My husband and I will be on the RS Eastern Europe tour this May. We are planning to take a train to Vienna from Lake Bled after the tour but the information online about getting tickets is not clear. Has anyone done this train trip? Can we/should we book our tickets to Vienna online before our trip? Is it easy to get to the train station from Lake Bled? Is there a bus? Shuttle?
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
The train station with the better schedules is Lesce Bled station, getting you to Vienna in 5.5 hours with a connection at Villach. Probably several tour members will be leaving on the 8:00 or 10:00 a.m. trains toward Villach and you can share a taxi to the station. Your guide will help organize those local arrangements before the end of the tour.
The Austrian railway, OEBB sells Villach-Vienna tickets online now with advance purchase discount (date and time are assigned but seat reservation is optional), but not the local Slovenian train. You can buy the first train leg (or even both) at the station on the day of departure or at train station or travel agency earlier in your trip, such as when you arrive in Prague.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thanks, Laura, for the great information. Now that I know that we won't be able to book both the Slovenian leg and the Austrian leg of the trip online together the information I was finding on the rail travel sites makes more sense. So, we'll wait to buy our first leg tickets until we get there.
Oh, and I'd still love to hear from anyone who has taken this train trip before. Better than flying?
Cathy
Posted by
Seattle area
50 posts
I've looked at trains too. I'm ending the Eastern Europe tour on May 26. Are you on that tour? My plan is to catch a train that morning (8am-ish) north, then change trains and head back south to Venice. It looks like one cannot reserve a place on either of those trains so I, too, might wait to buy tickets in Prague or may still get them now via a website.
I'm really looking forward to the tour! The most interesting people take these tours.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Yes, that's the tour we're on as well. It's good to know there are other people with the same issues. We may end up booking the non Slovenian trip on line if there is a discount and just buying the local ticket there.
We're looking forward to this trip as well and to meeting you and the other tour members.
Cathy
Posted by
Seattle area
50 posts
I just booked my train tickets. I used the link to the side of the travel forum for buying European train tickets. For $212 I got tickets for 2 to Venice and then onto Milan a couple of days later. We change trains at Villach. After experimenting I found that putting in Lesce-Bled to Villach and then Villach to Venice got me the best trains.
I'm excited about the trip and looking forward to meeting you and the other tour members.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
It sounds like you were able to get your tickets easily enough. That's good to know.
It also sounds like we may be on the same train, at least to Villach.