Austrian Railways’ Einfach-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 — bicycles may be taken with for very cheap too.
Austrian Railways (ÖBB) offers a wide variety of trains and tickets but the biggest savings deals are available on local and regional trains. The Einfach Raus Ticket allows groups of two to five unlimited travel for a day on local trains throughout Austria — it may be upgraded to a Einfach-Raus-Radticket to take bicycles with on the railway journey. These deals offer a huge saving over regular train ticket fares making regional train travel positively cheap. The Einfach Raus Ticket is not valid on fast long-distance trains but most countryside sightseeing in Austria requires traveling on local trains anyway.
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 similar Einfach-Raus-Radticket allows travelers to take a bicycle (Rad) with on the local train.
The requirement to travel on local trains only is much less of a hassle in Austria than for example in Germany or France. Intercity 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 are also on the Railjet fast speed network but even here the emphasis is more on comfort than speed. 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 discount Einfach-Raus-Ticket is sold at station ticket counters, train ticket machines, or online from Austrian Railways. The main requirements and restrictions include:
Regional trains (Regionalverkehrszüge) used by Austrian Railways (ÖBB) include the following train names and abbreviations: Regionalzug (R), CJX, RegionalExpress (REX), S-Bahn (S), and Raaberbahn.
The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is a great saving ticket for up to five traveling together, but groups of six or 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).
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 2h22 and in second class cost around €55 for a standard ticket (could be as cheap as €20 if SparSchiene tickets are available). Local trains on the same routing take 5h17 to 6h and require one to three transfers but up to five can make the journey for €48 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 adds to the traveling time but does offer great savings.