailJet trains connect either cities, they are the fastest trains. Westbahn is a private carrier servicing Salzburg-Vienna (and back), only.
Westbahn trains terminate at Vienna's western train station, whereas RailJets go to main train station (and continue to Vienna International Airport).
Between Salzburg and Vienna there is a train every half an hour.
Cheap tickets are available for all trains, but "Sparschiene" tickets (bargain price) for RailJets are bound to a specific train, and have to be bought in advance, as opposed to tickets for Westbahn.
Do not buy any rail pass, they are a rip-off in most cases, especially when purchased abroad.
For travel within Vienna, there's a weekly pass or a 4-day pass. If you're over 65, however, you can also buy 2-for-1 tickets.
Salzburg is pretty walkable.
The Vienna main station, Hauptbahnhof, is not any closer to the Vienna city center than the Westbahnhof. The Hauptbahnhof used to be called the Suedbahnhof (South Station) until it was torn down and rebuilt as a modern, more efficient structure.
The key advantage to Westbahn is that it runs on a regular hourly schedule and you don't even need to buy tickets in advance. Just get on the train, find a seat, and buy the ticket from the conductor when he'she comes through the car. There are some discounts with advance booking, senor discounts, youth discounts, frequent traveler discounts.
https://westbahn.at/en
Westbahn are slower trains
Salzburg - Vienna:
Westbahn 2:28 hours
RailJets 2:26 hours
Thank you everybody . We are going to book the Railjet tickets in advance .
their advertised shuttle (which only meets certain trains) adds an extra 39 minutes to reach Hauptbahnhof.
That Westbahn shuttle is nonsense. The ride with tram 18 between western train station and main train station is 14 minutes.
Effective 2018 Westbahn will also service Wien Hauptbahnhof directly.
