Europe 2024: 6-City Tour | Vienna, Austria (almost)

So we boarded the train to Vienna on Monday. Just for a bit of background – we have a digital Eurail pass and app that allows you to peruse routes, select a desired route, save that journey and then add it to your pass just before boarding. We were aware of severe rainstorms in Vienna but since the railway did not send any communications to us, we ASSUMED that we could get to Vienna with our chosen journey .

As we were moving, the ticket checker lady came around, scanned our pass and said “you can’t get to Vienna today, you can only go as far as Linz”. Everyone was a bit dumbfounded because nobody knew. With a bit more research, it seems Monday and Tuesday were washouts – with the possibility it may extend until Thursday. It created an issue for us as Vienna was a pass-thru city for our next two destinations – Bratislava and Budapest.

So what to do? We decided our best alternative was to avoid Eastern Europe, change direction and go south instead. We had planned to spend several days in Ljubljana, Slovenia next week but thought a few extra days there might be nice. We heard really good things about it.

A few new bookings and cancellations later – we had a new plan in place. We got off the train in Linz, Austria (I had never heard of it!) and stayed there for the night. A quick lunch and few essentials from the grocery store i.e. beer, snacks and wine – a quiet, rainy night in a Linz hotel was in the cards.

This morning, we headed to the train station in Linz and our route was not showing on the board. Not a great start! I asked a customer service rep and he said the route number was changed. Again, no communications from Eurail or the railroad company. Jeez! Ok, we boarded the train and started travelling west to Salzburg, Austria [change trains] then south to Villach, Austria [change trains] and continue south to Ljubljana, Slovenia. The sun finally started to break through!

The scenery through the Austrian Alps and Slovenian countryside was amazing, I really enjoyed it. The funny part was that the 6.5 hour total trip was all perfectly on time – arriving in Slovenia safely. No delays or cancellations.