Train or fly Bled to Vienna

Last year I took the train. Pleasant trip through some beautiful country. We bought tickets early, in Prague, a week before but people were buying them at the station with no problem. Travelers basically ignored reserved seats and conductors did not move them. We did have to change trains but the station was small so it was easy. The Bled station is far enough away from the lake area that a taxi was necessary. Basically the train was fine and we met some fun locals.

Hi Patrick, Doubt the trains will be full so cant see a problem just turning up but perhaps reserve to be on the safe side. Greg and Rona

Ray, How long a trip? Any transfers necessary along the way?

I think the trip was about 5 hours or so but I could be wrong. The train to go was very, very late and tried to make up time. Well, they were very accomodating and held the train at the transfer station for about 20 minutes waiting for us.... the conductor did tell us to run to the train though! The second train was almost empty and we had a nice large compartment to outselves. Unfortunately, the second train had a bit of a delay as well. However, the trip was so nice.... passing through lots of villages and towns, with views of several castles etc. that I didn't mind a bit. As I said, make sure you plan a taxi to the train station if you are staying near the lake. If you decide on the train, enjoy the ride!

Where did you transfer trains?

The quickest way would be to transfer in Villach. You could do it in Salzburg, too, but that would make the journey a couple of hours longer.

I'm not positive, but Villach sounds right. As I said, no one paid much attention to the reserved seats so I ended up sitting in an otherwise full compartment with a number of Slovenes (they graciously saw me standing in the aisle and moved aside so I could sit down.) One spoke English and the rest didn't. I had a fun conversation with the one who translated to the other members of her family. The announcements for transfers etc. were hard to hear and I didn't understand when they said they were holding the next train for us. She translated the announcement, told me when to stand up and get ready and translated that I should "run, not walk" to the next train. So I really didn't pay much attention. I had a great time talking with them about the US and how much I enjoyed Bled. Even with that aside, the trip was fairly painless and if I was going from Bled to Vienna would probably take the train again. Bled was the end point of a tour and 4 or 5 of us were going to Vienna. We had all pretty much agreed that the train was the way to go and our guide essentially seconded the decision.