I want to travel by train from Venice to Innsbruck on May 25, 2013. Do I need to make a reservation in advance?
Yes
Steve Yes and get your tickets I have already gone thru looking up Venice to.... in our case Salzburg. Go the the OBB website, I'd suggest you look at it in two legs Italian Train from Venice to Verona, there are heaps so pick one that will get you at Verona in plenty of time for the Verona-Innsruck, Register on OBB site so when you want to get the tickets there is no delay. tickets get emailed as soon as the credit card clears. I got lucky and got discounted tickets Verona to Salzburg 1st class for $70usd per person.
regards
If to purchase both legs (Venice to Verona and Verona to Innsbruck) in advance, then you can get discounted ticket for both journeys, in first case it can be as low as 9 euro only, in second 29 euro. Also once a day there is a direct train (13:34-18:32), if it's the time you ok with, then here you also can get discounted tickets for only 29 euro all the way from Venice to Innsbruck
Hi! I am going to jump in on your question with a few of my own since I will be making the same train ride with my family in July...First, which station in Venice is the best/most convenient one to get to from Venice city, San Lucia or Miestre? There are so many stations every city it is so confusing! We will be renting a car once we arrive in Innsbruck, so want a station that has a Hertz nearby. Second, Nick, where are you finding these discounted tickets? I am not finding them but would like to. We were just going to rent the car fromVenice and drive the entire way but Italy is so expensive to rent a car in. Even without the discount, I'll be saving at least $800 going to Innsbruck by train and picking up a car there. Thanks for the help!
Susan, you need Venice Santa Lucia (=Venice S.L.), since Venice Mestre station is not in Venice at all, but on the mainland in town called Mestre :) In Innsbruck it's Innsbruck Hbf (=Main) For the discounted tickets you need to "Europa" offer (name of discount) from the tariffs (will be on the page after you the train you want). If you have trouble with trenitalia website, then same discounted tickets (also from 29 euro) can be purchased via German rail company website - bahn.de