Cross Border Train Travel
 

Hi - In a couple of weeks I will be travelling from Venice to Vienna (Sunday) and Vienna to Prague (Wednesday.) I wanted some advice on purchasing train tickets online vs. same day at the station. I saw quite a few postings that leaned to purchasing when I'm there but they were all in reference to travelling within the same country. Any advice on cross-border train tickets?

If you buy your tickets at the station the day that you need them, you will pay a premium price. Buy your tickets way before you need to avoid excessive charges. You can usually go to the stations and buy them in advance.

Since you are traveling prior to summer my experience is that you don't need reservasions way in advance. When you arrive in Venice buy your ticket to Vienna and thus when you arrive in Vienna buy it for Prague. Unless you speak the local language I would print out the train schedule for the day you want to travel , circle the train you want and hand it to the person at the ticket counter. Saves lots of time.

Train ticket prices will not fluctuate like airline tickets. They are set for most journeys and the price you see on each country's website will also be the walk-up price. There are a few special discounts for some routes you can purchase in advance until sold out. When trying to purchase tickets online for between country travel, you have to purchase from the country of departure because they will not mail tickets to the US and you must pick up the ticket in country of departure. The Italian train company, Trenitalia, will not process US credit cards online.

You can purchase in advance from some resellers (RailEurope, etc), but they either markup the tickets or charge a hefty mailing fee.

I would also look at the budget airlines. Air Berlin flies Venice/Vienna.
http://www.whichbudget.com/

You can buy ALL your tickets at the train station at the same time..do it that way.

Check Venice - Vienna closely- day transfers include a bus transfer Venice - Villach Austria then train Villach - Vienna.

Please do not buy from Rail Europe - the price is often very high when compared to direct purchase.
Numerous discount train tickets can be purchased in advance -numbers are limited- 19 - 39 euro- but these are fixed to a specific train and time-

check under Sparschiene ticket
at

www.oebb.at

Thank you very much Everyone for your great advice!! I did catch that there was a bus transfer from Venice ;-)
I think I will go ahead and wait to book the tix when I arrive in Italy vs. online in advance.
Many thanks!