Nuttela

I did a whole search and read a bunch of posts about this topic. I am still very confused what the best route for me and what I should do. I apologize for the repetiveness, but I am looking for the best situation.

I won't be going on my trip until end of August...which is probably hard to plan for since you can't order anything this early. For those who have done this trip. What website did you use to book your trains? Also, how realistic is it to get one of the discounted tickets on trenitalia.com?

I apologize again for being so repetitive.

Thanks in advance.

tcreath

I rarely use the trenitalia sight because I find it difficult to navigate. I always suggest the German rail sight, bahn.de, for most of Europe.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Most of the trains are long (8 hours or over) so I would suggest an overnight train.

Tracy

TimS

I did a dummy booking for the Vienna-Venice night train on both trenitalia.com and oebb.at (Austrian rail) for 12 August. I would have been able to get a discounted ticket and I could have printed it myself on the Austrian rail site. I didn't try booking either of the fastest day routes (departure at 06:30 or 15:30).

ira

Hi N,

For August, I suggest taking the night train, as the scenery will not be particularly beautiful.

You can book tickets on the 20:34 from Vienna to Venezia San Lucia (Arr 08:45)

A T4 couchette is 110E, a T3 sleeper is 110E. I recommend this one.

1cl Single is 170E, dbl is 140E pp.

You can start practicing now.

TimS

For clarification: I also could have gotten the same discounted ticket on the Trenitalia site and had it mailed to me.

TimS

I found discounted fares at both oebb.at and trenitalia.com:
T6 couchette - E49.00
T4 couchette - E59.00
T3 sleeper - E69.00

PalQ

RailEurope has $25 daytime fares on many trains between Italy and Germany, Austria and Switzerland - matching the PREM tickets on sale in Europe or online. They do charge a $15 booking fee per order however and a mailing fee. I recommend BETS (800-441-2387), a RE agent i've always used and they don't charge some of RE's mailing fees. Check www.raileurope.com for fares - the $25 appears quite regularly. Not sure if discount for night trains thru RailEurope.

Nuttela

Wow those are very comprehensive answers...and I appreciate it greatly. It is good to know that people can still be very helpful. I didn't realize these discounts are also on other sights.

btw...tcreath - I agree trenitalia site is very hard to navigate.

And to the rest of you, thanks again for helping me out. I think I can finally put this question to rest.

Thanks again.