Ok...my brain hurts. I am trying to find info on a train from Venice, Italy to Vienna, Austria. In order to combine a long travel with need for sleep, I would like to get a sleeper car for 4 leaving in the late evening and arriving in the morning. I've been working on this for a while and have received advice but now that it is getting closer (Apr) my brain may be melting down.

I have been told that it is better to wait and buy the tickets from the station before departure as opposed to buying them online before I leave home. True?

If I wait until minutes before departure will it be difficult to get a sleeper for 4?

Is there an official website (not an agent) where I can check to find which trains have sleepers and what the ticket cost will be at the station?

I have never ridden a train except from the Airport in Rome so I am still a little unfamiliar with train travel.

That brings up another question. Do you check your luggage on a train just like an airline or do you have to drag it with you?

For a night train, I would reserve in advance. Could you not get reservations as soon as you arrive in Italy?
You do not need to be physically in Venice to purchase the tickets.

I suggest you take a look at the Austrian ÖBB website. Here is the link for the English version of the scheduler:
http://www.oebb.at/vip8/oebb/en/index.jsp

When asking you need to use Venedig for Venice and Wien for Vienna. Those are the German terms.

I do not know if the Austrian rail service would send the tickets to you are not. I have had no experience with that.

You are usually responsible for your own luggage. I take my own on all train trips in Europe. After I board, I find a place to put it.

If you reserve, I strongly recommend that you DO NOT get a couchette. Those are often like sleeping on a slab. I tried it once and swore never again. And so far I haven't.

One draw back to the sleepr trains is that they are very slow. Of course, if you are asleep, who cares. On the other hand, I prefer to see where I am going.

As an added note, there is an email service for the tickets, but unfortunately once you get to the ticket buying stage, the instructions are in German. I can figure it out, but only with the aid of a dictionary.

The rail scheduler will at least show you the timetables and allow you to see what is available.

Perhaps someone else has a better idea.

Hi S,

You can buy your tickets online in English, as early as 60 days in advance, at www.trenitalia.com.

You have to register.

If you are going in the Spring, I recommend taking the day train. The scenery is gorgeous.

You drag your luggage with you!

You could buy tickets and make a reservation by going to the train station a few days before you plan to travel.

You have a choice of two trains. One leaves at 8:44 p.m. and travelling an indirect route via Salzburg gets to Vienna at 8:30 a.m.

Another night train, which leaves the Venice Mestre station at 1:22 a.m. and takes a more direct route, arrives in Vienna at 8:42 a.m.

Although advance reservations are not usually necessary for a daytime train, if you want to assure yourself a sleeper (especially if your travel is close to Easter) then I would recommend that you reserve.

Ok and if I want to use the "central" train stations in each city I would use the Venezia Mestre and the Wien City right?

Also if I want a sleeper car for 4, we should be alone in that room? If I book 4 tickets they won't put 2 of us in a room with other travelers and 2 of us in a room with still others?

Another question. When I go to buy them it asks for class 1 or 2. Are there major differences between the two and can I even fit 4 people in a sleeper?

When I go to buy the tickets I only see single sleeper, double sleeper, and T3 sleeper. What do these mean? I see Coachette Comfort 4 Global. Does that mean 4 in a room?

Also I have 2 adults, 1 15yr, and 1 13yr. That falls into 3 different categories but it tells me I can only choose a maximum of 2 categories. Do I just bump the 13yr from "child" to "youth".

Sorry for all the questions but I would hate to get there and have to deal with it on vacation.

Do they have a section on the trenitalia website that gives descriptions of all of the categories?

I believe that the central train station in Venice is Venezia Santa Lucia, not Venezia Mestre. If you book your tickets all at once for a 1st class four-person couchette, you should all be assigned to the compartment. Sorry, I can't answer your other questions.

Mestre isn't the central station, it's the last on the mainland before you get to Venice proper, but some of the international trains only run through there (it's about 10 minutes and a euro from Venice proper, though). If you get 4 tickets with reservations, you'll be together. It should tell you how many people are in the sleeper (if not, seat61.com should), and, from what I've heard, there's not much difference between 1st & 2nd sleepers (it is possible, though, that your train won't have 4-person cabins, in which case you'd probably be best off getting 2 2-person ones). The couchette definitely is 4 (or 6) in a room, though the bunks are less comfortable, and, if you don't fill the room, you'll be with strangers. Not sure about the child/youth part, sorry.

The couchette have 4 or 6 person versions. I think the 4-bed version would work reasonably for a family, though the beds won't exactly be plush. I don't think you can book further out than 60 days. The trenitalia site, though awkward at times, should give you some ideas. There are sometimes advance purchase discounts (non-refundable), which would not likely be available if you buy at the station.

If you buy your tickets when you are in Venice, I would suggest getting them a day or two ahead (the Venice Santa Lucia station is conveniently located).

It is a pity you cant take the trip during the day, as Ira suggests. The trip through the Brenner Pass is famous for its scenery.

The usual day route with through trains from Venice to Vienna runs through Klagenfurt and takes 7 hours. To see the Brenner Pass on a trip from Venice to Vienna you would change trains at Innsbruck on a journey of 11 or 12 hours. On this route you have restaurant cars on all trains excerpt those out of Venice. Venice Santa Lucia 0852 Mondays to Fridays, Verona 1042 to 1101, Innsbruck 1433 to 1535 (one of you has the bags and a newspaper and the others a quick walk about town), Vienna West 2035. Saturdays and Sundays leave Venice at 0752 for Verona at 0916. Or Venice Santa Lucia 1052, buffet car, Verona 1216 to 1301, Innsbruck 1633 to 1702, Vienna West 2148. This much longer route includes glorious Alps, views of great engineering in tunnels and loops, views of the rich meadowlands of upper Bavaria 50 minutes north of Innsbruck, and a glimpse of the great abbey of Melk 100 minutes before Vienna. For the last you would dine in the restaurant car, facing the engine, on the left, and ask the waiter at 1900 or 2000 to point out the abbey.
The only differences in sleepers are that first class gives you one or two berths to a compartment, while second (called T3) gives you three. You cannot fit four into a sleeper, but you can into a couchette on the train from Venice to Vienna, in Comfort 4 Global. The beds in a couchette compartment are a few inches narrower than those in sleepers. Sleepers give you a washbasin in your compartment: couchettes not. In couchettes you would have the whole compartment. In sleepers three of you would share, and the fourth, the most adventurous, would share with two strangers of the same sex. I am afraid I cannot say how to book three categories in the Italia online system, but for these quite high fares I think you should pay 15 dollars or so extra to book through agents in Florida or Britain, who can of course cope. You can send e mails and phone calls to three or four agents for estimates and bookings for the rail fares. For international tickets, berths and seats Trainseurope are ten percent cheaper than German Rail UK or Ffestiniog Travel. For domestic Italian trains they are cheaper again. German Rail UK are cheaper than Trainseurope or Ffestiniog Travel for domestic trains within Germany and may be competitive with them for international trips with a big proportion of miles in Germany.

Euraide in Florida, E-mail [email protected]. Phone 1 941-480-1555. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...e/homepage.htm, fax 1 941-480-1522

Trainseurope Ltd, of Cambridgeshire and London, E-mail [email protected]. Phone 00 44 900 195 0101 http://www.trainseurope.co.uk/ -

Ffestiniog Travel of Wales, E-mail [email protected], phone 00 44 176 651 2400 site http://www.festtravel.co.uk,

Inside France (Canterbury). E-mail [email protected]/. Or booking form on site www.rail-canterbury.co.uk/. Phone 0044 1227 450088.

German Rail UK in Surbiton. Phone 0044 8702 43 53 63, E-mail: [email protected] http://www.deutsche-bahn.co.uk,

Railwise Ltd. E-mail: [email protected]/. 3rd Floor, 26 Gray's Inn Road London WC1X 8HR Phone 0044 207-242-1490. Fax: 0044 207-242-1518. Site http://railwise.com/

Ben Haines, London
[email protected]

The day train that leaves early from Venice Santa Lucia at 6:44 has the shortest travel time. It takes a route through Udine and Villach which are nowhere near the Brenner Pass.
That really is a round about way to get to Vienna.

The night trains don't go through Innsbruck either. They go through Villach and then to Salzburg on one route and through Ljubljana on another.

Also, if there is an English version of the ticket ordering process on the Austrian site, I cannot find it. I was in the "Englisch" version, but when I clicked on order tickets, the screen went to the German mode.

On your arrival in Vienna, the train station depends on which train you take. Trains from the West, e.g. Salzburg, come into Vienna West. Trains from the south come into Vienna Süd. (As with many big European cities, there is more than 1 big train station in Vienna; a 3rd one is the Fran-Josef Bahnhof for the northern destinations.)

London for example has a huge collection. I don't think I found them all yet. Ben Haines probably knows them all by heart. I run out after Kings Cross, Waterloo, Euston, Charing Cross, Victoria, Blackfriars, Liverpool St., St. Pancreas [sic] London Bridge, Cannon Street and Paddington.

Paris is easier, I know of only 6.
And Munich has only one main station, but a couple of smaller ones.
Getting ticket prices on International trains is difficult.