Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date
When booking tickets for this journey, look for the trains which typically depart Bologna daily at around 07:45 and 11:52 and on Mon -Friday only at around 15:50.
It can be worth comparing prices on the OBB website with the other websites on which this journey can be booked; these trains are operated by OBB.
Booking with OBB
The discounted tickets are the 'Sparscheine' tickets and they can be booked online up until the day of departure, but they CAN'T be booked at stations, so booking last minute at the station is always more expensive.
Though you'll usually need to book the 'Sparscheine' tickets at least a couple of days ahead to obtain them at the cheapest possible price
It can pay off to take a look at the guide to Austrian train tickets - it should help you save time and money and confusion.
- Sparscheine tickets = cannot be refunded or exchanged at all.
- Standard-Ticket = can be cancelled and obtain a full refund at any time pre-travel date.
Instead of an Exchange policy the idea is that once a Standard ticket has been refunded, an alternative ticket can then be purchased.
Booking with Trenitalia
The discounted tickets are the 'Europa 1 tickets', but they cannot be exchanged and refunded.
The more expensive 'Standard tickets' can be refunded.
Seat Reservations:
When booking tickets online on OBB a €3 price will be added to the shopping basket and you need to accept this price.
It is the cost of the mandatory seat reservation that is required when travelling by these trains from Austria into Italy.
Child tickets - booking with OBB
When booking 'Sparschiene' tickets each adult (aged 15 and over) can take up to four children aged 14 and under for free!
These children will still require tickets, but there will be no charge for them.
When not booking 'Sparschiene' tickets;
- Children aged 5 and under travel for free
- Children aged 6 – 14 travel at half-fare
Note that when booking with Trenitalia, there is seemingly no cheaper child rate on its discounted Europa tickets.
Its more expensive Standard Tickets will be discounted by 50%, so booking with OBB is the cheaper option.
Bike tickets - booking with OBB
You will need purchase both a bike ticket AND a reservation for your bike prior to boarding; more info on how to do this is available on the [bikes on trains guide](/travel-info-and-tips/taking-a-bike-on-a-european-train/).
Dog tickets - booking with OBB
If your dog is too large to be taken in a pet carrier you will need to add a dog ticket when making your booking;
Using rail passes:
When travelling on this Brenner over the Austria / Italy border paying a 'supplement' is required [when using 'global' Eurail or InterRail passes]https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/reservations/trains-with-additional-supplements).
The fees for the supplement are €15 in 1st class and €10 in 2nd class.
However, the supplement is not a seat reservation.
You can purchase the supplements on the Eurail reservation service or the InterRail reservation service and the seat reservation will also be included - though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.
Book the supplements for journeys to Italy by these trains, at the Reisezentrum desk at Innsbruck Hbf (or at any hauptbahnhof in Austria).
and you won't be charged a booking fee, but will also have to pay seat reservation charges of €3.50 in both 1st class and 2nd class.
OBB sells the supplements for these trains online, but the supplement is charged separately to the seat reservation, so you need to proactively also add the seat reservation when booking- and pay the additional cost of €3.50 in both 1st class and 2nd class.
Or you can board the train, find an available seat and then buy the supplement from the train conductor, but when doing so there is an additional charge of €5.
Though if you'll be happy to make connections on a longer end-to-end journeys, it's usually comparatively straightforward to avoid travelling to and from Italy on these trains.
There are alternative journey options when travelling to Austria or Germany from Bologna, or from Venice/Venezia.
And when travelling in the opposite direction from Munich and Innsbruck.
