ontheluce
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Hi, I am planning a rail trip around central Europe in July and would be very grateful for some input on route planning. There are four of us travelling (my husband and I and my parents, who are in their late 60s) and my dad is keen to do a scenic train route through some mountain scenery at some point, but not sure which would fit in best.
We're starting by spending a couple of days in Strasbourg over Bastille Day, so depart there on 15 July and have flights out of Vienna booked for 21 July, so would want to get there by 19 July.
So we only have five days to play with so were thinking of making two or three stops. Initially I thought of going Strasbourg–Zurich–Salzburg (via Innsbruck and the Arlbergpass)–Vienna, but ideally I'd rather not have to spend the night in Zurich (accommodation is pricey and I've been before).
So am considering various routes between Strasbourg and Vienna, whether via Switzerland/Germany or even Italy. Grateful for any suggestions, we don't want to do too many long travel days (7+ hours) but don't mind one or two. And as I said a scenic train route would be great.
Thanks
Flo
Traveller
10725 comments
Hi!
A very spontaneous idea would look like:
Book Europa Spezial tickets from Deutsche Bahn at [ux]https://rail.shop/bahn[/ux]
from Offenburg to Tirano, this would include both Albula and Bernina Railway in Switzerland: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/zurich-milano-albula-bernina/[/u]
To get from Strasbourg to Offenburg buy tickets locally; you can spend the night either in Tirano (there is a quite decent hotel directly at the station square with a good restaurant) or still in Switzerland, for instance at Ospizio Bernina (mentioned in the blog post).
From Tirano you can then go to Milano and travel to Austria via either Bozen and the Brenner route or Venice and the Semmering route; both not as spectacular as the Albula and Bernina line but still scenic trips through the Alps. On the way to Vienna you could fit in stops along the route for instance in Verona, Bozen, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Venice, Udine, Villach/Klagenfurt, maybe even Graz.
Another option would be to go from Tirano to Monza, then travel back to Zürich via Gotthard route, then onwards to Austria but this probably will be more expensive.
Tickets from Tirano to Monza/Milano can be bought locally; for the remainder you can check at Trenitalia and ÖBB websites for cheap advance fare tickets.
Flo 8)
ontheluce
Traveller
1 comments
Thanks for the input, it's really useful. Have come up with a provisional route using some of your suggestions, but taking it fairly slow as we want to minimise long travel days...
15 July: Strasbourg-Chur (overnight Chur)
16 July: Chur-Tirano (overnight Tirano)
17 July: Tirano-Milan then overnight train to Vienna
18 July onwards: Vienna
Interested to hear if there are better places (not too far away) than Chur and Tirano to spend the night en route, and any tips re the Milan to Vienna sleeper.
Thanks
Lucy
Flo
Traveller
10725 comments
Sounds good. You can still get a Europa Spezial Ticket through to Tirano (though from Offenburg only as explained) including the overnight stop at Chur.
Alternative places for an overnight stop would be along the Albula route in Filisur or Preda (small villages in the mountains) or maybe Pontresina if that is not too far away from Strasbourg.
If possible, I would also recommend to make a stop en route to Tirano when the weather is nice, an obvious choice would be at Alp Grüm for instance: [u]https://rail.cc/en/alp-gruem/c[/u]
The sleeper on the overnight train has Standard and Deluxe compartments. Standard are very small for up to two people; Deluxe are more comfortable and spacious with ensuite shower/WC, however only two compartments are available.