terpatin

Four of us (all adults) want to travel by train from Salzburg to Florence on Sunday, September 22. We prefer purchasing tickets before leaving the States and wonder if any one site is preferable to others or, on the other hand, if we should wait until we are in Austria to buy them.

We prefer frst class seats and one of us has found fares of $280 per person through Eurail.

Suggestions and advice will be very much appreciated.

PalenQ

For the Italian portion check www.trenitalia.com - the official Italian Railways site - can nab discounted tickets if you are fine with non-changeable non-refundable tickets that to get as they are sold in limited numbers weeks if not months in advance - some as low as 9 euros from Verona to Florence - take an Austrian train to Verona - www.oebb.com I think if the Austrian Railways site but that ticket should be not that much if you just wait to Austria - you usually have to change at Verona anyway - check www.trenitalia.com for full fare - $280 p p seems very high - even in first class - which IMO and IME is well worth the extra money - pay no attention to those who say there is very little difference as IMO they have never ridden first class to say such a thing! (2nd class is not a cattle car but first class in many ways much more relaxed).

Scour these sites for lots of info on European trains - www.budgeteuropetravel.com (if having to buy a ticket from a U.S. agent if you can't get the trenitalia.com site to work as many cannot at first encounter then call Byron here for a quote - I have bought passes from him for years and he'll find the best price - but again the best prices are on www.trenitalia.com - often significantly cheaper than tickets thru RailEurope (perhaps the Eurail site you quote at $280?; and www.seat61.com (great info on discounted tickets) and www.ricksteves.com.)

And at full price have NO worries about buying those tickets, especially in first class, once in Austria.

Cowboy1968

First you go to www.oebb.at (not .com!)
Put Salzburg-Florence and the correct date in the search boxes - and click on "buy tickets".
In the shown results you click on "details" of those connections that fit your time schedule.
Not all connections offer a choice of 1st and 2nd class, though, some are 2nd class only.
Once you opened those "details" you see another link within to "fare details".
Here you will see clearly marked how far the Austrian Rail (ÖBB) ticket will take you into Italy.
It's where the leg on the last train which originated still in Austria ends and where you change to "intra Italy" trains - usually in Venice or Bologna, depending on the routing.

The remaining "intra-Italy" leg of your journey, you can purchase seperately on trenitalia's website.

There is a huge difference in costs between 1st and 2nd class: You can go for as little as €222 to Venice (ALL 4 of you, not per person) in 2nd class, or for almost €600 in 1st.
You and your travel companions will have to judge if that difference is really worth paying up to 3 times the 2nd class fare. (Reason is that in 2nd class you still get discounted fares, while those are not available in 1st)

If Venice is also on your itinerary, it is easier to get there from Salzburg first. Just one change and you get the whole ticket from ÖBB's website.

PalenQ

Cowboy gives great info but it's Florence they are going to not Venice! and to get from Salzburg to Florence you would never 'change in Venice' - slips of the keyboard I think with otherwise such great great info.

terpatin

Thank you PalenQ and Cowboy for the good information A cursory search shows we can save over $100 per couple by booking through the Austrian and Italizn tran systems rather than Eurail. We'll toast the two of you while we're enroute!

Cowboy1968

I would have expected that all connections go via Rosenheim-Innsbruck-Brenner-Verona but many actually send you by train to Villach and with ÖBB bus to Venice Mestre and again train to Florence. Somewhat odd, but in fact the cheapest connections if I remember correctly. And only a few minutes longer than the "fastest" rail-only connection, and faster than many other "rail-only" connections.
Actually, it's a really long (8hrs+) trip any way - but there are no real alternatives as you cannot fly from Salzburg to Florence, nor is there a long-distance coach connection.

PalenQ

and even the overnight train is a poor option because you take a regular train to Villach and join the Vienna-Florence night train there but at well after midnight - there are direct night trains to Florence from Innsbruck, just a few hours away or from Vienna but not Salzburg - Salzburg has a night train to Venice I believe that goes direct but not Florence as I earlier stated - except via the awful IMO change at Villach due to the late hour.

kybourbon

Typically you need to buy a crossborder ticket from the country you are departing. You would buy a Salzburg departure ticket from oebb the Austrian train company. That site may only show prices or allow purchase to the first connecting city in Italy (looks like Venice if you only want one change). Sometimes you can buy the entire route. If not, you would buy your Venice/Florence ticket from the Italian train company Trenitalia.

asps

A possible alternative is a bus shuttle to Munich airport, where there are several flights every day to Florence.
Try to avoid the itinerary through Villach; both in Villach and Venice you would have two 5 minutes walks between the train stations and the bus stops.

Man_in_seat_61

OPTION 1: By City Night Line sleeper train, departing Rosenheim (located between Munich and Salzburg) at 21:42, arriving Florence SMN 06:18.

You'd catch a local train Salzburg-Rosenheim to pick it up.

Book Rosenheim to Florence from €69 with a bunk in a 4-berth couchette or from €104 with a bed in a 2-bed sleeper, breakfast included, shower at the end of the corridor, at www.bahn.de/en. You print your own ticket.

OPTION 2: By daytime train, changing at Innsbruck & Verona.

Go to www.oebb.at (Austrian Railways) and book Salzburg to Verona with 'Innsbruck' in the via box. Fares from €39, you print your own ticket. It's a lovely scenic run through the Brenner Pass with (perhaps) lunch in the dining-car, see the video I took at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uucEm3op7uc

Allow 45 min in Verona, then book Verona to Florence from €19 at www.trenitalia.com.

asps

If changing in Verona, please note most trains go to Firenze Campo di Marte station, not to SMN (main station).

PalenQ

Florence's Campo di Marte station is however a much calmer station than hectic Santa Maria Novella, the main station and just as close to many hotels - about a mile tops from the historic city center and the Duomo.