Next month I will be in Austria and wondering what option would be best when it comes to train travel. I fly in to Zurich and will be going to Dornbirn, which is in the Voralberg area. We plan on traveling to Innsbruck and Salzberg and maybe anywhere else in the general vicinity. On the Rail Europe site I could purchase the Eurorail Austria for 5 days for a little over $400, for 2 adults and 1 youth. Would that be the best deal out there or would it be easier to purchase as we go? We fly into Zurich so we will probably have to purchase the tickets to and from the airport there. Thanks for any advice!
Posted by
OP
Omaha, NE, USA
4 posts
Ok, thanks! I will look into that. Are regional trains readily available from Dornbirn, Innsbruck, and Salzburg, or can they be pretty sparce?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
If you don't mind using regional trains, Austrian Rail sells something called the Einfach-Raus-Ticket for all day, unlimited on/off use of the regional trains for 2-5 people for €28. The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is always available from ticket automats in Austrian Rail stations and does not require prepurchase. Note, the Einfach-Raus-Ticket cannot be used by one person.
If you purchase in advance through the Austrian Rail website (www.oebb.at), you can get discount tickets for travel to/from other countries. You could use that for Zurich-Dornbirn and back.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
I was quite surprised when I looked at the schedule to find that most of the rail line from Bregenz to Innsbruck (includes Dornbirn) does not have regional train service. In Germany, except for the special high speed line from Frankfurt airport to Köln, which has only nonstop and one stop ICE service (but there are regional trains between those stops, just not on that high speed line, I know of no other line with express train service and no regional service. Maybe it's because that Austrian Rail line from Innsbruck to Bregenz is used for the high speed Railjet from Vienna to Switzerland and doesn't have enough traffic to justify additional trains.
As for Innsbruck to Salzburg, the fastest connection, the one to which Austrian Rail will default, is down the Inn to Kufstein, then across Germany via Rosenheim and Traunstein to Salzburg. Austrian Rail express trains (ÖECs) do this route non-stop, but, of course, you cannot use the Einfach-Raus-Ticket on ÖECs. The only regional trains on this line are German Rail. You could go from Innsbruck to Kufstein using the Einfach-Raus-Ticket¹, then get a Bayern-Ticket for another €28 for Kufstein to Salzburg.
In order to get an all regional route on Austrian Trains from the OEBB website, you have to put in Bischofshofen as the über. You might also have to uncheck all Verkehrsmittel to the left of REX on the Innsbruck-Bischofshofen leg. You'll probably get a route with S-Bahn from Innsbruck to Wörgl and REX from Wörgl to Salzburg. That set of trains would qualify for the Einfach-Raus-Ticket.
¹ Point-Point tickets from Innsbruck to Kufstein are €13,90 for adults. A child, 6-14, is €7, so regardless of the youth's age, Einfach-Raus will be less than P-P.