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How to take the rail journey from Vienna/Wien to Florence/Firenze
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Wien / Vienna to Firenze / Florence by train
The only direct train to Florence / Firenze from Vienna / Wien is the overnight Nightjet service
Though the optimum daytime journey involves making only one connection between trains and also inevitably allows travellers to enjoy the stunning scenery on the Austrian part of the route!
Routes you can take to go from Wien / Vienna to Firenze / Florence
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.
Choose one of the following options:
Looking for connections?
Route Information
Option 1: travelling direct on an overnight train
Station Guides
Travel Time (approx)
11hrs
Frequency
Nightly
Travel Info
1 x train per night
Purchase Tickets
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.
OBB operates the Nightjet trains and it's bespoke booking path for these trains is particularly easy to follow, with detailed explanations of the accommodation options.
Nightjet Guide
Booking places in the sleeping cabins
When entering 2 travellers as 1 male and 1 female, you will automatically be given the option to book a 3-bed cabin for the sole use of the two of you - the 'double' cabin option.
So you will be in the cabin together with no other travellers.
3 men + 2 women or 3 women + 2 men = three beds in a triple cabin + two beds in a double cabin is what you will be offered, though the cabins will then be male and female only.
So if the combination of travellers is 1 male/female couple + 1 male/female couple and a child, you will need to make two separate bookings so that the two couples can each share a cabin.
When 4 Adults are travelling together you will be given the option of booking double or triple cabins.
If you select 'Double' you will automatically be assigned 4 beds in two double cabins.
Because the Triple cabins are segregated into male and female, when two women + two men are in the travel party, the two men will be sharing a triple compartment with another traveller, as will the two women
When 3 men + 1 woman or 3 women + 1 man are the travel party, the fourth person will then be sharing a three bed cabin with two other people.
Travel Information
Due to construction work and a route closure in Italy, this train will not be available until September 10th/11th.
The train is usually scheduled to depart Wien Hbf at 19:18 and arrive in Firenze S.M. Novella station at 06:18 - note the early arrival!
Final Destination: Roma
The train also calls at: Wien-Meidling, St Polten and Bologna Centrale (arrives at 05:19)
This is a direct journey
You will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
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 berths
- 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 detail below for more info including the rail pass reservation fees:
Rail pass users must reserve before boarding these trains, but these reservations cannot be booked online.
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.
OR reservations can be arranged and paid for at the ÖBB Reisebüro desk in Wien Hbf - (ideally do this when you first arrive at Wien Hbf on the preceding train on your itinerary) or by calling OBB Customer Service (+43 5 1717).
Making the rail pass reservation online a minimum of a couple of weeks ahead of the travel date, is particularly recommended if you will be traveling between June and September.
If you wait until arriving in Wien/Vienna to reserve, your first choice of accommodation may have sold out.
Route Information
Via stations: Venezia Mestre
Option 2: travel by day with a connection
Station Guides
Travel Time (approx)
10hr 15min
Frequency
Daily
Travel Info
1 x optimum connection per day
Purchase Tickets
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Rail Europe ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option when booking international journeys with connections and for travellers who don't reside in western Europe. Use the easy options on its home page if you will be booking tickets with a railcard: Or purchasing rail pass reservations.
Exclusive for New Customers: Receive a 10% discount by using the code 24NOV on any purchase with a maximum total price of £100, until 28 November 2024 (11:59 pm CET). Limit one coupon per qualifying booking. Cannot be combined, transferred or exchanged.
Omio Guide
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
- it offers prices in multiple currencies
- it usually offers price comparison with other modes of travel including flights and buses
- when visiting Europe, you can book journeys in multiple countries in one transaction.
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.
Other Ticket Providers
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.
Travel Information
There are no direct daytime trains from Wien / Vienna to Florence / Firenze and the only route which enables only one transfer between trains to be required is by connecting at Venezia Mestre.
Making a connection at Venezia Mestre is the optimum daytime route by both simplicity and time.
However, there are only two direct trains of the day from Wien Hbf to Venezia Mestre and the second of these arrives there two late to make a connection into a train on to Firenze / Florence.
Therefore the only option for taking this route is to depart the Austria capital before 06:30, though the reward for rising early is the journey through the stunning Austrian landscape.
The time between trains in Venezia Mestre station is an easily managed 45 mins and each binaro (platform) at the station is equipped with elevators to enable a step-free connection.
In the very unlikely event of a missed connection due to a late arriving train from Wien, the next train Frecce train on to Firenze will be departing an hour later.
This journey is made up of 1 change.
Train 1
Between Wien Hbf/Hauptbahnhof and Venezia MestreYou will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: Venedig \ Venezia St Lucia
The trains also call at: Wien-Meidling, Udine, and Venezia Mestre*
Departing from Wien / Vienna
Venedig is the German spelling of Venezia/Venice, so if you see Venedig on the departure screens at Wien Hbf then the info will be for the train heading to Venezia/Venice.
The trains is usually scheduled to depart from Wien Hbf at around 06:25
If your journey in Vienna is commencing in 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 join the train at Wien-Meidling station.
Wien Meidling is connected to line U6 of the Vienna Metro, which serves the western side of the city centre.
Journey description:
One of the most spectacular parts of the journey is the passage on the The Semmeringbahn Railway, between Payerbach-Reichanau and Murzzuschlag.
So wonderful that it's a U.N.E.S.C.O. World Heritage Site - though that's partially due to the construction methods and not just because of the scenery.
Though as the train travels over the Semmering Pass, the trackside vegetation tends to block the views, except when the trains are crossing the multiple viaducts
The best views can be seen from the left of the train (when facing the direction of travel) between Wiener Neustadt and Murzzuschlag.
This video gives a sense of the journey experience, on a grey day, it was filmed travelling in the opposite direction, towards Wien/Vienna.
This Semmering part of the route has led to this part of the journey being included on Far And Wide's list of the Most Remarkable Train Journeys in Europe.
However, its easier to appreciate the stunning landscape when the train travels between Leoben and Klagenfurt.
This is our favourite part of this train ride, there are sweeping vistas across valleys - some of which can be seen on the right....
...while other fabulous views are over on the left.
Other scenic highlights back over on the left of the train include the lake, the view of the beautiful Worthersee between Klagenfurt and Villach.
Then at journey's end comes the final flourish - the crossing of the lagoon into historic the heart of Venice.
If you will be travelling south of Villach by daylight there are also spectacular views of the jagged peaks of the Carnic Alps - though the light was fading by the time we came this way, hence the lack of images of this part of the route.
This is a journey when being in 1st class can pay off.
The views from the left of the train (when facing the direction of travel) are much better than those on the right.
But if your 1st class reserved seat is on the right, you'll have more chance of moving over to see the views on the left.
Train 2
Between Venezia Mestre and Firenze S. M. NovellaYou will be travelling on one of these trains...
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: Napoli-Centrale
The train will also call at Bologna Centrale and Roma Termini.
The train will be typically scheduled to arrive into Firenze / Florence at around 16:40.
Within the hour trains will depart on to Pisa, Siena, Livorno and Lucca.
There is no high speed line between and Venezia/Venice and Bologna, but these trains travel up to 280 km/h on the high speed line between Bologna and Firenze; virtually all of which is in tunnels.
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
When booking more than 5 months ahead, if you only see 1st class tickets available for sale on OBB check back a few days later to see if the 'Sparscheine' 2nd class tickets have been added to the booking service.
Though it will be typically cheaper to make separate bookings for the journeys from Vienna and on from Venice.
However, if you do so and the train from Vienna arrives too late to make the booked connection, you may then have to re-book for the train on to Firenze.
Make a single booking and if need be tickets can be transferred to a later departure on to Firenze from Venezia Mestre.
The types of ticket:
When booking this journey you will in effect be purchasing two separate tickets in the one transaction for each train, Wien to Venezia + Venezia to Firenze.
So there are separate terms for each type of ticket.
Booking with OBB:
The Austrian national operator sells what it terms as 'Internationaler Globalpreis Tagverkehr' tickets for the train between Venezia and Firenze.
For the journey between Wien and Venezia it offers Sparschiene, Sparschiene-Komfort and Standard tickets.
Booking with Omio or RailEurope:
These agents also typically offer a choice of Sparschiene, Sparschiene-Komfort and Standard tickets, for the part of the journey between Wien and Venezia.
However, they also offer a choice of tickets for travel on the onward train from Venezia to Firenze - which are Super Economy, Economy and Base tickets.
When booking with Omio or RailEurope, you will be able to choose between different types of ticket per train, including the ability to choose to travel in 1st class on the second train on from Venezia.
Saving money:
When still available the cheapest combination of tickets is Sparschiene + Super Economy, so note that this combination of tickets is not sold by OBB - but note that this combination of tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded at all in the event of a changed travel plan.
Exchanges / Refunds:
Wien to Venezia:
- Sparscheine tickets = cannot be refunded at all.
- Sparscheine Komfort tickets = can be cancelled free of charge up to 15 days ahead of the journey, but if you cancel it with 15 days left to go, you'll receive up to* 50% of what you paid for it
- Standard-Ticket = You can cancel and obtain a full refund at any time pre-travel date.
Venezia to Firenze:
- Super Economy = Cannot be refunded or transferred to another departure at all
- Economy = Cannot be refunded, but can be transferred to another departure up to two hours before the train you were originally booked on to is due to leave. Though you will need to pay the price difference, if tickets for the train you have swapped to, are more expensive (they likely will be).
- Base = Can be be refunded and can also be transferred to another departure up until the time of the of your original departure
- Internationaler Globalpreis Tagverkehr = Cancellation free of charge until 15 days before the valid day. After that, until the day before the 1st day of validity, a cancellation fee per person of 50% of the fare, at least 15 euros, is due.
Seat reservations:
Technically seat reservations are optional on the Railjet train for the part of the journey between Wien and the Italian border, but are mandatory on the section of the route on to Venezia.
So the ticket agents evidently struggle to manage this scenario in terms of the information they supply to travellers, but ShowMeTheJourney's understanding is that seas will be assigned on the Wien to Venezia train - so the reservation will be included in the ticket price.
Seats are assigned and reservations are included in the ticket price on the Venezia to Firenze train.
Child Tickets
The child ticket terms differ per train.
For the part of the journey between Wien and Venezia, there is no charge for children aged 15 and under when accompanying Adults book Sparscheine tickets
For the part of the journey from Venezia to Firenze, OBB will only offer Internationaler Globalpreis Tagverkehr tickets which have no child discount, but the other agents will offer Italian types of ticket on which children aged 4 to 14 receive a 50% discount.
Book more than 10 days ahead and the Family Offer can be available, on which children aged 4 to 14 travel for free and Adults travel at 50%.
Travel with non-folding bikes
When travelling with non-folding bikes, tickets won't be available for the end-to-end journey, so separate bookings will be required per train.
On the Wien to Venezia train, which is a Railjet, 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/).
However, for the journey between Venezia and Firenze, non-folding bikes cannot be taken on board the direct Frecce or Intercity trains.
Travel with dogs
Tickets won't be available for the end-to-end journey, so separate bookings will be required per train.
On the Wien to Venezia train, you will need to add a dog ticket when making your booking.
On the Venezia to Firenze train, If you can take your dog in a container or basket measuring 70x30x50cm no ticket will be required, but tickets are required for larger dogs.
You can book these at Venezia Mestre station and they cost €5 when travelling on Monday to Friday and Sunday; and only €1 when travelling on a Saturday.
Using Rail Passes:
The rules are different when using a rail pass to travel to Italy by these Railjets compared to travelling by Railjet to other destinations.
Rail pass users must pay a supplement of €15 in 1st class and €10 in 2nd class.
However, there are two elements to the rail pass supplement; the seat reservation and the rail pass surcharge for travelling on an express train in Italy.
You can pay a single charge, which covers both elements, by using the Eurail reservation service or the InterRail reservation service - though you will be charged a €2 booking fee per reservation, per person.
If you pay the supplement at a Reisezentrum travel desk at a major Austrian station, you won't pay the booking fee, but a seat reservation won't be included; and will cost an additional €3.50, as per the info on this page.
OR if you book the 'Tarvisioverkehr Pass1' supplement on the OBB website, the instructions are here, you will need to also select the seat reservation and pay the additional €3.50 cost.
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