How to take the rail journey from Vienna/Wien to Venice/Venezia

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.

These trains are usually scheduled to depart from Wien Hbf at around 06:25 and 12:25.

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.

Arriving in Venice

Take care not to leave the train at Venezia Mestre station, if you are heading to the historic heart of Venezia.
Remain on the train until it arrives at Venezia S.Lucia station.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date*
*3 months ahead on Trenitalia

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.

These trains also call at Venezia Mestre before they arrive at Venezia St Lucia, which is the station in the historic heart of Venice/Venezia.
If you will be heading to historic Venice/Venezia take care when booking online, or using an agent, that your ticket is valid to Venezia St Lucia.
Booking agents can enter Wien > Venezia into their systems and see that journeys to Venezia Mestre are faster AND assume that you want to leave the train there.

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.

Book a Sparschiene ticket and it will be specific to the departure you selected when making a booking and it can't be refunded at all if you subsequently change your travel plans and it also can't be exchanged to an alternative, later departure.
Though when an adult book a Sparschiene ticket, up to four children age 14 and under can be included at no additional charge.

Trains departing at different times can also be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares

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.
• 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 = 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 optional, they have to be proactively added as an upgrade when booking tickets.

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/).

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.

Or there is an option for avoiding paying these rail pass fees on this route.

The train is usually scheduled to depart Wien Hbf at 21:40 and arrive in Venezia S. Lucia at 08:34.

The journey by daytime trains is beautiful, but the first train of the day isn't usually scheduled to arrive in Venice until 14:05

Final Destination: Venedig/Venezia S. Lucia

The train also calls at: Wien-Meidling, St Polten, Udine (arrives 06:23), Treviso (arrives 07:46) and Venezia Mestre*

*If you're heading to the historic heart of Venezia/Venice/Venedig, make sure your booking is valid to Venezia S. Lucia.
Take care not to leave the train at Venezia Mestre.

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 info button below for more info including the rail pass reservation fees:

Rail Pass Users:

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 travelling between June and September.
If you wait until arriving in Wien/Vienna to reserve, your first choice of accommodation may have sold out.