Buy once, get 50% on every train ticket within the country

Costs: 21 € (up until 25 years of age), 73 € if you're older

On your birthday, you can travel for free with all OEBB trains in Austria

Buy "Vorteilscard Youth" for 21 €/year

Buy "ÖBB Sommerticket" for 41 € (until 19 years) or 62 € (20-25 years) - only valid together with the Vorteilscard!

Valid for all OEBB trains within Austria, for 30 consecutive days within the summer period of July 4th to September 13th, 2026

Attention: On weekdays (Monday to Friday), it is only valid from 8:00 am onwards

On Friday, Saturday, Sunday and on public holidays, you apparently must buy seat reservations for long distance trains (IC, EC, RJ, RJX, IR, D, ICE)

The situation in Austria is a little complicated (rules differ for every state), in general I would recommend to sleep in mountain huts instead

Some information from the Austrian Alpenverein: Zelten und Biwakieren in Österreichs Bergen

Bahn zum Berg is an NGO advocating for travelling sustainably to the mountains. They run a blog with lots of nice hikes reachable by public transport.

Zuugle is Bahn zum Berg's search engine, just enter the station you're starting from and what you're looking for and it will return suitable hikes (works in the entire alps!).

This tool (specifically for Vienna) is useful to find regions that are well connected, or if you know where you want to go, but not how to get there

Useful app to check connections

Including delay notifications

Also available as a website: fahrplan.oebb.at

Not directly in the alps, but if you can go, it's absolutely worth it!

Reachable from Graz via Feldbach

Hundreds of amazing chocolate creations, and you can eat as much as you want

rent a bike from the train station Klagenfurt to get to the lake Wörthersee, in general you can visit the city by bike;

"Kaschuta" for hiking

take the train via Semmering (famous old mountain train railway)

train station "Payerbach Reichenau" as base for hiking, reachable in ~1h by a direct train from Vienna

Take a bus directly from Salzburg to Heiligenblut

Or take a train from Salzburg or Villach to Mallnitz-Obervellach

Experience pilot villages of sustainable tourism: https://eng.bergsteigerdoerfer.org

These places are a good starting point if you want to see "authentic alpine villages"

Some Bergsteigerdörfer in Austria that are reachable by train: Grünau im Almtal, Johnsbach im Gesäuse, Mallnitz, St. Jodok, Gschnitztal

Hochschwab-region (for hiking)

Schladming (for hiking) --> better off season, otherwise it can be very crowded; direct connections from Vienna on weekends!

WESTbahn also offers train connections on the Vienna - Salzburg - Innsbruck and the Vienna - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach line

Some trains also go to Vorarlberg, to Germany and to Saalfelden

Interrail pass is accepted

https://westbahn.at/en/news/interrail-eurail-pass/

If you are a member of an Alpine association (also from other countries), sleeping in mountain huts is generally inexpensive (roughly up to 50 € per night, including dinner and breakfast). A list of eligible associations can be found here.

Some websites to find mountain huts from Alpenverein, ÖTK and Naturfreunde (only in German)

This website looks bad, but seems to be quite up to date (only in German though)

Filmfestival Rathausplatz: Screenings of concert movies, operas etc. directly in front of the city hall

Volxkino: Free movie screenings in public locations, outdoor (check for the movie's language!)

Musik am Fluss: Concerts from local artists

The Wien Museum has free entry for its exhibition about Vienna's history (recommendation for rainy days!)

Seat reservations are generally not required in Austria (except for night trains!)

Check your train connection (with exact date and time) on fahrplan.oebb.at, if it says "ACHTUNG: Starker Reisetag" ("ATTENTION: Peak travel day") for your train, it might be advisable to book seat reservations. If it does not show the warning, you should be fine without.

Either way, if you book seat reservations, book them directly via the OEBB shop (check "seat reservation only"), it's way cheaper than booking it via Interrail.

For Westbahn: The Vienna - Salzburg route can be very crowded with lots of reserved seats, especially during peak hours. You can use this website to buy a seat reservation and to check before departure how many seats are already reserved.

This map, which is published by the state of Austria, is available online for free

If you zoom in far enough, it displays the terrain with contour lines, hill shading and quite many details

You can also switch to an aerial image instead ("Orthophoto")

It also displays peaks, hiking trails and mountain huts

If you plan to do longer (maybe even multi-day) hikes in the mountains, consider joining an alpine association (e.g. Alpenverein, Naturfreunde or ÖTK) if you haven't already in your home country

A membership offers insurance in case of emergencies, discounts for sleeping at mountain huts and other benefits like the possibility to rent equipment or guide books

For the hut discounts, memberships from other associations are mutually recognized (see the post in "accomodations"), so the main reasons for choosing one of the associations are the price and where they are located

• ÖTK has a discount for memberships until end of August, but you probably will need to pick up your membership card in Vienna

• Membership at Alpenverein is generally more expensive, but they have local branches in many towns across Austria, plus you support their advocacy work for protecting the alps