Best way to get from Manchester to Vienna

[swt class 450]

What a load of faff to avoid a short few hours flight!! Do people not value their time at all these days

Its really not that bad. I personally really enjoy taking long train journeys. It is nice to be travelling at a slow speed and seeing everything. You see so many interesting things when travelling by train. Although I've never been on an airplane so cant really judge i doubt that it is really a very interesting journey compared to the train. If i go on a holiday i definitely see the train journeys as being part of my holiday.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I guess I could fly to Berlin or Amsterdam using RYR/EZY cos those are also cities I really wanna visit and then take trains to Vienna from there!

I would recommend Amsterdam if you want to do that, loads of flights from Manchester with Flybe, Easyjet or KLM, easy train to the central station and onward connections to loads of places.

It will save the long haul down to London and the Eurostar, where you are not missing much and the Metro/RER trips across Paris to the departure terminals you would need there are well worth skipping!

Just a note on flights, keep KLM in mind even if they seem more expensive, often a return ticket can be almost exactly the same price, if not even cheaper than a single.

In Germany, Cologne, Nurnburg and Munich airports all have easy public transport airport access and good onward rail connections.

 

[coppercapped]

I would recommend Amsterdam if you want to do that, loads of flights from Manchester with Flybe, Easyjet or KLM, easy train to the central station and onward connections to loads of places.

It will save the long haul down to London and the Eurostar, where you are not missing much and the Metro/RER trips across Paris to the departure terminals you would need there are well worth skipping!

Just a note on flights, keep KLM in mind even if they seem more expensive, often a return ticket can be almost exactly the same price, if not even cheaper than a single.

In Germany, Cologne, Nurnburg and Munich airports all have easy public transport airport access and good onward rail connections.

To which I would add Frankfurt am Main.

 

[Polarbear]

I know about using the Virgin trains Manchester to London w/ Interrail, the thing is the buses from my house to Piccadilly don't run that early, although I could take a taxi which would be better if I'm going with my family!

Ah OK. Hope your trip goes well & the family enjoy the run.

 

[ac6000cw]

I would recommend Amsterdam if you want to do that, loads of flights from Manchester with Flybe, Easyjet or KLM, easy train to the central station and onward connections to loads of places.

It will save the long haul down to London and the Eurostar, where you are not missing much and the Metro/RER trips across Paris to the departure terminals you would need there are well worth skipping!

Just a note on flights, keep KLM in mind even if they seem more expensive, often a return ticket can be almost exactly the same price, if not even cheaper than a single.

In Germany, Cologne, Nurnburg and Munich airports all have easy public transport airport access and good onward rail connections.

I'd agree with that.

Fly quickly to somewhere you'd really like to start the 'holiday' journey from, then use the time you've saved to meander a bit. High speed trains are quick, but slower trains that go through (rather than around) towns give you more to look at.

I've done enough 'marathon' train journeys to know that I'd be very careful about recommending them to anyone who might prefer to just 'get there'. Dragging along other family members for the ride might cost you a lot of brownie points after the reality of a 15+ hour train ride sinks in...

 

[Tim R-T-C]

If you are travelling as a group, make sure to check on bag storage at stations. Many German stations have lockers which are cheap and easy to use, but some stations have offices instead and charge per item, so can work out expensive and of course there may be limited opening times.

 

[Techniquest]

I found this thread genuinely interesting, as my European rail travel has been very lacking. I've read each and every post during my tea, and now have to stand up in defence of flying.

As should be well known across the forum by now, I love flying (and here's a link to my Flightradar24 profile https://my.flightradar24.com/Whitby which will be updated next week ) as well as travelling by train. Heck I will even travel by bus and coach to do a trip if needs be. However, I'm seeing lots of suggestions in this thread that recommend some incredibly long journeys by rail, as well as some genuinely interesting ideas.

So, let's start some questions off:

Why Vienna?
How many of you are travelling?
Will you be away for a long time?

I did Vienna for the Christmas Markets in 2016, and I have to confess to rather enjoying those. Especially the Rathausplatz one, that was epic! Generally speaking though, Vienna's not the most exciting place in the world to go to. In fairness, in the same year I had done New York and loved that city, so it was always going to be hard to compete with such a high benchmark.

In terms of OBB trains, there are some nice and noisy locos around the place that are worth having a watch of, I have a video of one on my YouTube channel (TechniquestS482) and which I'll try and get a link to later. I don't recall what I saw those working on, but they could well have been on stuff from Zurich/Salzberg that others have mentioned.

I'm genuinely trying to remember something I recommend doing in Vienna. Cafe Bon on Ottakeringer Strasse (or something similar), near Hotel Exe, is about the only choice I can think of, and that's more for the beer than anything else. Fair game, the Austrians are good for beer and I regret not trying more of it!

Now then, the more important bit. Me and my non-enthusiast friend travelled down to Gatwick and flew BA to Vienna. OK so the flight wasn't the most exciting in the world, but at least it beat flying with Norwegian...By the time you allow for check-in and such luck, we did spend a full day travelling, but then Birmingham doesn't have flights going where I want to go! OK, so we could have gone all the way by train, but we only had a limited amount of days off and we couldn't afford to waste them by travelling. Judging by the ridiculously long journey plans people have posted, we made the right call.

We only paid £320 for both of us for flights, luggage and 3 nights accommodation, which I still say was an incredible bargain, as it also included breakfast. If we'd done the journey from London by train, not only would it have taken two days (due to positioning moves from pretty-much Wales) each way (so pretty much all of our holiday time) it would have been more expensive, with very little doubt whatsoever. Not to mention extremely tiring!

Direct flights from Manchester (well, if they exist, I've not looked) makes sense too as there's no faffing around in London, less hassle getting onto/off Eurostar too. As someone else said, you're not missing much with the high-speed run to Paris. It's bad enough to Brussels, but oh my days it's so boring to Paris! Granted, I've only done Paris to Lille Europe by TGV (onward connection to Calais Ville by local, and quite frankly horrid, boring train) but it's the same route and it is not exciting. I would prefer to spend an hour sitting around on the station at Sunderland than endure that again!

I believe the same person commented on the change in Paris, another thing I wouldn't want to do on my own, let alone with family. Besides, it's Paris, who in all sanity wants to go there? No, been there and done that, never again. I'll use the airports in Paris to change planes/score the airports by flying back out again asap, but I have ZERO intention of going back to Paris. It just doesn't appeal, and I know full well Blindtraveller will be reading this and he loves Paris. I'm sorry, but the Metro is boring too, an opinion that has never changed in 11 years. I would rather spend 8 hours riding up and down the Piccadilly line!

The less you have to move your luggage around is always a bonus too. I've got my 4-wheeler case to lug around with me next week, and it'll be enough work to lug it onto and off the 2 trains and 1 bus I'm due to get just to Manchester Airport. Then there's the carting around I've got to do when I arrive at the other end, that's enough work on its own! I suspect your family would agree with me!

So my recommendations are purely down to two options, and I know which one I'd choose if I had to go back to Vienna, which is not likely:

- Direct flights to/from Manchester, if possible

- Direct flights to/from Bratislava, then local train onwards. It's only around an hour's journey time I believe. That gets your European train fix too!

 

[Billy A]

I believe the same person commented on the change in Paris, another thing I wouldn't want to do on my own, let alone with family. Besides, it's Paris, who in all sanity wants to go there? No, been there and done that, never again. I'll use the airports in Paris to change planes/score the airports by flying back out again asap, but I have ZERO intention of going back to Paris. It just doesn't appeal, and I know full well Blindtraveller will be reading this and he loves Paris. I'm sorry, but the Metro is boring too, an opinion that has never changed in 11 years. I would rather spend 8 hours riding up and down the Piccadilly line!

What's your issue with Paris? I've been going there pretty much annually for a few days at a time for the past ten years or so and plan on going again! I generally go around December so I get to do the big Christmas market on the Champs Élysées and seeing as how it's Christmas I go to Notre Dame where we get the Cardinal Archbishop celebrating a very high Mass. Plenty of arty things if that floats your boat and you can do guided walking tours if that floats your other boat.

The Métro is as underground railways anywhere are with all that entails but at least you can get to play driver on the automated lines by sitting at the front and watching the stations appear out of the gloom (which lets you know just how close some of them are - on Line 1 the city centre stations are visible from one another.)

 

[Bantamzen]

Just a thought for planning purposes, especially if you are wanting to see some of the most spectacular scenery in Europe I would recommend trying to plan for most of your trip through the Alps during daylight hours, especially the run up towards the Alberg Pass & then down towards Innsbruck from St Anton Am Alberg (which I've done when I holidayed in St Anton a few summers ago). It would be a complete shame to pass through there in the middle of the night. Obviously this would involve planning an overnight stay in somewhere like Zurich, but it is worth it!!

 

[30907]

Even better would be to arrange to do the Arlberg section in EC164/163 Transalpin, the one daytime train over the Arlberg AND the wholly-Austrian Zell am See route, which carries a Swiss first class panoramic car. I've just used it right through to Graz, and first cost EUR34 from Feldkirch (and the panorama car was half empty even West of Innsbruck).

It's a long day, and I think for Vienna I'd make the cross platform connection at Schwarzach-St Veit into a Railjet. You can have too much scenery.... not that I regret carrying on.

 

[Polarbear]

Even better would be to arrange to do the Arlberg section in EC164/163 Transalpin, the one daytime train over the Arlberg AND the wholly-Austrian Zell am See route, which carries a Swiss first class panoramic car. I've just used it right through to Graz, and first cost EUR34 from Feldkirch (and the panorama car was half empty even West of Innsbruck).

It's a long day, and I think for Vienna I'd make the cross platform connection at Schwarzach-St Veit into a Railjet. You can have too much scenery.... not that I regret carrying on.

Yes, its rather good is that service. I've done the whole run eastbound from Zurich to Graz & it's unbroken scenery pretty much.

I plan on doing the westbound service at some point next year too.

 

[AlexNL]

Have you considered taking an overnight Stena Line ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland (Hoek van Holland)? Once in the Netherlands, you can take daytime trains to get from Schiedam to Vienna.

You'll have to take a replacement bus to get to Schiedam/Rotterdam due to engineering works though.

 

[Techniquest]

Even better would be to arrange to do the Arlberg section in EC164/163 Transalpin, the one daytime train over the Arlberg AND the wholly-Austrian Zell am See route, which carries a Swiss first class panoramic car. I've just used it right through to Graz, and first cost EUR34 from Feldkirch (and the panorama car was half empty even West of Innsbruck).

It's a long day, and I think for Vienna I'd make the cross platform connection at Schwarzach-St Veit into a Railjet. You can have too much scenery.... not that I regret carrying on.

That is something I need to look up in my atlas later, as it sounds amazing. Required country too and very much on my list to do just from your post!

Do you think it matters what time of year you do it? I honestly doubt I can do anything European trip wise for the rest of the year after next week's adventure, but I do have a week off in January...

 

[Polarbear]

That is something I need to look up in my atlas later, as it sounds amazing. Required country too and very much on my list to do just from your post!

Do you think it matters what time of year you do it? I honestly doubt I can do anything European trip wise for the rest of the year after next week's adventure, but I do have a week off in January...

The only observation I'd make is that if you travel on EC163/EC164 in the winter, a part of the journey will be in the dark due to the shorter days.

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Ah OK. Hope your trip goes well & the family enjoy the run.

Thanks and by the way, this is just an idea at the moment, it's likely that we might be doing this next year or the year after if we actually do it I'm thinking of getting a morning flight to Amsterdam, explore the city for a day and then evening ICE down to Cologne and maybe chill outside the station for a while before getting a Nightjet down to Vienna, since so many of you recommend that sleeper train! For the way back, maybe a day journey using ICE via Frankfurt, since second class on Railjet isn't anything special, looks exactly the same as the East Midlands Class 158 and the Great Western Mark 3, but on ICE its almost the same as first class! I love Frankfurt as well since I been to the city centre on a 4 hour layover (only 10 minutes on the S-Bahn) when flying back from Riyadh and the skyscrapers are amazing (for a city in Europe anyway, not as impressive as Riyadh ) - the airport staff were wondering why I was going there during bank holiday when everything is closed but I only went there to admire the architecture and take pics of the city!

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

That is something I need to look up in my atlas later, as it sounds amazing. Required country too and very much on my list to do just from your post!

Do you think it matters what time of year you do it? I honestly doubt I can do anything European trip wise for the rest of the year after next week's adventure, but I do have a week off in January...

The only observation I'd make is that if you travel on EC163/EC164 in the winter, a part of the journey will be in the dark due to the shorter days.

As a general rule of thumb if you want to get the best out of Alpine routes I would highly recommend going in the Spring, so April or May. Days are longer, plants will be growing giving a fresh lush feel to the fields and meadows but there will still be plenty of snow on the higher ground. The weather will be more reliable so good chance of sunshine rather than low cloud or mist. And there will be fewer foreign tourists so trains will be less than packed (the locals will likely be out in force though). Don't forget your sunglasses: I once found myself above the snow-line without them and had to spend that part of the journey looking at the floor!

 

[Techniquest]

As a general rule of thumb if you want to get the best out of Alpine routes I would highly recommend going in the Spring, so April or May. Days are longer, plants will be growing giving a fresh lush feel to the fields and meadows but there will still be plenty of snow on the higher ground. The weather will be more reliable so good chance of sunshine rather than low cloud or mist. And there will be fewer foreign tourists so trains will be less than packed (the locals will likely be out in force though). Don't forget your sunglasses: I once found myself above the snow-line without them and had to spend that part of the journey looking at the floor!

Thanks for the tips there, I definitely won't be going in January then. Plenty of other options for that week, and I'll have to bear that in mind with the sunglasses!

I really should go and price up the services we're discussing here mind!

 

[Techniquest]

The only observation I'd make is that if you travel on EC163/EC164 in the winter, a part of the journey will be in the dark due to the shorter days.

I suspect that part would be one of the more interesting bits of the route too?

Thanks for the pointer there

As for the OP, I don't see what's wrong with Standard on the Railjets. I wouldn't waste money upgrading to First Class personally

 

[nw1]

Strangely Vienna is the furthest I've ever travelled by train.

Did it by doing St Pancras to Cologne the first day (1257, IIRC), stayed overnight, then went Cologne-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Vienna on the 2nd day. Was able to leave Cologne late-ish, around lunchtime, and get into Vienna around 2100.

The Frankfurt-Vienna leg was quite long though even for someone like myself who likes travelling by train! The best scenery is west of Wurzburg and again east of about Linz, or pehaps Passau - my memory's getting a bit vague on this.

As others have said a scenic option would be to head to somewhere like Zurich and then take the Innsbruck-Salzburg route, the Inn valley route is spectacular.

 

[cambsy]

On Tues 17th October I'm doing a 2 day trip to Vienna, am using HBF to mean Hauptbahnhof station, makes easier to write.

I am starting at London St Pancras Int 06.47 - Arr Brussels Midi 10.07,
Brussels Midi Dep 10.25 - Arr Frankfurt HBF 13.30. Then Frankfurt HBF Dep 14.16 - Arr Vienna HBF 21.09, then stay night Ibis Hotel Vienna HBF, Weds 18th October, Vienna HBF Dep 05.22 - Zurich HBF Arr 13.20, then Zurich HBF Dep 15.34 - Arr Paris gare De Lyon 19.37, and Paris Gare Du Nord Dep 21-13-Arr London St Pancras Int 22.39, The fares in Euros were:

London-Frankfurt 79.90
Frankfurt-Vienna 39.90 and 4.50 reservation fee
Vienna-Zurich. 39.90 and 4.50 reservation fee
Zurich-London. 99.90

Think done quite well on fares, the Ibis hotel is 77 for the night, which seems ok, should be good trip with a mixture of high speed sections, lots of scenery and interest along the way, be going on several trains for the first time, already like the musical sound the Taurus electrics make, will ride behind one on the OBB Rail Jet, which seen on you tube, the ICE' 3 and ICE T look good to ride on.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Great planning, but how did you get a EUR 99.90 fare from Zurich to London? Is this via DB, ie. Basel or Stuttgart/Mannheim/Cologne?

 

[Techniquest]

That's good value fair play! Tight connections in there mind, and not long in Vienna either.

I know the sound of those locos, they are funky and I want to sample them properly.

 

[Polarbear]

That's good value fair play! Tight connections in there mind, and not long in Vienna either.

I know the sound of those locos, they are funky and I want to sample them properly.

The Taurus loco's are superb - sound like a chello being tuned up! They can bat along at up to 140mph too, and get there pretty quickly too!

 

[cambsy]

The 99.90 euros fare is Zurich-London, on a through ticket via Paris,on a TGV Lyria and Eurostar, took a lot of planning and fare searching, hard bit to do cheap was Vienna to Zurich, had to do via OBB site as booked via any other was about 120 euros.

 

[cambsy]

I have to give a big up to the Man in seat 61 website for help in planning European trips, full of great advice and tips, Like if the Eurostar is bit late, the DB ICE Brussells-Frankfurt can be held some times, and explains quick route from Eurostar to Frankfurt train, it is also a through ticket and done on journey planner, so a valid connection, so am safe, just get next train and so on.

 

[Techniquest]

The Taurus loco's are superb - sound like a chello being tuned up! They can bat along at up to 140mph too, and get there pretty quickly too!

 

[cambsy]

I have just looked at Trainline eu, and on Weds 18th October, 15.34 Zurich-Paris-London arriving 22.39 is still 99.90 euros, earlier Trains are a bit more. Looks like if book about 2 months a head u get down to near cheapest fares.

 

[Techniquest]

Ah to be fair I think my journey search was during October half term holidays. Mind you Zurich to London for that money is good.