Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Struggling to Understand OBB Train Site (2024)

I want to book Railjet from Vienna to Hallstatt earliest train and then later from Hallstatt to Salzburg and maybe beyond from Salzburg to Munich.
I am really struggling to understand sight and figure out how to obtain senior discount ((I am 70) if it is worth it.

Also should I book in advance and besides booking do I also need to reserve seats--want to go 2nd class unless view is better in 1st class.

Hi joannpagett, I hope I can help you. I am not yet in the bracket that needs senior discount so I have never bought it, but I just did a dummy booking and found that seniors do not automatically get a discount. I believe you have to buy a Vorteilscard Senior: https://www.oebb.at/en/tickets-kunde...n/vorteilscard which costs €29,00 a year. On the same page there is a tool to work out if it is worthwhile getting a discount card. From memory, and this is before Covid, the normal tickets did not seem that expensive. There is another discount card which you can only get from OeBB counters, if you are eligible (Vorteilscard Senior Free). There is not much detail about this.

I don't know myself how important it is to book everything in advance, I always have, but I am very risk averse and the further out usually the cheaper the fares. I am also including a link here to the website Man in Seat 61. He is a wealth of knowledge about everything to do with trains, so have a read: https://www.seat61.com/european-trai...nd-youth-fares

There should be other people here who can help or add their experiences, hopefully one of them will come along and help you too.

Lavandula

Tickets for Vienna to Hallstatt on the 5:55am RJ for next week are available for 39.90 euros. A month out, mid March the price is 19.90 euros. No special discounts, just the normal savings price - Sparschiene ticket.

there is one change at Attnang-P to a regional train

Seems like a good price to me, and one youre not likely to best with any senior discount even if you could figure that out. If you want to have a reserved seat you can add that for 3 euros - seems like a waste of 3 euros to me for half the journey on a train that will likely be mostly empty at that hour. More hassle to find your assigned car and seat than just grabbing any open one.

1st class and 2nd class seats all pass by the same scenery.

The view is the same regardless of class.

My spouse was able to get a senior discount on OBB - to get this, I think you need to register for an account which will ask your age. He's out snowblowing at the moment, but I'll ask him for details when he's finished and post back.

As for Salzburg to Munich, we always use the Bayern pass, good on regional trains in Bavaria (Salzburg included). We recently paid 39 euro for two of us.

https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/region...ticket-bavaria

Here's some info on how to get from Hallstatt to Salzburg:

https://blog.mydaytrip.com/blog/2021...tt-to-salzburg

I just looked at the OBB site and found how to book a senior ticket.

Go into this site, then click on "change" button where it says 1 adult without discounts - this will bring up page where you can select Senior and get the discount. It will then ask for your age.

https://shop.oebbtickets.at/en/ticket

Argh...my post just went into moderation.

To get senior discount - go to this site, then click on "change" button next to One Adult without Discounts - this will take you to a page where you can click on Senior and provide your age.

https://shop.oebbtickets.at/en/ticket

How to get from Hallstatt to Salzburg:

https://blog.mydaytrip.com/blog/2021...tt-to-salzburg

PS - if this post goes into moderation as well, it will be a duplicate, but thought I'd try.

Thank you so much for all of the information you provided. I will definitely go to the sites you mentioned and work do the math.
You are very kind to check it out for me and then report back. May you have a wonderful year.

Best
JoAnn

Connections at AP are simple. There is only one building. Best case it's a 15 foot walk straight across the platform from one train to the next. Worst case you go down a level, over to the next platform, then back up.
You should be standing by the door with your luggage before the RailJet pulls into AP.

Lots of info on trip advisor or rick steeves forums.

9 minutes is sufficient, but don't dilly dally.

There are 5 tracks at AP,
Track 1 by itself
Tracks 2 & 3 share a platform
Tracks 4 & 5 share a platform

A quick glance at the OEBB schedule for a random date this month and I see the 6:55 departure from Vienna arrives on Track 3, with a 9min connection departing from Track 4, which means take the escalator down from 2/3, escalator back up to platform 4/5.

You'll make your connection. If you don't, you can take the next one an hour later.

Looks like I can leave later and get there in 3 hours 14 leaving at 8:40 and arriving 11:54 on nonstop from Vienna to Hallstatt Bahnhst.
Previous train leaves 7:55 and arrives 1124 so not big difference especially if we don't have to transfer
I read that I can select window seat but do not see that option unless it appears after payment but that seems doubtful. Will also check Rive Steves forum

We are staying overnight so hope this will allow us enough time to enjoy the town if we leave later next day.