I need to get from Hallstatt, Autria to Venice, Italy on June 9th (we have made reservations for the night in Venice). I cannot find a train with space available. I've tried looking at routes through Salzburg and even Innsbruck. The leg of the trip that requires a reservation is the EuroCity train that actually arrives in Venice (the last leg of the trip is from Leoben if looking at the route out of Hallstatt). That EroCity train originates in Vienna which I think is my problem because it is probably booked up from there. I have tried RailEurpoe.com and Railpass.com. What else am I not thinking of?? Any other routes possible??
Posted by
Anaheim, CA, USA
1455 posts
Amy
Click the link above and ask the Rick's folks??
http://www.ricksteves.com/about/contact_form.cfm?recipient=raildept
Posted by
Shoreline, WA
216 posts
Amy
Another route takes you from Salzburg to Villach, Kärnten and from there down to the Friuli or Veneto regions. Look up listings in www.oebb.at.
You are experiencing the result of the European soccer championship madness that has captured Austria and Switzerland during the month of June. If you can stay clear of the venues, you should be able to find transportation when the matches are not taking place along that route.
Posted by
Fresno
189 posts
Take a deep breath. Go to Bahn.de (the German rail site) and look there.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
To add to Martin's response, if you can't work the website, call them ASAP at 011-43-5-1717. You should be able to get an English-speaking operator during day and evening hours (they're six hours ahead of EDT).
Posted by
OP
Fort Worth
13 posts
Thanks so much for all your responses. I decided to call the Austrian rail department directly to see if there were actually seats still available that were not being "shown" on websites like raileurope.com. Guess what - there were! Of course, it took me 20 minutes of spelling things out and verifying English to German translation on the phone with the poor Austrian rail agent, but she was very helpful and booked us a seat reservation on the train I wanted in the first place! I thought I would share this in case others were having trouble getting seat reservations on a desired train. Try calling that country's rail department directly. I didn't even have to pay shipping/handling fees because I can pick them up at the train station in Austria (with a reservation code/confirmation number).