does such a site exist? i am trying to find some less expensive means of travel (compared to the trains) between cities in austria (i.e. vienna to salzburg). I am looking for a site like the movelia site for spain? the austrain tourism website doesn't offer anything like this. thanks for the help.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
Use the Austrian Rail website, www.oebb.at. De-select all train or other travel by selecting "more" under "products". That will show you bus schedules, if any, between locations. Unfortunately, Austrian Rail only gives fares for tickets they sell online, and they don't sell most bus tickets.
However, if you can concentrate your travel to a few long days on regional trains, the Einfach-Raus-Ticket might be your best bet.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
You might try Eurolines, which runs some long distance coaches across Europe. However, I am not sure they can transport people within a single country (I was not able to find a fare from Vienna-Salzburg, but had no problem Vienna-Munich, €34). They also sell 15-day bus passes, but the price, over $230, seem more than you want to pay.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
The Austrian Rail website shows a series of 9 local buses (8 connections) going between Vienna and Salzburg and taking 21 hours (9 hours of travel). This compares to 4 trains, 6 hours, with a €28 Einfach-Raus-Ticket.
I just returned from a five day trip on the Romantic Road in Germany, where I traveled mostly by bus. I spent most of my time seeing towns and only a little over an hour per day on the bus. My transportation cost €6-€7 per day, about €5,60 per hour of bus time. At that rate, your travel from Vienna to Salzburg by local bus should cost over €50.
So, if you want to do a lot of hopping from town to town over several days, the buses might work, but if you just want to get from Vienna to Salzburg, with a few hop-on/off stops, the train seems like your best bet.