How to take the fabulous rail journey from The Tyrol in Austria to the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice

Final Destination: Venezia S.L./Venedig - the German spelling of Venezia is 'Venedig'.

These trains also call at: Verona and Vicenza and Padova/Padua

Arriving in Venice/Venezia:

The train will call at Venezia-Mestre station before it reaches its final destination at Venezia S. Lucia station.
If you're heading to the historical heart of Venice/Venezia take care not to leave the train at Venezia-Mestre.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date

When making an online booking, check that you’re looking at booking info for a direct EC train; they usuallly depart from Innsbruck at 13:24 daily or at 09:24 on Sat/Sun only.

If you're heading to the historic heart of Venezia/Venice/Venedig then take care to book tickets to Venezia S.Lucia station and not to Venezia Mestre.

Discounted tickets

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.

Refunds / Exchanges

• 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.

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

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

Bike tickets

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

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.