This is one of Europe's most scenic city to city railway journeys, so if you will be travelling from Bavaria to the lake shore resorts on lovely Wörthersee, taking the train is definitely the way to go.
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.
5hrs (approx)*
Daily
4 x trains per day
First time bookers using the Omio mobile apps (Find them at www.omio.com/apps) can save 10% on purchasers of up to €100 by using the promo code SEP24 Valid for bookings by September 30th, 2024 (11:59 pm CET).
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
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.
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.
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.
Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.
HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.
Final Destination: Klagenfurt
These trains also call at: Bad Gadstein and Villach and at these Wörthersee resort towns:
Velden am Worther see
Portschach am Worther see
Krumpendorf am Worther see
The first train of the day is now a Railjet.
Connect in Villach for Ljubljana and Zagreb.
This is one of Europe's most stunning railway journeys undertaken by express trains.
The best of the views are from the right of the train (when facing the direction of travel); though the approach to Bad Gastein is best seen from the left.
The highlight of the journey is the stretch between Bad Gastein and Villach.
Views over a lake can also be seen from the right of the train between Villach and Klagenfurt (the video was taken from a train heading south from Klagenfurt).
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - but this period of time is shorter when looking up journeys in August to October.
A choice of tickets
Four types of tickets are available:
Two types of discounted tickets, which will be cheaper the further ahead you book - Sparpreis Europa and Super Sparpreis Europa
Two types of non-discounted ticket - Flexpreis Europa and Flexpreis Plus Europa.
A key difference between these types of tickets is refunds:
The other key difference is that both types of Sparpreis tickets are only valid on the specific departures selected when booking, but both types of 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 Europa tickets, as they aren't train departure specific.
If you book a Sparpreis Europa 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 Europa tickets can't be exchanged or refunded.
The Sparpreis, Flexpreis and Flexpreis Plus tickets also include 'City tickets', which can be used on public transport between locations in Munchen city centre and Munchen Hbf.
Seat reservations
Seat reservations are optional on these trains - take note if you will be using a rail pass.
They cost €4.90 when travelling in 2nd Class and €5.90 when travelling in 1st class.
Specific seats 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 and both 1st and 2nd class Flexpreis Plus 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.
Booking on the DB website
You can find these direct trains more easily by making a proactive selection of 'Direct Trains Only'.
To see all the combinations of trains and journey options, some of which may be cheaper, take off the 'fastest connections' default.
Travelling from Munchen Ost station:
When making a booking online on DB it uses ‘Munich (München)’ as a default for looking up journeys from the city in the ‘From’ box.
But it is possible to select München Ost as the ‘From’ station (you need to use the German spelling with the character (the umlaut) over the ‘u’).
You won’t save any money by booking from München Ost, but the departure time of your train from Munchen Ost will be on your ticket.
Booking agents, when looking up Munchen to Bologna journeys, will see that the fastest journey from Munchen is from Munchen Ost, so can assume that this is where you want to join the train.
So if you're using an agent confirm whether your ticket has been booked from Munchen Hbf or Munchen Ost; particularly if you do want to join the train at Munchen Hbf.
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This is one of more than 100 train travel guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.
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