How to take a train from Salzburg to Frankfurt

From Innsbruck to Frankfurt (Main) by train

Take the new direct train from The Tyrol to central Germany

One of the daily ultra-smart Railjet trains from Innsbruck on the beautiful route to far-western Austria, has had its journey extended into Germany, thereby providing a new direct rail journey from Innsbruck to Frankfurt (Main).

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Routes

From Innsbruck to Frankfurt (Main) by direct train

Travel Information

Final Destination: Frankfurt (Main)

The train also calls at: Heidelberg Hbf and Darmstadt Hbf

The train is now usually scheduled to depart from Innsbruck daily at 14:47 and arrive into Frankfurt (Main) hbf at 21:52

1 x train per day

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

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.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
OBB *

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.

Trainline *

Trainline Guide

DB

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.

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.

Two types of ticket have recently been made available;

  1. Cheaper 'Young' tickets which can only be booked by those aged 15-26 on the travel date.
  2. Flexi Plus tickets, which are now the most expensive type of ticket, but they're the only type of 2nd class tickets which DO include a seat reservation.

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - YesLandscape (Hills / Mountains)Lake views

Good to Know

The two plus points of taking this train are a lack of a need for connections and the scenic route taken, but if travelling to Frankfurt (Main) as quickly as possible is of greater importance to you, then the much faster alternative is to travel via Munchen Hbf and make a connection between trains at that station.

For example, it's usually possible to depart from Innsbruck just seven minutes earlier on the 14:40 EC train to Munchen; and with a 22 min connection into an ICE train, typically scheduled to depart from Munchen hbf at 16:49, it's possible to be in Frankfurt (Main) at 20:04; with an end-to-end journey time of only 5hr 24min

The first quarter of this journey is the most scenic, which is handy as darkness will have fallen by the time the train is just over half-way to Frankfurt (Main).
Between St.Anton and Feldkirch, the train threads the stunning Arlberg Pass; though in summer the trees can get in the way.

If possible sit on the left (when facing the direction of travel) on departure from Vienna/Wien.
The best views of The Arlberg Pass are from this side of the train, as are the views of the Bodensee between Bregenz and Lindau, and on to Friedrichshafen.
The train will reverse direction on departure from Friedrichshafen and from Stuttgart

The spectacular ascent from Landeck The spectacular ascent from Landeck
Passing by one of the villages nestled in The Arlberg Pass Passing by one of the villages nestled in The Arlberg Pass
The train will travel through the Arlberg Pass for more than 45 mins The train will travel through the Arlberg Pass for more than 45 mins
Glimpses of the Arlberg Pass scenery between tunnels Glimpses of the Arlberg Pass scenery between tunnels
Through the Arlberg Pass #1 Through the Arlberg Pass #1
Ascending up towards the Arlberg Pass Ascending up towards the Arlberg Pass
By the shore of the Bodensee between Bregenz and Lindau By the shore of the Bodensee between Bregenz and Lindau
Between Ulm and Stuttgart #2 Between Ulm and Stuttgart #2

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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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