cheapest way to go to Bolzano, Munich and Vienna

Perhaps the Austrian Railpass - $112 for 3 days of travel out of 15 day period; extra days just $16/day. Of course not good for Munich. If going Salz-Vienna and back and Salz-Italian border and back Austrian Pass may make sense. Could also go to Innsbruck and back. (sold thru RailEurope or agents - 800-441-2387) - someone may know if Austrian passes are sold in Austria and they may have a cheaper plan for 5 people??

I bought a rail pass in Austria a few years ago. It saved me money.

The Bayernkarte might help cost wise between Salzburg and Munich. I had one once and was told I could not ride the ICE trains between Munich and Salzburg without extra charge. I took a local, which was slower by a few minutes, but I had the time to do it.


Bolzano from Salzburg is at best a 4.5 hour trip. You will need to leave Bolzano at the latest on the 18:31 train to return to Salzburg the same day.

Chances are you will spend more time that day on the train than you will in Bolzano.

Vienna is about a 3 hour ride on the quickest connections. Some of the trains stop more often and take longer.
Coming back there is a train at 19:34 that makes a quick trip in 2:43.

The later trains are a little slower, thus delaying your return to Salzburg.
You can check all of these schedules out on the Deutsche Bahn web site or the Austrian site: www.oebb.at

Salzburg to Munich - that's a day-trip, yes, with frequent trains. Salzburg to Vienna - that's marginal, you'll spend a lot of time on the train. Salzburg to Bozen/Bolzano - that's IMHO definitely too far for a day-trip.

Thank you all for your responses. If there are any more feel free to tell me what you think. To be honest with you..the entire day trip to Bolzano is personally just what I and the family want. We look forward to seeing the sights from the train along the way. The 5 hours or so in Bolzano is sufficient to us. It's the adventure of getting there that's as much as the end result. So, that's really not an issue. I'm more looking at what it the least expensive route to these places. I appreciate all of the input so far.

Austriabound: I share your disdain of advice, however well intended as most Fodorite comments i read, to scale down your day trip to Bolzano - like you for moi it's the journey itself not just the destination that makes my day. Nothing i like better than sitting on a train as the scenery passes by and also watching the other folks on the train. Not boring at all - rather be doing this than visiting some boring museum or another bloody church. Go for it.

You can do the Bozen trip in one day.
If you want more than a whiff of the city, and the museum that is the home of Ötzi the Iceman, you will need an early start.

The first train leaves Salzburg at the bright and early time of 6:23 and gets into Innsbruck at 8:30. You have a wait of almost an hour before the Bozen express chugs in to leave at 9:26.
It arrives in Bozen at 11:29.

Because the section between Innsbruck and Bozen is spectacular as you descend the Brenner Pass, I suggest strongly that you reserve window seats. This particular train is the Ec train from Munich to Verona and it is likely to be full of people.

The next train from Salaburg to Bozen leaves at 9:03 and arrives in Bozen at at 13:29. It is if memory serves me correctly this train is the Michaelangelo between Munich and Rome with stops in Firenze and Bologna. So you can bet on it being full of people as well.

If you take the 9:03, you will not have quite as much time to look around Bozen, but you should have time to say hello to Ötzi before taking the 16:31 or the 18:31 back to Salzburg. If you miss the 18:31, the next one is at 2 am the next day.

In all cases you change in Innsbruck.

If you like to ride trains this should give you a day of it. The return trains have restaurant cars and on each return leg you have about 2 hours in which to eat.

You should see a lot of hills go by as you ride along. Innsbruck itself is in a deep valley with a steep ridge rising to the north. The Brenner Pass is one of the few chinks in the mountain fortress that is level enough to allow a train to pass with out incredibly long tunnels.

OOPS. You board the Michelangelo in Innsbruck. I did not edit quite carefully enough and I think I implied you leave Salzburg on the Michaelangelo. Not quite the case.

But the trains leaving Salzburg are the main connections via Innsbruck to western Austria.

Thank you PalQ and Bob. I appreciate all of you input! After reading these over with my husband, I believe we have now changed our minds about taking the train to Bolzano and to Vienna. He wishes to drive. This way we can get an earlier start and sightsee along the way if desired. I still feel the Bayern Pass is the best way to go to Munich from Salzburg. I've read now several places that you can indeed use this pass from Salzburg to Munich using the DB ticket location at the Salzburg train station.

Yes, the Bayern pass will cover you from Salzburg, and can even be bought at the DB vending machines, in case you leave early and there is nobody at the station yet.

If nice Alpine scenery is what you're looking for, I can recommend a drive along Austria's talles mountain, the Grossglockner. The road is actually well known and well-traveled, but it is well worth it (it's called Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse). It's also closer to Salzburg than the other options.

http://www.grossglockner.at/

The rail line from Salzburg to Munich is run by the Deutsche Bahn. The DB even has a separate ticket window in the Salzburg main station.

In terms of the Bayern ticket, Kufstein and Salzburg are included even though they are technically within Austria.

The Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse is one of the more spectacular drives I have taken. The Franz Josef obervation tower in the national park area that overlooks the glacier and the Grossglockner peak itself are at the western end of the spur road.
If you stay on the main route you end up in Heiligenblut, which is a very pleasant mountain town. It is small, but pretty.

We stayed there 3 nights a few years ago and enjoyed our visit very much.