Introducing oebb.at...
The ÖBB (Austrian Railways) website oebb.at can book cheap advance-purchase tickets to, from & within Austria. It can also book all Nightjet sleeper train routes and most Nightjet partner routes, even if they don't involve Austria. This form links directly to their English version. You pay no booking fee, just the official ticket price. In most cases, you print your own ticket or can show it on your phone.
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When does booking open?
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Train booking opens up to 6 months ahead, but less than this if the mid-December timetable change intervenes, or if the journey you're trying to book involves reservations sourced from another rail operator with a shorter booking horizon. More about when European train bookings open.
How are tickets delivered?
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For most journeys you print your own ticket or can show it on your phone, tablet or laptop.
However, for international journeys to some countries you must print out your ticket. It will tell you this when you book.
In a few cases you have to collect a hard-copy ticket from an ÖBB ticket machine, if so it will warn you. This includes tickets from Vienna to Poprad Tatry & Kosice in Slovakia and tickets from Vienna to Ukraine, for example. In such cases you can only collect tickets in Austria, as you won't find any ÖBB ticket offices or machines in any other country.
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It's a good idea to create an account when you buy your first tickets with ÖBB, rather than checking out as a guest. Then if a confirmation email ever fails to arrive, you can always log in and check your tickets.
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It says to print on A4 paper, is American Letter size OK? Yes!
No worries, the barcode will scan just fine. They just mean don't print it out half size or double size.
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Important: Tickets become non-refundable when printed or downloaded as pdfs...
Even if you buy a refundable ticket, it becomes non-refundable the moment you click the button to create the .pdf for printing or download, a peculiarity of ÖBB's business process. The blurb tells you this, but people miss the warning in their haste to print out their tickets, and only discover later that they can't get a refund even though the fare they bought was refundable.
So don't print out or download your tickets until close to departure date, when you're sure you won't need to cancel. However, if you choose a mobile ticket to show in the ÖBB app this remains refundable as per its Terms & Conditions even when loaded in the ÖBB app.
Interrail & Eurail pass reservations
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The ÖBB website lets you make Eurail or Interrail passholder reservations for seats, couchettes or sleepers on trains to, from and within Austria, and on all Nightjet sleeper train routes and most Nightjet partner routes. See the Interrail & Eurail reservations page for instructions on how to do this - there are two different methods depending on the nature of the reservation so read the instructions first!
Other tips
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Want a direct train or more time to change trains? Click Set more filters
When the search results appear, click the Set more filters link, and amongst other things you can select:
Only direct trains - so it only shows direct trains without changes, if there are any that day.
Comfortable connection time - so it pads out transfer times for more robust, more relaxed connections at interchange stations.
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Bikes & dogs
Click CHANGE under 1 x adult and you can add a bike or dog to the booking.
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Wheelchairs
Click CHANGE under 1 x adult then click PASSENGER WITH DISABILITIES then tick the Wheelchair bay required box. This gets you wheelchair space on daytime trains and books you a wheelchair-accessible couchette compartment on a Nightjet sleeper train, if available.
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Choosing your seat
A significant benefit of booking direct with ÖBB is that their website lets you choose a specific seat from a seat map on many key trains, both within Austria and on the direct railjet routes between Austria and Zurich, Munich, Venice, Prague, Budapest and so on. Add a seat reservation to the booking, then click RESERVATION DETAILS then (if it's available) click Go to seat selection.
If seat selection isn't available, don't worry, the system will always put your party together by default. When you get seat numbers, don't be surprised if the numbers aren't consecutive, they often aren't. More about seat numbering on European trains.
Tip: For Nightjet sleeper trains, you can usually see and check your allocated berth numbers before you pay: When you reach payment stage, click the link marked Click here for service and price details, print timetable under Total amount. About couchette berth numbering. About sleeper berth numbering.
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Use Vagonweb.cz to check train formations, carriage numbers, carriage facilities & seat plans etc...
You can check the train formation for many mainline trains to, from & within Austria using the excellent www.vagonweb.cz.
This shows in what order cars for different destinations are marshalled in your train, it shows the carriage numbers, the facilities in each carriage such as air-conditioning, power outlets & WiFi, it has photos of most carriage types and seating plans for some types, too.
Change cs to English upper left, then click Train formations, then either search by train number or scroll down to Austria (or Hungary, Czechia, etc.) and locate your train.
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If it says Ticket for section only
If it shows a price, it's for the whole journey, unless it says Ticket for section only. For example, suppose you book from Vienna to Cesky Krumlov. It'll show train times all the way to Cesky Krumlov, but it'll say Ticket for section only next to the price because it can only sell a ticket from Vienna to Ceske Budejovice, it cannot sell a ticket for the little branch line train from Ceske Budejovice to Cesky Krumlov as this is run by private operator GWTR. In this case, you'd buy the ticket from Vienna to Ceske Budejovice, then pay for the branch line train separately at the GWTR website or when you get to Ceske Budejovice (or buy from the Czech Railways instead as they can ticket the whole journey, but that's another story...).
Similarly, ÖBB can sell a ticket from Vienna to Krakow with a change of train at Katowice, but only if the travel date is less than 30 days away, because reservations for the Polish domestic train between Katowice & Krakow only open 30 days ahead. If you try to book more than 30 days ahead, it cannot ticket the compulsory-reservation Katowice-Krakow train and will say Ticket for section only. You can either wait, or buy the Vienna-Katowice ticket from ÖBB now, then buy the onward Katowice-Krakow ticket separately at the Polish Railways website when Polish reservations open. Got it? Good! All very logical if you know what's going on...
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If you have any problems, for example it rejects your bank card
Most tickets sold by ÖBB can also be bought from third party retailer websites www.thetrainline.com or www.raileurope.com, both of which have a direct connection to ÖBB's ticketing system to sell the same tickets at the same prices, but with a small booking fee added. If you have any problems with ÖBB such as a rejected bank card, it can be useful to know the alternatives.