Einfach-Raus-Ticket is a Bargain for Small Group Travel on Local Trains

Austrian Railways’ Enifach-Raus-Ticket is a cheap unlimited-travel day ticket rail pass for groups of up to five passengers traveling together on local and regional trains.

photo credit: Daniel Sparing

Austrian Railways (ÖBB) offers wide variety of trains but the biggest savings are available on local and regional trains. The Einfach Raus Ticket allows groups of up to five unlimited travel for a day on local trains throughout Austria. This offers a huge saving over regular train ticket fares making train travel positively cheap. The Einfach Raus Ticket is not valid on fast long-distance trains but most countryside sightseeing require traveling on local trains anyway.

Save with Austrian Railways’ Einfach-Raus-Tickets

Austrian Railways’ Einfach-Raus-Ticket (”einfach raus” means “simply out”) is a special discount ticket for groups of up to five traveling together. (Six and more traveling together receive group-fare discounts on all Austrian trains.) Many restrictions apply, principally the requirement that travel must be on local and regional trains only.

The requirement to travel on local trains only is much less of a hassle in Austria than for example in Germany or France. Inter-City trains in Austria do connect major cities with limited stops but often do not run particularly fast. The only really high-speed rail link in Austria is on the stretch from Vienna to Passau via Linz. (Salzburg and Innsbruck will be added to the high-speed network in the near future.) As a result, the time required on local trains is often not that much more than intercity trains and often not a factor for small town and countryside sightseeing where only local trains are used anyways.

The Requirements and Restrictions of the Austrian Einfach-Raus-Ticket

The discount Einfach-Raus-Ticket can be bought at station ticket counters, train ticket machines, or via the internet. The main requirements and restrictions include:

• The Einfach-Raus-Ticket cost €28.
• The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is valid for groups of between two and five persons traveling together. The composition of the group may not alter during the day – write the names of the group on the ticket. (In contrast to many other Austrian railway tickets, children must be counted too!)
• The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is valid on weekdays from 9 am to 3 am the following day – some advertisements wrongly state the limit as midnight.
• On weekends and national holidays, the Einfach-Raus-Ticket may already be used from midnight until 3 am the following day.
• The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is only valid for Second Class travel on Austrian regional trains – for trains crossing the Austrian border, a ticket from the last stop in Austria should be bought prior to boarding the train.
• Unlimited stops and transfers are allowed.

Regional trains (Regionalverkehrszüge) used by Austrian Railways include the following train names and abbreviations: Regionalzug (R), RegionalExpress (REX), S-Bahn (S), Regio S-Bahn (RSB), EURegio (ER), and Erlebniszug (EZ).

Save with Group Fares on Austrian Railways

The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is a great saving ticket for up to five traveling together, but groups of six of more qualify for even more discounts, not only on regional trains but on all trains of Austrian Railways. Children under 14 must be counted on the Einfach-Raus-Ticket but otherwise receive a standard half-price off discount on Austrian train tickets – this saving may well be bigger than group discount tickets (but usually not cheaper than using the Einfach-Raus-Ticket).

Saving on Day-Trips with the Einfach-Raus-Ticket on Austrian Trains

The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is particularly aimed at travelers going to explore the Austrian countryside and mountains on day trips. From major Austrian cities such as Vienna (Wien) and Salzburg, endless opportunities are available in the region for interesting day trips whether to admire nature or culture or a combination of the two.

Ironically, the biggest savings with the Einfach-Raus-Ticket are on long-distance travel. Travelers on a budget with time on their hands or planning to see sights en route between major cities can save the most with the Einfach-Raus-Ticket.

For example, fast trains between Vienna and Salzburg can be as fast as 2h38 (but more often around 3h) and in second class cost €45 for a standard ticket or €142 for a special ticket for five traveling together. Local trains on the same routing takes 5h17 to 6h and require one to three transfers but up to five can make the journey for €28 on the Einfach-Raus-Ticket.

The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is an absolute bargain when exploring the Austrian countryside. Although aimed mostly at day trippers, it is also useful for traveling to smaller towns when most (if not all) of the railway journey will be on local trains anyway. For example, traveling from Vienna or Salzburg to UNESCO World Heritage listed Hallstatt is mostly on local trains so sticking to regional trains all the way hardly add to the traveling time but does offer great savings.

Based on Austrian Trains: Cheap Group Fares first published at suite101.com.