VORTEILScard Family

I'll have to look at the website (www.oebb.at, tomorrow, I'm about to go to bed now) myself to see what it says, but, in general, these discount cards are only a good deal if you are doing a lot of traveling. You might need a picture for the card and it might be an Abonnement, an annual subscription where they bill your credit card every year unless you submit some official paperwork to cancel it).

I'm not real familiar with Austrian Rail, but in Germany, all children under 15 travel free with a full fare paying parent.

There is also an Einfach Raus Ticket, an all day pass for up to 5 people for €28 on regional trains in Austria.

I've been looking at the conditions, both in English and German (sometime things get lost in translation).

I see nothing to indicate that one parent has to have a VORTEILScard Classic to get a VORTEILScard Familie, although they do mention that a VORTEILScard Classic holder can add the VORTEILScard Familie "gratis". What I do find strange is that they indicate that with the €19,90 VORTEILScard Familie, the adult(s) also gets about a 50% reduction on tickets, which seems too good to be true, since that's no less than one gets with the €99 Classic. The difference might be that the Familie card only gets you the reduction when you are traveling with one of your children.

Austrian Rail does some strange, illogical things. For instance the Einfach Raus ticket is only valid for 2-5 people. If you are single, you can't use it. In Germany, some Länder offer both a full Ticket for 2-5 persons and a Single-Ticket for less for one person. Länder that do not offer a reduced price Single-Ticket at least allow a single person to buy the up-to-5-P Ticket. But not Austria.

And, by the way, the VORTEILScard is an Abonnement (subscription). They automatically send you a notice 2 months before the card expires and renew it if they do not hear back with four weeks that you are canceling it.

You also need a "Lichtbildausweis", a photograph ID, along with the card.

Lee, thank you so much for taking your time and looking into the information. I really appreciate your valuable advice. I also found the VORTEILScard Familie too good to be true. I guess I will find it out when I am in Austria.

One more question, do I need to book train tickets online (Munich-Salzburg, Salzburg to Vienna & Vienna-Munich), or I can just go the station and get them? Is the standard fare ticket good for any day any time or just any time on a specific day? Thanks again for your help.

If you book ahead online on the German Rail (Bahn) website, and can commit to a specific date and train, you could get a non-refundable Europa-Spezial Ticket for Vienna to Munich as low as €58 for the four of you (€29 per adult, kids free). That might be a little tough at this late date as the lowest priced tickets sell out first.

For Munich to Salzburg, you can't beat a €28 Bayern-Ticket for the four of you - regional trains, about 1/2 hour longer.

We've already discussed the Salzburg to Vienna part. For €19,90 you can probably get 1/2 price for the adults and kids free with the VORTEILcard Familie and any trains. On the other hand, for €28 total, you could use an Einfach Raus Ticket on regional trains (they take about an hour longer).

Thanks a lot, Lee. These sound like great savings without compromising too much for travel time and flexibility. One question,I searched Einfach Raus ticket in Austrian site Oebb at and found that the regional trains from Salzburg to Vienna would take about 6 hr. Are there any faster regional trains in this route? Thanks again for your great help.

6 hrs seems to be about it. I checked both the Austrian Rail and German Rail websites. That's why people do spend the extra for express trains. Unfortunately, the Austrians do not have an in-Austria Saving fare like the German Sparpreis, for express trains.

Lee, thank you so much for all your help. Really appreciate it.