Paris to Wien / Vienna by train

How to take the optimum rail journey from Paris to Wien/Vienna

After a gap of fifteen years Paris and Wien/Vienna are once again being connected by a direct rail service, thanks to a new service of overnight Nightjet trains between the French and Austrian capitals.

Of the numerous daytime options you will likely see when looking up the train journey from Paris to Vienna/Wien on the ticket booking services, the option via Frankfurt (Main) has been singled out because:

  • the usual connection is easily timed, so there will be contingency in the event of the train from Paris being delayed.
  • Frankfurt (Main) hbf is an easy station in which to change trains
  • there is no need to make more than one connection when making a Paris to Wien/Vienna rail journey.

On Mon/Weds/Thurs/Sat when the direct overnight train from Paris isn't available, the routing via Zurich has been suggested for similar reasons; an easily timed connection in a station that's simple to navigate.

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Routes

Option 1: taking a direct train

Travel Information

The train will be departing Paris on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday evenings evenings only and will be typically be scheduled to leave from the Gare De l'Est at 19:58.

The train will also call at: Strasbourg (depart 00:36) and Salzburg (arrive at 07:26); Linz (arrive 08:44) and St Polten (arrive at 09:36)

It will be typically scheduled to arrive into Wien Hbf at 10:12.

Usual onward connections:

Departs on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

The train conveys:

  • Compartment Seats (Sitzwagen)
  • Couchettes (Liegewagen); 4 berths AND 6 berthsm
  • Standard sleeping cars (Schlafwagen) with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins
  • Deluxe sleeping cars with showers (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 details below for more info including the rail pass reservation fees:

Rail pass users must reserve before boarding these trains,

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.

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.

On this journey

Journey Features

Night

Good to Know

In the opposite direction the train will depart on Monday, Thursday and Saturday evenings

Option 2: travel during the day via Frankfurt

Travel Information

This routing via Frankfurt (Main) isn't the fastest option for a daytime journey by train from Paris to Wien/Vienna.
It isn't generally the cheapest either, so here's why we recommend travelling this way:

  • It's the fastest option which only has 1 x change of train
  • The connecting time between trains at Frankfurt (Main) is more than an hour, so making the transfer on to Wien/Vienna; into a train which is usually scheduled to depart at around 12:20 is virtually guaranteed.
  • The faster/cheaper journey options with more than one change of train all have connecting times between trains of less than 15 mins. (Making those connections on that alternative routing is a gamble not financially, but it terms of making the journey much more stressful).
  • Frankfurt (Main) is an exceptionally easy station at which to change trains.

1 x optimum connection per day

Change trains in: Frankfurt (Main)

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 4 months ahead of the travel date (usually)

Reservations are optional on the ICE train between Frankfurt and Wien/Vienna, but reserving seats on this leg of the journey is highly recommended.

This connection via Frankfurt (Main) is the journey option which departs Paris at 07:20.

Though can save usually save money if you opt to change trains more than once and travel via Munchen or Salzburg.

Though when looking up those journeys check the connecting time between trains, those options sold by the ticket agents typically have connecting times of less than 20 mins in either Mannheim, Stuttgart station or Munchen/Munich

Making these connections between trains in Germany is not guaranteed, you won't incur a financial penalty as tickets/reservations can be transferred to a later departure in the event of a late arriving, but it's a hassle that is much more likely to be avoided if you travel on this route via Frankfurt.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
Trainline *

Trainline Guide

Journey Features

Scenic - NoHigh Speed (partial journey)

Good to Know

Final Destination: Frankfurt (Main)

This train takes takes the route via Strasbourg

Not much to see from the high speed line Not much to see from the high speed line

Via: Kaiserslautern

This is a journey of four distinct phases.

  1. Around 13 minutes after departure the train will move on to the high speed line, on which between Champagne-Ardennes and Lorraine, it should travel at more than 300 km/h (faster than the speed achieved by ICE trains in Germany).
  2. Shorty after passing Lorraine TGV station, the train will move on to conventional tracks.
  3. Between Kaiserslautern and Neustadt the train will travel through a series of forests in the valleys, this is the most scenic part of the journey.
  4. After passing through the cities of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim, the train will pass through the commuter towns to the south of Frankfurt.

Via: Strasbourg
This is a journey of three distinct phases.

  1. The train will take the same high speed line from Paris, but will remain on it until around 5 minutes before arrival in Strasbourg.
  2. On departure from Strasbourg the train will travel fairly slowly on a route it will share with local metro trains.
  3. Then it will speed up, but remain on conventional railway tracks as it passes through Karlsruhe and Mannheim.

Journey Features

Scenic - YesNot High SpeedRiver views

Good to Know

Final Destination: Wien Hbf

This train also calls at: Linz and [St Polten](https://goo.gl/maps/ffv7fnVNBbaEdyVF7 and Wien-Meidling

Arriving in Wien/Viennna:

Check the location of your final destination in Wien/Vienna.
If you're heading to the south west corner of the city, or the area on the ring road around the Opera House - then it's likely that you'll have a faster and more convenient journey if you leave the train at Wien-Meidling station.

Journey description:

This is a journey of nine distinct phases: (the videos were filmed from a train travelling in the opposite direction)

  1. Between Frankfurt (Main) and Aschaffenburg the railway passes through a string of commuter towns.

  2. Then east of Aschaffenburg, is a scenic and slow part of the trip as the railway follows a series of valleys.

  3. As the River Main comes into view on the right, the train will speed up before bridging the river and entering a tunnel which will link it to the high speed line.

  4. The train will spend around 10-15 mins on the high speed line as it nears Wurzburg, just before the station look out on the right for a brief panorama over the river and city.
    Because the train will spend such a small percentage of the journey on the high speed line, this hasn't been classed as a high speed trip

  5. On to Nurnberg the train will be on conventional railway tracks.

  6. Between Nurnberg and Regensburg the train travels across a rolling landscape of hills.

  7. Between Regensburg and Passau the railway line is beside the River Danube, which can be seen on the left.

8. The highlight of the journey comes to the south of Passau, between there and the Austrian border, the railway line is by the banks of the River Inn, but on this part of the journey the river is over to the right. 9. Between Wels and Vienna the train will race across the Austrian countryside either side of Linz, **[this railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Railway_(Austria))** isn't a high speed route, but it has been straightened so that trains can travel at around 200 km/h
Between Regensberg and Passau Between Regensberg and Passau
Between Regensberg and Passau Between Regensberg and Passau
Between Passau and Linz Between Passau and Linz
Between Passau and Linz Between Passau and Linz

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Option 3: Travel overnight via Zurich

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: Around 3 months ahead of the travel date

Look for the journey which departs Paris around 16:23 and has one change of train

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
Trainline *

Trainline Guide

Journey Features

Scenic - NoHigh Speed (partial journey)

Good to Know

Note that this train departs from the Gare De Lyon in Paris.

Final Destination: Zurich,

Journey Features

Night

Good to Know

Final Destination:
Wien Hbf - the OBB Nightjet
Budapest - the EuroNight train

These trains also call at: St.Pölten, Wien-Meidling

In Zurich, the two trains are joined together, so they both depart at 21:40.

They're seperated during the journey across Austria and the EuroNight train arrives in Vienna/Wien first at 06:35.

The OBB Nightjet train is the slower of the two services and it is scheduled to arrive in Wien Hbf at 07:55

Both the OBB Nightjet train and the Nightjet train convey;

- Compartment Seats (Sitzwagen)
- Couchettes (Liegewagen); 4 berths AND 6 berths
- Standard sleeping cars (Schlafwagen) with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins

But the OBB Nightjet train also conveys Deluxe sleeping cars with showers in the cabin.

The first of the daytime trains doesn't arrive in Wien/Vienna until 14:30

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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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