Scenic routes in Austria along Zurich, Innsbruck, Salzburg

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

The main railway line from Zurich to Innsbruck is rather scenic itself (I recommend to sit on the left); first it will take you along the lakeshore of Zürichsee, the Walensee with a view of the impressive Churfirsten range.
In Buchs the train will reverse, but keep your seats. Directly after leaving Buchs the line runs through Liechtenstein for a few minutes but without stopping there; then after the stop in Bludenz the Arlberg line begins which is quite an impressive mountain railway with many small viaducts and tunnels. After the stop at Langen the train passes through the 10km Arlberg tunnel before continuing down to Innsbruck.
You are right, there is a long tunnel close to Innsbruck (12km) which is freight only, allowing transit freight trains to bypass Innsbruck.
From Innsbruck, I would recommend to travel along Gisela railway via Kitzbühel - Zell am See - Schwarzach St Veit - Bischofshofen to Salzburg; while it does not have much tunnels or viaducts it still runs through a very scenic area.
How much time do you want to spend overall to get from Zürich to Salzburg?

Ringo2112
Traveller
7 comments

Flow, thanks for the response. So, I do not have to change trains from Zurich to Salzburg? Also, as far as time, I am pretty open, I plan on spending two weeks riding the rails. So , I will have time in between the cities. Let me know if a rail line is scenic off the beaten path between the cities. One more question, do I have to go to Munich first to get to Prague? And I see there is a bus ride between those two cities involved. I don't want to take the bus and is there a direct line from Austria to Prague, thanks for all of your help, Greg

Ringo2112
Traveller
7 comments

FLOW, HI, I see there is a train between Salzburg and Prague, I have to transfer in Linz.

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hej Greg,
there are four daily direct train pairs between Munich and Prague: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/munich-to-prague[/u]
While I recommend the first two trains from Prague to Munich (due to them running with a Czech bistro car), in the opposite direction the last two trains are recommended. ;)
There are also a few buses between both cities but I also prefer to go by train.

However, if you are in Austria and then want to go to Prague, there are three direct trains from Linz to Prague plus two connecting services via Ceske Budejovice (which would be also worth a short stop to taste original Budweiser beer and also serve as starting point for a detour to Cesky Krumlov).
If you travel as far as Vienna, then you have two hourly direct trains from Vienna to Prague.

If you want to go from Zurich to Salzburg along the route I described above, you will have to change trains in either Innsbruck or Bischofshofen. There are two hourly connections, you can look them up using a schedule planner and entering a via stop for instance in Zell am See: [u]https://rail.cc/en/eurail-train-schedules[/u]


Flo 8)

Ringo2112
Traveller
7 comments

Flow, hi, does that train from Zurich to Innsbruck go through Bludenz? I just noticed on You Tube that is a scenic route. Greg

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Yes, this is the Arlberg Route I mentioned above. It is the only direct rail link from Switzerland to Austria.

Andrek88
Traveller
3 comments

Talking about scenic routes in Austria:

I just found out about the line from Munich to Innsbruck via Garmisch and Seefeld; it looks really good and it also offers me the possibility to visit the Zugspitze rack railway departing from Garmisch.

If anybody knows more rack railways in Austria please let me know, I'm quite fond of them. :P

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Yeah, this is the Mittenwaldbahn - especially the decent from Seefeld down to Innsbruck and the Inn valley is quite impressive. Sit on the right in direction of Innsbruck. ;)

Rack railways in Austria:
Schneebergbahn
Achenseebahn
Schafbergbahn