Berlin-Prague-Budapest-Vienna-Salz-Bled-Graz-Rome-Venice

weaselwithin
Traveller
5 comments

Hi again everyone,

After much research we've altered our route, and wanted to post the updated route in case anyone wanted to comment :)

We've now decided on -

4 days Berlin
3.5 days Prague
3 days Budapest
2.5 days Vienna
1.5 days Salzburg
3.5 days Bled and Ljubljana
0.5 day Graz
2 days Venice
4 days Rome
0 days in Milan - just flying home!

We were wondering if anyone has any advice as we have one day spare - any recommendations for spending extra time somewhere or adding a day somewhere en route, or any day trips from our places that we might not have considered would be really appreciated. Thanks again for any advice!

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi,

looks reasonable. :) I would change Bled/Ljubljana and Graz. You have better connections if you go Salzburg - Graz - Ljubljana - Bled - Venezia. I am also not quite sure about those .5 days...but it looks like a good plan. If you dont use night trains you wont need any extra reservations (except for travelling in Italy, at least if you want to use fast trains). If you still have on day spare I would use it if you want to extend your stay somewhere along your route. Or, if you dont do that, maybe think about a day in Florence at the end of your trip. What might be also nice is to go to the Salzkammergut in between Salzburg and Graz.

If you need more detailed help, just ask...especially about Graz. ;)


Flo 8)

weaselwithin
Traveller
5 comments

Hi Flo,

Thank you so much for the information :)

Florence was an idea at one point, might be nice to bring it back! Bled/Ljubljana - Venice seems a tiring trip, as we'd want to go overnight, and the only overnight without connections seems to last 5 hours, which wouldn't give us much sleep... Salzburg seems to have a connection-free overnight to Venice at 7 hours (much more sleep :D ), would you advise something like Vienna - Graz - Bled/Ljubljana - Salzburg - Venice?

Or is there somewhere between Bled and Venice that we could spend the day in to shorten the journey to Venice? We could use our extra day here then. I think it would be nice to do this to avoid going overnight, but after 2 days research we're still unsure. We have seen things like -

Salzburg - Munich - (overnight) Venice
Bled - Villach - Venice
Ljubljana - Zagreb - Venice

But we don't know much about Villach or Zagreb, would you recommend these places? Or do we have any other options?

Oh and sorry, by 0.5 we meant we'd just be there for half a day, so for Graz we were planning to arrive around noon and leave in the evening, I understand that you live there so any help you can give on how we can best use our time would be really appreciated :)

Thanks so much for your help!

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi!

Well, the night train Salzburg - Venezia is in Salzburg at 2349 already, so you would have almost 9 hours for sleeping. :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/vienna-venice-night-train/f3671[/u]

So going as you proposed indeed could be a good option. However, remember that the trip Graz - Ljubljana requires at least 3€ including an ICS train in Slovenia with compulsory reservation (a few €). There is only one daily direct train, leaving Graz at half past ten in the morning taking ~3h30 for the trip.

What I would suggest if you want to go like this:

Wien - Graz: In the morning; hourly direct trains via the UNESCO World Heritage Semmeringbahn
Graz - Ljubljana: With the direct train (no reservation) in the following morning
Then Ljubljana/Bled and with a direct train during the day via Villach and the Tauernbahn to Salzburg.
Leaving for Venice in the evening with the night train.

Keep in mind that you would then travel Villach - Salzburg twice. But this includes two very scenic railways, the above mentioned lines over Semmering and Tauern. :)

Or, go Wien -Salzburg - Graz - Ljubljana (all during the day in the morning) - then Lake Bled and to Venezia as described here :arr: [u]https://rail.cc/en/ljubljana-venice-train/f3663[/u]


Flo 8)

weaselwithin
Traveller
5 comments

Hi Flo,

Thanks so much for your help! We had no idea you could start sleeping on the trains before they depart!

We've decided to go Vienna - Graz (for the day) leave pm to Ljubljana - Bled - Salzburg - Munich - overnight to Venice
Really looking forward to going now!

Thanks again for all your help!

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi,

you're welcome - if any questions are left, just ask. And maybe tell us how you liked your journey when you return home. :)

Just a short tip regarding Wien - Graz - Ljubljana:

Wien - Graz is 2h30, hourly trains
Graz - Ljubljana is 3h, ~one connection every two hours, latest train leaving Graz at 1838, change at Maribor. Problem is that you need a reservation for ICS Maribor - Ljubljana which is free of charge if you get it at the station in Maribor. But you only have 6 minutes to change trains, so the better solution would be to use the regional train which leaves after the ICS and is free of extra charge. It arrives around half an hour later in Ljubljana at 2220.

EDIT: If you need a guide in Graz, just let me know. ;)


Flo 8)