Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: 6 months ahead of the travel date
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
Seat reservations are not automatically included when booking tickets for this journey by the Railjet trains.
They have to be proactively added when making a booking for an additional charge, but they're generally recommended for this journey due to its length.
Note that the optional reservations will need to be paid for any children aged 5 to 15.
Children aged 4 and under don't require tickets, but the expectation is that they will be travelling in the adult's lap.
If you have a valid Eurail or InterRail pass you can opt to make reservations for this journey but you can simply board with a pass and hope that seats will be available.
However, due to the length of the journey and the popularity of these trains, they're recommended. particularly when using 2nd class passes.
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;