Train from Vienna to Venice

Have a look at the number of intermediate stops on the night train. (And remember that the 2327h train requires a change in Salzburg. The 2127 train does not). Every time the train stops, you will feel the deceleration and some jostling and hear the brakes. Then the acceleration as it leaves each station. Having a couchette or bedroom is fine. Having any sleep is quite another thing. I've done night trains 3 times to various places. Only had anything approaching a tolerable sleep once. But if you won't have a particularly strenuous day on arrival, perhaps that won't be important.

The major risk is that you will get so little sleep you'll crash on your arrival day (like after an overnight flight) and get your body off schedule. I would always choose a hotel over a night train, but I am retired and don't have to squeeze my trips into really short time periods. When I was just out of college I was able to doze off and on in a couchette, just enough that I didn't crash and burn the next day. I think I stopped doing night trains after my first trip to Europe, though, because I didn't like the brain fog that resulted from inadequate sleep. Then I made the mistake of taking a night train from Rome to Sicily in 2015. What an awful experience; I hope the railbed farther north is in much better condition.

That is such good information. Thank you so much. When we do arrive Venice, which is approximately 8:30 in the morning ( if we do the night train) we will probably try to get to our hotel that we have reserved for that night to drop off our luggage but won’t be able to actually stay there until later in the day, which will make, our sightseeing I planned on doing during the day probably really exhausting. Yes, I’m leaning towards the day train even though it seems like a really long train ride. I guess we’ll just have to play a lot of cribbage.

We like to take a journey like that and break it up into smaller segments of 3-4 hours each, with overnights at nice places we can explore.

Between Vienna and Venice, instead of taking a night train ( which I do not like at all), or a direct daytime train that takes 7.75 hours, you could journey the first day to Innsbruck, arriving 4 hours later, and have the afternoon to explore and enjoy this Alpine-flavored town. Next day into Italy and the Sud Tirol, with an overnight in Bressanone, Bolzano, or Trento. (I would choose Bressanone).

And then on to Venice. Or spend a night in Verona before ending in Venice, which will have the most expensive hotel.

I took the night train between these cities a few years ago using a sleeper car. I was nervous about being able to sleep, but I was already so tired from traveling that I passed out. I can see doing either option, whatever suits you best!

According to Skyscanner, both Ryanair and Austrian Airlines have direct flights Vienna to Venice. I think I’d rather spend a cramped 1.5 hours on a plane than 7 - 12 hours on a train. I’d probably spend the extra days in Venice just wandering around and relaxing. But spending extra nights in Vienna would be good too…soaking up the coffee and pastries!

Lola, I absolutely love your suggestion of cutting the trip into smaller segments. We could actually do that by leaving Vienna a day or two earlier. My thoughts however are having to slump our luggage on and off a train numerous times. My husband will be 75 at the time of the trip and I will be 72 and although we are in good health and quite active for our ages, the thought of trying to figure out hotels and walking to them and then just exploring those areas makes it all the harder for me to plan things. I might check into just one town???— if that’s what I would do which town on that railroad line would you suggest stopping in and visiting for a day and night? Are the cost of the train ride smaller for the shorter distances?

We broke this train trip in 2019 with a night in Sankt Viet van der Glan staying at the Kuntshotel Fuchtspalast designed by surrealist artist Ernst Fuchs. We had a lovely dinner at Suppenkasper restaurant. The town is small but has a nice historic centre and a square with a plague column. It was all an easy walk from the train station to the hotel and town.

We are 59 with mobility issues and a fit 73, pack light (but not carry on light) and travel exclusively by public transportation. We used the train for both legs but there was an option to do the second leg to Venice by bus from Villach.

The train trip was especially scenic near the Worthensee lake and there were also nice distant mountain views for a lot of the trip. Closer to Venice the landscape became more agricultural but was still nice to look at.

I took the day train from Vienna to Venice back in 2019 and rather enjoyed the experience. It was long, but not unpleasantly so, and as another poster noted, the scenery varies. The final gallop across the bridge with the flat water spread out everywhere was my favorite part.

The Ryanair flights are only on Saturday and Sunday which won't work for you.

But Austian Airlines has 48 Euro flights at 9:10, 12:55 and 17:35. At those rates, it's a no brainer.

That route on the ground used to require a train to a bus to another train. The Alps are physical barriers between those cities. No thank you to trains when a short flight can be made.

I took the train you’re talking about from Venice to Vienna and rented a sleeper car and had it all to myself and got a full night’s sleep. I’ve done this approximately 17 times and will continue to do so.

In 2017, my son and I took the night train Vienna to Venice arriving 8:30 am. We reserved a private compartment with shower/bathroom en suite. I remember getting a decent night’s sleep (and I’m a light sleeper). We really enjoyed the experience. The conductor drops off a light breakfast in the morning which we enjoyed during the final hour. A note that the private compartments are limited, so if you decide on that, you may want to book soonest possible.

We also took a night train previously in a 6 person couchette, and while an interesting experience, I’d always chose the private compartment over a shared compartment. It’s nice having the privacy and en suite WC, like a hotel room on wheels :)

You have an advantageous option here, OEBB offers a direct night train connection.. Taking that night train would be my choice.

You know your travel style unless you want to deviate from it here. plus there is an additional advantage of stretching out another travel day.

Off hand, I don't know if the day route Vienna to Venice is direct or not. The night route is direct, ie, a good deal of them are, which is another reason for choosing the night train option as a way of avoiding these tedious transfers with luggage in tow.

Let’s look at your choices.

You can take a night train, departing at 21.27 and arriving in Venice at 8:34 the next morning. This train has 15 stops during the night, which makes for lots of interrupted sleep. I am glad Mary Pat could sleep through that, but I certainly cannot. I had enough trouble with 6 stops on the last night train I took, 20:years ago, which had 6 stops between Firenze and Munich. We arrived groggy and the day was not good.

You can take the direct daytime train, which takes 7.75 hours. Up to you, but we do not like to spend that much time on the train in one day. We are older than you (75 and 79) and feel it is important to keep active and not spend a whole day sitting on train if we can avoid it. That is one reason why we break up the long journeys into smaller segments.

Or you can take the train and break up the journey with overnight stops along the way. We have discovered some really nice “off the beaten path” towns this way. But we are very experienced travelers and I know how to look at maps and websites to find nice, highly rated places to stay within walking distance of the train station when we do this. Also we are fit, in spite of our age, and do not mind getting off the train and lugging our roller bags to the hotel I have chosen. We call it necessary exercise and it generally works out fine.

Or you can fly from Vienna to Venice, but we do not do that. Ever. Once we hit the ground in Europe, we stay on the ground. We do not like dealing with airports and the protocol.

If you like the idea of the train with overnight stops on the way, but want to minimize the stops and hotel stays, then AussieNomad has given you an excellent option. Sankt Veit is pretty much halfway and divides the journey into two equal segments, under 4 hours each. I checked that hotel and in September it is only $108 on booking.com. Another option to spend a night on that route ( shorter that the Innsbruck route I suggested) would be Udine in Italy, but that would be a longer day the first day, and a shorter day the second.

Also, one of the towns on the Woerthersee would be a good stop.

Do you want to try a sleeper train?

For sure, there are many practical solutions from A to B. But if you're curious, if you find the notion romantic (as in 19thC Romanticism), I'd suggest you consider giving it a try! Maybe a good reason to believe you'd have a hard time sleeping is a valid concern, but plenty of people sleep just fine on sleeper trains (I've taken them over a dozen times, myself)

Maybe you'll love it! Maybe you'll hate it. You'll never know unless you try it.

The day train is a long trip from Vienna to Venice but the scenery is great, so that is a very good reason for the day train. And if you have a couple of days to spare, making a stop along the way seems like a good idea.

Lake Wörth (Wörthersee) near Klagenfurt or the Italian city of Udine would be good stops to break the journey if you so desire. The lake is more for R&R, and Udine is a beautiful city that's not as popular as some others in Italy probably due to its somewhat "tucked away" location.

We did the night train there and back from Vienna. It was perfect. We only stayed in Venice one day.

Hey Sam I live in Appleton ! Anyway, to Vienne how did you sleep? After all the responses I’ve had ( Thank you everyone) I’m leaning towards an early morning train ride to Innsbruck (Sp?) with a stay there overnight and then continuing to Venice the next day. Does anyone have a few hotels close to the train station in that town?? And maybe some ideas as to what we can do that afternoon or the next morning before the train arrives. And how about a fun place for dinner that night?

There is a Motel 1 just across the street from the Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof. This is a well-regarded chain with modern, trendy decor, a reputation for friendliness,, and very reasonable prices.

https://www.motel-one.com/en/hotels/innsbruck/hotel-innsbruck/?checkin=2023-09-25&checkout=2023-09-26&city=120000%2F0000%2F0028&isBusiness=0&rooms=2

If you would like something with a more traditional feel, family-run Hotel Sailer is a block away from the station, in the direction of the Old Town area and River Inn.

https://www.sailer-innsbruck.at/en/index.html

They have an in-house Tyrolian restaurant; you can view the menu here:

https://www.sailer-innsbruck.at/files/images/sailerhotel/pdf/speisekarte/Internationale%20Speisekarte%202023.pdf

If you want to take a cable car ride for the view (weather permitting) there is the Nordkette Cable car. 44 EUR round trip or 35.20 EUR "Happy Hour" pricing. Last ride down at 5:00 pm.
https://nordkette.com/en/ticketshop.html

Used to live on Stroebe Island.

OK so I’ve pretty much decided to stay in Vienna the night of the 26th, 27th of September at the same place where our Rick Steve tour ends. The night of the 28th, we will take the night jet train to Venice. While I’m on the site booking it, I’m trying to find something that says two person compartment, and the only thing that pops up is a sleeper cabin – standard three beds. They wouldn’t actually put a third person in with my husband and I would they? The only thing that said two person was a deluxe unit, and we really do not need that. I am working with the trainline.com booking service wondering if that’s the one I should use or if something else is a little less confusing. Any help ASAP would be appreciate it. Thanks

They wouldn’t actually put a third person in with my husband and I, would they?

Unfortunately, yes, they would. There’s also Rail Europe but it won’t be cheap. You can talk to a booking agent at RailEurope and not use the web. I have found RailEurope extremely helpful when booking my sleeper cars which I had to wait until 30 days out before booking. Have you tried: https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/schlafwagen? It looks like you can book a cabin for two.

MaryPat, When I enter the info in to book it asks the station to be dropped off at in Venice. Says Venice Lucia or Venice Mestre?? Our hotel info says Venice Lido.
How do you know which one to enter? Thanks

Venice Santa Lucia, the end of line. You do not want Venice Mestre.

Thank you!

So I have my nightjet train tickets purchased from Vienna to Venice S.Lucia on Sept.28/29, now how do I figure out where that train drops us off in relation to our hotel for the night of the 29th. The hotel is “Hotel Villa Mabapa on Venice Lido Island.

I think we’d want to go there and drop off our luggage prior to any sightseeing. Also, how do we get there if to far to walk. I’m so naive about this do they have Uber/taxis or just the water taxis??
Again, any help is much appreciated.

Venice is so particular to navigate, I'd suggest you reach out to the hotel and ask them how to get there from the train station. I'd bet their directions are well-honed.

(I was there last month and my AirBnB host wrote a full paragraph of very detailed directions, and that was just for where to meet him—he walked me the rest of the way!)

Unfortunately, you chose a hotel that isn't in Venice proper, but is on the Lido island. If you look at Google Maps and input the train station and your hotel, you will see that it isn't possible to walk there. Nor are there cars in Venice proper. You will need to take the vaporetto from Piazzale Roma, or a much more expensive water taxi.

Personally I'd take the day train but not as a straight through. I'd do an overnight stopover in either Klagenfurt or Villach.