Does anyone know ofthe best (least expensive) way to get from Italy to Austria. My girlfriend and I are going to be based in Florence for the month of August. We'll be in Venice a few days and may go on Eurolines from Venice to Salzburg. Does anyone have any better ideas?
I am going to do the same thing. We are going from Venice to Salzburg June 24, and the best thing I have so far is a 6 to 8 hour train ride. Trenitalia posts an 8 hour trip and the Austrian oebb shows 6 hours. Since I can't speak German, I can't buy the ticket from oebb. They have an English website, but when you go to purchase, it changes to German - go figure.
I called the Austrian rail department (website: www.oebb.at) and all the phone menu options are in German like William said - However I decided not to give up and just pressed option 1 over and over until I got to an operator who, of course, greeted me in German (I don't have any idea what she said, but it sounded nice). I asked politely if she could help me in English and she put me on hold. Another operator who spoke relatively good English picked up and helped me make my reservation from Hallstatt to Venice. I had her check from Salzburg to Venice as well in case that train ride was shorter, but really they were about the same. Needless to say, about 20 minutes of spelling things out and repeating things (and laughing at each other) I was done and had my reservation complete with confirmation numbers! Try giving them a call and I'm sure they can find you the best (and fastest) route from Venice to Salzburg. The number is on the website.
Pablo, I provided some comments on your question in your other post in the Western Europe section (generally, it's not necessary to post the same question in different Threads).
Cheers!