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How to take the rail journey from Hamburg to Innsbruck
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Hamburg to Innsbruck by train
The only direct daily train from northern Germany to The Tyrol is an overnight Nightjet service, but travelling through the day involves making a straightforward connection.
1: Take an ICE train from Hamburg to Munich
2: Take an EC train from Munich to Innsbruck
Routes you can take to go from Hamburg to Innsbruck
When travelling between most cities by train there is only one logical option, though on other journeys there is a choice between different trains or alternative routes. If different options are available you can use the info to decide which is best for you.
Choose one of the following options:
Looking for connections?
Route Information
Option 1: travelling direct overnight
Station Guides
Travel Time (approx)
12hr 45min
Frequency
Nightly
Travel Info
1 x train per night
Purchase Tickets
OBB Guide
OBB is the national rail operator and its booking service offers journeys by express trains within Austria, as well as international journeys which don't involve making a connection outside of Austria.
It pays off to book online, as the discounted 'Sparscheine' tickets are only ever made available on the website, and when making international journeys to and from Austria, these Sparscheine tickets tend to be cheaper.
OBB can offer particularly good value for money when travelling with children on international rail journeys, but something to watch out for when travelling between Austria and Germany on daytime trains, is that reservations are an optional extra; but if you book 1st class tickets with the Germany railways website DB, the reservations are complimentary.
OBB often takes a unique approach to its booking path, but a key thing to keep in mind is that the first price you will see for any journey is that of a Second Class seat.
The costs of upgrading to first class, a reservation, or a sleeping cabin etc, is then added to this price.
DB Bahn Guide
DB is the national railway operator in Germany, so its website can be used for booking journeys by German express trains; the ICE and IC trains and it doesn't charge booking fees.
It also sells tickets for journeys by direct trains on all international routes from Germany regardless of whether DB is operating the train service.
It also sells an extensive range of end-to-end journeys which involve making connections both within Germany and in neighboring countries, but journeys between Germany and Britain cannot be booked on DB.
A key feature of DB website worth keeping mind is that it offers 1st class ticket purchasers complimentary seat reservations on journeys both within and to/from Germany.
Seat reservations for daytime in both 1st and 2nd class can also be booked separately from tickets.
Travel Information
This train, the only direct train from Hamburg to Innsbruck, is usually scheduled to depart from Hamburg Hbf at 20:29 and arrive in Innsbruck at 09:14
Note that a train from Kobenhavn is due to arrive into Hamburg Hbf just after 20:00, but making a connection into this train to Innsbruck is not guaranteed.
Before arriving in Hamburg Hbf, the train will have departed from Hamburg-Altona at 20:11, and will have also called in Hamburg-Dammtor at 20:21
Final Destination: Innsbruck
Usual connections in Innsbruck
- 09:24 on to (Bologna at weekends) and Verona via Bolzano & Trento (if you will be travelling with an InterRail or Eurail pass, you can book this train and then swap your reservations to a later departure if need be, but avoid booking separate tickets for this train.
- 09:48 to Landeck and St Anton
- 11:24 to Bologna and Verona via Bolzano & Trento
This train also calls at: Kufstein, Worgl (connect in Worgl for Kirchberg, Kitzbuhel, St Johann and Zell am See) and Jenbach.
This is a direct journey
You will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
Good to Know
From December 10th the Nightjet 'new generation trains' will be operating on this route.
They will introduce multiple new features to European night travel - check the 'Train Guide' for more info.
For the part of the journey between Hamburg and Nurnberg, the coaches heading to Innsbruck will be joined to another part of the train which will be heading to Wien.
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open:
6 months ahead of the travel date on OBB
3 months ahead of the travel date on DB Bahn
The train conveys:
- Compartment Seats (Sitzwagen)
- Couchettes (Liegewagen); 4 berths AND 6 berths
- Standard sleeping cars (Schlafwagen) with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins
- Deluxe sleeping cars (Schlafwagen) with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins
The first price you will see on the OBB ticketing site will be for the compartment seats.
Click the train button above for more info including the rail pass reservation fees:
Rail pass users must reserve before boarding a Nightjet.
However, these rail pass reservations can NO longer be booked online the DB website, but you can now book rail pass reservations without paying booking fees on the OBB website (OBB operates these trains).
Though the process for doing so isn't particularly obvious, hence this step-by-step guide.
Route Information
Via stations: München Hbf/Munich main station
Option 2: by day and connecting in Munich
Station Guides
Travel Time (approx)
8hr 45mins (approx)
Frequency
Daily
Travel Info
5 x connections per day
Purchase Tickets
Exclusive for New Customers: Receive a 10% discount by using the code 24NOV on any purchase with a maximum total price of £100, until 28 November 2024 (11:59 pm CET). Limit one coupon per qualifying booking. Cannot be combined, transferred or exchanged.
Omio Guide
Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.
The three key advantages of using Omio are
- it offers prices in multiple currencies
- it usually offers price comparison with other modes of travel including flights and buses
- when visiting Europe, you can book journeys in multiple countries in one transaction.
The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Trainline ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option for: Comparing different train services; Booking international journeys with connections; Travelling between the UK to destinations beyond Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris - and for international travellers who don't reside in western Europe.
Trainline Guide
Other Ticket Providers
DB Guide
DB is the national railway operator in Germany, so its website can be used for booking journeys by German express trains; the ICE and IC trains and it doesn't charge booking fees.
It also sells tickets for journeys by direct trains on all international routes from Germany regardless of whether DB is operating the train service.
It also sells an extensive range of end-to-end journeys which involve making connections both within Germany and in neighboring countries, but journeys between Germany and Britain cannot be booked on DB.
On journeys within Germany and on most international journeys from and to Germany on trains operated by DB:
- For journeys by the express trains, EC. IC and ICE trains an adult (on German railways an adult is a person aged 15 and over) can take up to four children aged 6 - 14 with them at no additional charge.
- Tickets need to be booked for children aged 0 - 5, but there is no charge for them.
- Those aged 65 and over can take journeys at a discounted rate.
- Dogs, which are too large to be placed in pet carriers, require tickets which cost 50% of the adult rate.
When booking both types of the discounted 'Sparpreis' tickets seat reservations are an optional extra, so need to be added when booking if you want an assigned seat(s).
OBB Guide
OBB is the national rail operator and its booking service offers journeys by express trains within Austria, as well as international journeys which don't involve making a connection outside of Austria.
It pays off to book online, as the discounted 'Sparscheine' tickets are only ever made available on the website, and when making international journeys to and from Austria, these Sparscheine tickets tend to be cheaper.
OBB can offer particularly good value for money when travelling with children on international rail journeys, but something to watch out for when travelling between Austria and Germany on daytime trains, is that reservations are an optional extra; but if you book 1st class tickets with the Germany railways website DB, the reservations are complimentary.
OBB often takes a unique approach to its booking path, but a key thing to keep in mind is that the first price you will see for any journey is that of a Second Class seat.
The costs of upgrading to first class, a reservation, or a sleeping cabin etc, is then added to this price.
Travel Information
There are no direct daytime trains from Hamburg to Innsbruck, but Munchen Hbf enables step-free connections and the time between trains is usually between 25 and 30 minutes.
Though most the EC trains on to Innsbruck now typically leave from a part of the station, whuich is a couple of minutes walk from the main main concourse, by the far end of gleis (platform / track) 11.
This journey is made up of 1 change.
Train 1
Between Hamburg Hbf and München Hbf/Munich main stationYou will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final destination Munchen Hbf
Multiple different specific types of ICE train are used on this route, how to check which of them you will be travelling by is explained on the 'Trains Guide'
Departing from Hamburg:
Most of these trains commence their journeys at Hamburg-Altona station and then call at Hamburg-Dammtor before they arrive at Hamburg Hbf.
So it can be a good idea to look up the starting point of your journey and then book tickets from the most convenient station; only Hamburg Hbf has connections with the U-Bahn (subway).
Journey description:
This is a journey of five distinct phases
- Until Hannover the train will travel at up to 200 km/h on a conventional railway.
- On departure from Hannover comes the part of the journey with a wow factor, for more than 2hr 30mins the train will travel between the stations at more than 250 km/h on the high speed line and there are some nice views as the train crosses the long viaducts, between the incredible number of tunnels.
- Between Wurzburg and Nurnberg the train will be back on conventional tracks
- After Nurnberg the train will move on to another high speed line and travel at more than 275 k/mh for around 40 minutes until it reaches Ingolstadt.
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Train 2
Between München Hbf/Munich main station and Innsbruck HbfYou will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination Verona or Innsbruck
From late April the Railjet trains will be used on some departures on this route.
Journey description:
This journey becomes more scenic once the trains depart from Kuftstein.
For much of the journey between there and the suburbs of Innsbruck, the railway is parallel to the River Inn, most of the views of the river can be seen from the right.
On the other side of the river at the foothills of the Central Austria Alps.
Tickets
It can be worth comparing prices on the different ticket agents, the cheapest 'Europa Spezial' tickets can still be available on DB, the German railways website, when the most heavily discounted 'Sparschiene' tickets are sold out on OBB, the Austrian railways website.
And the reverse can be true, cheaper Sparschiene tickets can still be available on OBB, meaning that DB can be more expensive.
Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
This booking period tends to be shorter when looking up journeys between mid August and mid October.
A choice of tickets on the DB website
Three types of tickets are always available: Sparpreis and Super Sparpreis and Flexpreis.
A key difference between these types of tickets is refunds:
- Super Sparpreis tickets are cheapest, but they can't be refunded at all.
- Sparpreis tickets can be refunded for a fee, but the refund will be in the form of travel vouchers to be used for alternative / future journeys.
- Flexpreis tickets can be refunded at no additional charge.
The other key difference is that both types of Sparpreis tickets are only valid on the specific departures selected when booking, but the Flexpreis tickets live up to their name, as they can be used on any departure on your travel date.
Note that none of the tickets can be exchanged to a different departure.
There's no need for this to be available for Flexpreis tickets, as they aren't train departure specific.
If you book a Sparpreis ticket and want to travel by a different departure you can refund it and then use the travel voucher towards the cost of the new booking.
Super Sparpreis tickets can't be exchanged or refunded.
When travelling to and from the major cities, the Sparpreis and Flexpreis tickets also include 'City tickets', which can be used on public transport to Berlin Hbf.
Seat reservations
Seat reservations are optional on ICE trains and on the EC trains
They cost €4.90 when travelling in 2nd Class and €5.90 when travelling in 1st class - if you add them when making an initial booking the fee will cover both trains.
Specific seats on the ICE trains can be selected from seating plans - you don't have to accept the seat(s) that you will be automatically offered.
They are included within the cost of booking 1st class Flexpreis tickets.
When booking Super Sparpreis, Sparpreis and 2nd class Flexpreis tickets, you have the option of purchasing seat reservations later.
It can be worth re-looking up a journey a week or two ahead of travel, because the DB website will indicate how busy a departure will be.
Though in general reservations are highly recommended for this journey, particularly if you'll be travelling 2nd class; it's worth it to ensure that you have an assigned seat for the entire trip.
Booking on the DB website
To see all the combinations of trains and journey options, some of which may be cheaper, take off the 'fastest connections' default.
Booking on the OBB website
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.
Book a Sparschiene ticket and it will be specific to the departure you selected when making a booking and it can't be refunded at all if you subsequently change your travel plans and it also can't be exchanged to an alternative, later departure.
Trains departing at different times can also be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares
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.
Seat reservations are optional, but they're particularly recommended for this journey.
Rail pass users:
As explained on our guide to using rail passes on German trains, a tick in the box for travelling by ICE trains, is that you won't HAVE to make a seat reservation.
However, we recommend opting to make the reservation on this train, if you want to be sure of having a stress-free journey.
This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.
We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.
Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.
So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please consider saying thank you.
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