Austria Eurail pass

Hi all,

I need some help here. My friends and I (4 adults %26gt;26 years old) are going to Czech - Austria in July. We are considering our best option for rail passes. We will be crossing from Cesky Krumlov (Czech) to Salzburg (Austria) and in Austria, we will be taking day trip out every day for 3 days. We will be going out to Innsbruck, Werfen and Berchtesgaden.

Could anyone advise us if we should purchase which of the following passes:

1) Austria Eurail Pass: We will buy the city-city pass at Czech traveling from Cesky Krumlov to Salzburg. However, does anyone know if the price of the Eurail pass cover all trains in Austria or we still have to pay a supplement for the trains in Austria?

2) 1-plus-Freizeitticket: As we are traveling in a group of 4, this pass says that 2nd person pay 25% cheaper and the 3-4 person paid 50% cheaper so is it worthwhile buying it when traveling out day to day in Austria?

3) 28Euro Einfach-Raus-Ticket: This ticket only allow us to take certain type of trains and EC is not included in them but as we do not know how expenive is EC trains, we are not sure if this ticket is worthwhile afterall.

We are having headache with all the trains tickets and passes so we will really appreciate any help here. We are planning in details because a lot of travellers said that traveling in Austria can be very expensive. Just in case anyone need an idea of the places we going, I have listed it below:

1) Prague - Karlov Vary - Prague

2) Prague - Kutna Hora - Prague

3) Prague - Cesky Krumlov

4) Cesky Krumlov - Salzburg

5) Salzburg - Innsbruck - Salzburg

6) Salzburg - Werfen - Salzburg

7) Salzburg - Berchtesgaden - Salzburg

8) Salzburg - Linz

Thank you a lot for any suggestions and advice.

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I have been to Prague twice and loved it but not the train system. Most of the Czech tains don%26#39;t require reservations, but they are very slow and I would go 1st class if you have an option. You won%26#39;t have a problem going to major cities but the routing gets really odd to the smaller towns. Also the smaller the town the less english is spoken and that can get a little sticky when you are buying train tickets. Traveling in Czech I went point to point and gave up after the second trip because of the delays and lack of english. I have a friend who hired a driver and said it didn%26#39;t cost her that much more and had a someone who gave her a lot of history of the areas and knew how to speak the language. Also the border patrol gets on and off at every stop and checks passport and tickets. I went from Prague to Vienna which is a beautiful city on a one way ticket. Once I got into Austria I bought a two country pass on one of my trips (Germany. Austria) and loved it. I stayed at Zell Am See which is about 50 minutes to Salzburg. I just took local trains in and out from Zell Am See to Salzburg, Innsbruck and some other little cute towns. I had bought a first class ticket but really saw no benefit for the price as most of the trains really only had second class to the smaller towns. Since you will be traveling so much in Austria you might want to get the one country so many days ticket. I loved this option because you can get off and on as much as you like on the days you travel. That way if you want to spend more time in one city over another it will give you that option. Another option to visit and one of my favorites is Munich. Very old and charming. Watch out for the pickpockets. Really bad in the Czech. I wear a money belt under my sweater so they will have a hard time getting to it but I could feel them hitting my shoulder bag on several occasions. They will steal you rail passes in a minute so always keep them out of sight and in a safe place. Czech to me was a beautiful country and your money will go a long way compared to the other countries on the euro. Have a wonderful trip.

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ad 2)1-plus Freizeitticket is another name for a group ticket with the entitlement to take a bike with you onto the train. (Freizeit %26gt; Leisure)

A group of four is eligible to a discount of 30-40%, what is basically fantastic. I have a discout card (regular ÖBB Vorteilscard cost 99€) and get %26#39;only%26#39; 50% off.

ad 3) You can use this ticket for section 5 for sure and for 6 if you stay in Innsbruck for a night and if you can accept the reduced number of trains. Don%26#39;t assume that every EC train has got a little sister named regional train for passengers not willing to pay the regular fare. I mean if you take the EINFACH-RAUS-Ticket you need to expect restrictions and different routings with transfers.

http://fahrplan.oebb.at/bin/query.exe/en

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I mistook section 5 and 6.

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As you are from the UK, you could consider buying an Interrail-Pass.

Train travel in the CZ is cheap. For short distances lik Salzburg-Werfen or Salzburg-Berchtesgaden and also Salzburg-Linz, a rail pass does not make sense but just compare prices:

www.raileurope.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=896

Fares in the Czech Republic can be found at:

Praha-Karlov Vary: CZK 237 oneway

Praha-Kutna Hora: CZK 72 oneway

Praha-Cesky Krumlov: CZK 186 oneway

Cesky Krumlov to Salzburg: Best is to use the Lobo Shuttle to Linz Railway station and get a train to Salzburg there (much faster than by rail via Ceske Budejovice).

Lobo shuttle: http://www.shuttlelobo.cz/

Linz-Salzburg: € 20,70 oneway, reduction from the 2nd passenger on

Salzburg-Innsbruck: € 35,20 oneway, reduction from the 2nd passenger on

Salzburg-Werfen € 7,10, Dayticket: € 14,20

You can include the local transport in Salzburg for only € 0,80 (single) or € 1,60 (day)

Salzburg-Berchtesgaden:

same price as Salzburg-Werfen

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