EandM

I'm traveling to Austria and Czech Republic next week and am planning on taking trains to get around. I haven't bought any tickets yet and I am trying to figure out -
1) Can I buy tickets in advance online?
2) Is it advisable to buy tickets in advance to get a seat?
3) If you don't buy tickets in advance how do you buy them once you arrive? i.e. automated kiosk vs. ticket counter And will the lines be long?

Also, what is the difference between a ticket and a seat reservation? Do I need to have both for any of these trains? (I don't want to have to stand) I think most of these are regional trains if that makes a difference.

Thanks so much for any help you can give!

PalenQ

A ticket in those countries does not guarantee a seat - you pay extra for a seat reservation, which is optional - it would be rare that trains are so crowded you'd have to stand and I guess one way to be sure of that is to pay a bit extra for first class - in decades of incessant riding trains in Europe with a first-class railpass I have only on rare occasions not found lots of empty seats in first class - 2nd class can be full but you soon will get seats at the next station when others depart.

Do not worry about getting on trains - there may or may not be long lines at ticket windows - and there usually are machines that may or may not take American credit or debit cards - windows will take them but some machines require a security thread many American cards lack - not sure currently about those two countries.

If buying at a window have everything written out - number of passengers (names not required) - destination - train departure time, 1st or 2nd class, etc - many train station clerks speaks some English and it is rarely a problem but in any case write out exactly what you want from online schedules.

You can buy tickets for Austria in advance that many be significantly cheaper than just showing up - they are sold in limited numbers and should be booked far in advance to guarantee and often cannot be changed nor refunded. Savings for Czech tickets are minimal as train fares there are so so cheap even on a walk up basis.

regional trains often do not even take reservations - what exactly are you proposed train trips?

For lots of great info on trains in those countries check out these IMO fantastic sites - www.seat61.com - good info on discounted tickets; and http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id33.html; and www.ricksteves.com.

For schedules I always use the German Railways official site - www.bahn.de/en as it has info (but not pricing) for trains in all of Europe - copy down the info from it to take to ticket windows.

so you need not do any advance planning or purchases to get on trains but it could in the case of Austria save you money on fast trains but not on regional trains.

EandM

Thanks PalenQ!

Here is some more information that might help.

Trips I need train tickets for:
-Vienna to Krems (or better yet Durnstein as the final destination)
-Krems to St. Polten
-Linz (Austria) to Cesky Krumlov (Czech Republic)
-Cesky Krumlov to Prague

I have been using http://www.oebb.at/en/ to look at prices of tickets in Austria. I haven't found a site with ticket prices for the Czech Republic.

For the Krems to St. Polten I could buy a ticket at oebb, but while I can see the train schedule for the Linz to Cesky Krumlov trip instead of having a price for the ticket it says "Not Available" for all the different options. Does this mean all the trains are sold out? Or that you just can't buy tickets in advance? I was wondering if the problem might be related to the starting and end point being in different countries?

CharlotteK

Czech train schedules & fares can be found here:
http://www.cd.cz/en/default.htm

When you get into the site you may need to click on the "en" in the language choice at the top right of the screen to keep seeing English results.

I haven't traveled in the CzR in about 10 years but I just bought tickets at the station, as PalenQ suggests. I only bought seat reservations when I was going to Vienna and Dresden (two different trips). Say "na okno" for a window seat.

PalenQ

Some folks say a direct bus between Linz and Cesky Krumlov is quicker and just as cheap or cheaper but I have no info on the bus. There are no direct trains either I believe as C Krumlov is on a dead-end spur side rail line I believe (not sure).

But all those trains are yes regional trains that you will get little or no discount on buying in advance and which you can easily do once there.

EandM

Thanks!

The Czech site will give me the cost of a ticket from České Budějovice » Český Krumlov, but not from Linz to České Budějovice. How do I find the price of a ticket that crosses an international border?

I would like to compare the price of a train ticket to taking a shuttle.

spaarne

<i>Please Help! Purchasing train tickets in Austria and Czech Republic
Posted by: EandM on Aug 19, 13 at 12:18pm
I'm traveling to Austria and Czech Republic next week and am planning on taking trains to get around. I haven't bought any tickets yet and I am trying to figure out -</i>

For an illustrated introduction to riding the trains in Europe see http://tinyurl.com/eym5b. As PalenQ says, write your destination on a piece of paper and show it to the clerk at a ticket window, along with the number of tickets and time you wish to go. Schedules are posted in the stations.

Cowboy1968

Vienna-Krems and Krems-St. Pölten are both connections with regional trains only.
You can't reserve seats on regional trains, and you won't get a discount for buying in advance as for long distance connections/trains.

Just check which station in Vienna your chosen connection starts from (probably Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof) and get your tickets at the station.
Same for Krems- St.Pölten.

EandM

Thanks everyone!

I just realized that the train from Ceske Budejovice to Prague is not a regional train and that seats can be reserved. We are traveling that route on a Sunday. Is the recommendation to not worry about reserving a seat and that I don't need to buy the ticket in advance?

PalenQ

the worst that could happen would be you'd have to go first class if all the seats in 2nd class were full - again unless reservations are required and I believe they are not you can always board and sooner or later seats will become empty - but to be 100% sure IME of years of traveling first class on European trains to find not just a few but usually many empty seats and in the Czech Republic with train fares being so cheap just pay the extra few crowns or whatever currency they are now using. And the train probably starts near Csecky so unlikely to be crowded until it nears Prague - IME most locals do not reserve seats on trains like that.

spaarne

The DB site says that reservations are optional. The R on the DB site for these trains indicates a Regional train, I believe. I would do as PalenQ suggests. Heck, upgrading to 1st class is better than spending the money for a seat reservation in 2nd class. If the train is full and you notice that someone has parked their luggage on a seat ask them to move it. Luggage belongs in the overhead racks or someplace else on the train.

PalenQ

reservations being optional means just that - does not mean suggested or recommended - DB site has a separate thing in red for trains with optional reservations but which are likely to be popular - and with a 2nd class ticket on most trains in most countries you can if you want if 2nd class is a ZOO simply move to first class and pay the different between the normal fares to the conductor on the train - not always but as a rule of thumb that is usually IME what is possible - so you can hedge your bets - but really the different on that train between 1st and 2nd class should be cheap pricewise so splurge and put all worries to rest.