Buying tickets for Austria

[philjo]

I am wanting to book a couple of journeys for August/september that start or finish in Austria. Which stite is best to book these? I have looked at loco2.com (which was not very helpful) then the OBB site.

1. Zurich-Innsbruck Railjet
loco2.com only shows the full prices. OBB site shows the advance tickets as well. or is it best to book via Swiss railways (SBB) as the journey starts in Switzerland (& I will be there for 3 days beforehand)

2. Innsbruck-Jesenice (slovenia)
seat61 site suggests using Loco2.com but this site does not show any pricing for this journey.
I can see prices on the OBB site but it says e-tickets are not possible so tickets have to be printed from a machine or booking office at a station in Austria. If I book via OBB is there an option to receive the tickets in the post? Otherwise as I arrive at Innsbruck the previous day I could collect the ticket then.
Many thanks.

 

[Max]

All Railjet tickets can be bought via OBB telesales, regardless of whether your journey is international (I recently bought Budapest-Vienna tickets from them for a large group - they were very helpful). For Jesenice, you could always buy a ticket as far as Villach and then buy the Villach-Jesenice portion at Villach? I believe you always have to change trains at Villach anyway.

 

[Railman10]

Try DB Rail Uk


http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/home/contact/contact-in-the-uk.shtml

should give you contact details.

(If you use Railjet, try and avoid the windows with the Railjet logo plastered across them - spoils the view entirely!)

 

[gordonthemoron]

dunno about OBB but I compared prices from Zurich to Erlangen (Germany) on both SBB & DB websites and SBB was way more expensive. As the Railjet is Austrian I wouldn't be surprised if the same applies.

 

[dutchflyer]

1.in general its best to use the site of the railway your trip starts from.
2.if as of now no fares etc show up, it may simply be that its too early. Even though many people assume you can book 3 month advance, thats not always the case, often its still the old 2 month. Its very simple to check that by using earlier dates. Often also timetable-changes hold up the times on which you (should be) able to book. But you''ll have to check yourself if this is the explanation.
3.IF you use a connection between 2 countries, it may be that its bookable on both, but often (about thesame as airline codeshare) they have different quota and different pricings. And in general Switserland is not known for low prices. Same is often the case for ICE from here=NL to DE=Germany, or reverse.

 

[philjo]

A belated thanks for your replies.

I still need to book for the Innsbruck-Jesenice leg. It looks to be much cheaper to split the ticket at Villach (where I have to change trains anyway).
If I use the OBB website, does anyone know if there is a way to book both tickets in one transaction - I would prefer to only put one charge onto my card if possible as doing 2 overseas transactions to the same site within a couple of minutes increases the chances of the transaction or card being blocked by the bank.

I booked the Jesenice-Salzberg leg using DBB website (paper ticket in post).
Zurich-Innsbruck I have already booked using OBB as that is a train specific ticket (print at home PDF) - the other 2 sections are flexible tickets but much cheaper if splitting at Villach (& would need collecting from an austrian ticket offfice/machine which is OK as I will be In Innsbruck the previous night).

 

[30907]

Have you checked out the DB price for Munich or somewhere similar in Germany to Jesenice (or Lesce/Bled if Jesenice isn't bookable online?) combined with Innsbruck-Schwarzach St Veit (it's well worth going via Zell am See!). It doesn't matter not using the first leg of the DB ticket.

Alternatively, you won't lose out by buying the final ticket at Villach (or even on the Slovenian train, I suspect)

 

[philjo]

THanks - I'll have a look.

I have booked via DB for Jesenice-Salzburg on the return journey - that train goes to Munich so a through fare is available on DB (as I will stay in Salzburg prior to DB London Spezial €109 1st class back via Brussels)

THe fare for that journey was cheaper to Salzburg than to Munich but for some other trains the Munich fare is lower.

I would want the ticket before getting to Villach as I only have 10 minutes to change trains (or a 4 hour wait) and I believe there are only 3 coaches on that train form Villach into Slovenia?

 

[30907]

On a quick check you should get EUR 19 for (eg) Freilassing-Villach.

I'd suggest DB-UK or OeBB telesales for Villach-Jesenice (at full fare) - DB-UK should be able to offer the ES-Oesterreich too.
The train may only be 3 coaches but you should get a seat...