rebgav

My spouse and I are planning a trip from Vienna to Venice in mid-June. We have 6 days and are looking for the best route and suggestions for time spent in each place and traveling in between.

Is there anyone with advice on traveling via train or renting a car and driving the trip?

annhig

you could drive in about 6 hours [plus time for stops] which when you take account of the amount of time you need to get to the airport, check in, then deal with immigration and customs the other end etc is probably not a lot slower than flying, plus you could stop off en route - Villach is about ½ way but I can't tell you if it's worth seeing.

The train takes longer and there are at least 2-3 stops so I wouldn't bother with that unless you're a train buff.

personally I would drive, do it in a day, and spend the whole time in Venice, but flying would also be good.

Sue_xx_yy

Visit bahn.de, plug in an English speaking country, and use their trip planner.

You don't mention if this is a one-way trip or if you are doing it round trip from Vienna, I will assume the latter.

The route that offers the most flexibility in terms of choosing itineraries takes you west to Innsbruck, then south to Verona, then east to Venice (Venezia Santa Lucia station.)

It is a long run by train, about 4 hours to Innsbruck, and then another 5 hours or so to Venice.

According to google maps, if you drive it is about 6 hours. Realistically the actual time taken would be longer than this traffic, getting gas, stops etc.) And then there's the headache of finding parking near Venice (I have heard it is very expensive.) Don't attempt to do a one-way car rental, international drop off charges are horrendous.

With only six days (including travel?) if you can afford it, consider flying. Otherwise you spend 1- 2 days out of your 6 traveling in each direction.

When we did this (one way only, in the reverse direction), we stopped in Verona (1 night) Innsbruck (1) - picked up a car and drove to Salzburg (2) and then Melk (1) - which is 5 nights already - before pulling into Vienna to drop the car and 4 more nights.

Bon voyage.

bvlenci

Reading your question, I assumed that the six days were just for the drive, and didn't include time in Vienna and Venice. It seems that others understood it differently. You should clarify it.

annhig

bvl - I may well have misunderstood - it wouldn't be the first time!

rebgav

Thank you for the suggestions! To clarify, the full trip would be 6 days, including time in Venice (thinking 3 days), departing from Venice on the 6th day. We would have already spent 2 full days in Vienna.

PalenQ

Dropping a rental car off in one country from which you have rented it in can result in predatory dropo-off fees so check that before driving.

And consider the train as cars are useless in Venice, obviously, and the direct train route Vienna to Venice is one of the most scenic in Europe - for lots on European trains check: www.seat61.com (great info on how to nab discounted tickets on that route from Austrian Railways which I believe runs the trains which once again run direct after a few years where there was often a change to bus at Villach, the Italian border; and check www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com for general info.

If not on a starvation budget go first class - much more relaxed, especially for those carrying bags around. www.oebb.com should have the schedules and fares including discounted ones which do have to be booked way in advance to guarantee as they are sold in limited numbers and are also typically non-refundable non-changeable so be sure of your dates but can save a lot off regular fully-flexible fares.

annhig

Pal - i could only find trains that required changes - 2 or 3 - which seemed a lot in a journey like this.

With "only" 6 days for the whole trip, I would get the train, stay in Venice for the whole time, and then fly on from there.

tom_mn

www.seat61.com has TERRIBLE advice about nabbing discounted tickets on the Austrian railways. They go one sale 6 months in advance, not 3 as seat61 states.

Sue_xx_yy

OP - Okay, so what you are saying is you can give three days to travel (max) since you want a minimum of three days in Venice, from which you are flying home (?)

The train route via Villach from Vienna requires a virtually compulsory stay overnight in Villach; easy enough to get to Villach from Venice (leave 08:22, arrive 12:46) but going from Villach to Venice on a decent train means taking one the next morning leaving 10:50 arriving 14:01 (overall, about 7.5 hours of actual train travel.) The other options according to bahn.de are absolutely awful, too long, too many changes.

OR you could go to Salzburg on your first day (2.5 hours), overnight there and then the next day take a train Salzburg-Villach-Vienna; one of the better options leaves Salzburg 08:12 arrive Villach 10:43; quick 7 minute change to the train Villach-Venice leaving 10:50 arriving 14:01. (Check these times for your exact dates, they might vary slightly.)

You could spend extra time in Salzburg and take the train to Venice on the third day.

I don't know Villach at all, but we have seen Salzburg as I indicated above, it's quite charming.

fourfortravel

We drove our personal vehicle from Vienna to Venice last fall, leaving on a Saturday morning free of inclement weather, and the drive, including one stop, road construction, etc., took ~6 hours. The route is very straightforward; in Austria a vignette will be necessary, and in Italy the tolls can be paid with credit card or cash.

As of this morning, Autoeurope is quoting $131 for a one-way midsize rental with convenient pick-up in Vienna city.

Another advantage of traveling in mid-June is that European school children will not yet be on summer break, so the holiday traffic will be lighter.

bvlenci

Salzburg would be a good stopover. If you'll have three nights there, you could spend one day visiting the beautiful Salzkammergut, a region of lakes and castles and charming little towns (such as Hallstatt). If you'll have a car, you might even want to stay in that region and visit Salzburg itself one day by train.

PalenQ

Pal - i could only find trains that required changes - 2 or 3 - which seemed a lot in a journey like this.>

Me too - I had read I think in Seat 61 but not sure that the old direct EC trains that went right from Vienna via Villach to Venice were being re-instated and once when I looked last fall they had been - still took 7 hours or so but now I can only find like you say ones via Innsbruck with 2 or 3 changes of train and taking over 9 hours.

But for April when I checked there were connections with only one change and not via Innsbruck but changing to a bus at Villach like had been the case for a few years but still took 9 hrs +.

The only direct train and the quickest at just over 7 hours actually is the direct overnight train - if thye wanted to go straight thru that could be the most time savings and cheapest figuring they would not have to pay for a hotel that night - but then they see little of the fab scenery on the direct route.

If going later in the year I would keep checking to see what trains are running at a better route and speed.