Should I use one of my Italypass days coming from Salzburg to Venice? If so, do they discount the Italy portion when I purchase the ticket in Salzburg? Thank you.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
First, if you haven't already bought a railpass, don't buy one. Point-to-point tickets in Italy are relatively inexpensive so a railpass for Italy alone is rarely cost effective. While with a railpass you can jump on any regional train you wish, seat reservations are required on fast trains. They only cost 3-4 euros for some of those trains, but on EuroStar Italia trains they will cost 15-20 euros. You can get timetables and check the fares for your routes on the Trenitalia site.
Second, if you book well in advance by phoning the Austrian Rail call center, you can get cheap SparSchiene fares for Salzburg-Venice, either on day trains or a night train.
The SparSchiene fare for day trains for Salzburg-Venice is €29, less than you would have to pay for a regular ticket from Salzburg to the Italian border where your railpass would take over. However, in addition to the ticket for travel within Austria, with a railpass you will have to pay a supplement for seat reservations on trains within Italy that require them.
Posted by
harrisburg, pa
1 posts
i have had much trouble trying to get the SparSchiene €29 fare for day trains for Salzburg-venice. OBB only lists train for salzburg to villach then villach to venice at €58. was trying for 20 may 2009. anyone have success with SparSchiene and OBB?
Posted by
Krems, Wachau, Austria
386 posts
The trick with Sparschiene is that you need to know that they are generally offered from one bigger city to another, and that the Sparschiene tickets are offered only during certain times of the year.
If the Sparschiene offers are timely, simply look up if the train stops in the town you want to board, and calculate if the offer from there to your destination is cheaper with the Sparschiene, a regional ticket or regular fare.
With Sparschiene, you'll be buying a ticket from Vienna to Venice, for example, but boarding in Salzburg.
The staff in the ÖBB travel centers will also help you with it, take advantage of it, they are found at nearly every train station.
If you travel to several cities internationally, and start out from Austria, the Interrail tickets might also be of interest to you:
http://www.oebb.at/pv/en/Travel_within_Europe/InterRail/index.jsp
I know it seems confusing, but it's no different than weighing the different offers in US supermarkets and stores: should I buy a brandname with coupon, or the store brand, or get a membership, etc ;-))