Austrian Federal Railways, ÖBB offers the popular Sommerticket (Summer Ticket) again this year. With that, you can travel on all daytime ÖBB services (not just regional ones) for 30 days. To buy the ticket, you’ll need a Vorteilscard Jugend (which costs €19). If you are under 20, the Sommerticket will cost you an additional €34. Between 20-26, the pass will set you back €59.
You can take advantage of the Sommerticket from July 2 to September 11 with a 30 days validity for each pass, while the Vorteilscard remains valid for one year.
By clicking the link, you’ll get to ÖBB’s main ticket shop. You can select Sommerticket from the main page. If you already have a Vorteilscard and are logged in, it will quote the price without it (see below). Without a Vorteilscard, it will quote the full price.
Search & Book
You can select the starting date of both the Vorteilscard and the Sommerticket. The latter is refundable before the first day of validity. After that, the pass will be valid for either 30 days or until September 11. If it expires before September 11, you can buy a new one without buying another Vorteilscard.
The ticket is valid on most ÖBB and Raaberbahn (also known as GySEV) operated trains, on the IC bus between Graz and Klagenfurt in Austria, and to/from selected border stations (explained below). You cannot use EuroNight (EN) and Nightjet (NJ) services, on weekends, you can use the night “D” trains. You can use the pass from 08:00 to the next day’s 03:00 on weekdays and all day on weekends.
However, from this year you need to reserve a seat on long-distance trains on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The pass includes five free reservations. Sometimes it makes sense to avoid Railjets and just use regional trains, for example when going from Vienna airport to the city.
To buy the Sommerticket, you would also need the Vorteilscard. If you travel long-distance at least once with ÖBB (other than the Summer) and you can’t get your hand on a Sparpreis ticket, that would also pay itself back. It costs €19 and is valid for one year. The Vorteilscard includes the international Railplus discount.
You can find more information on the Vorteilscard here and the Sommerticket here (in German).
Train Ideas
You can find trains on ÖBB’s SCOTTY (website, Android, Apple), which also shows you information regarding your trains.
Unlike the recently introduced Klimaticket, the Sommerticket is only valid on ÖBB/Raaberbahn-operated trains (plus the IC bus), but not on city transport. However, you can still use S-Bahn services inside cities. You can already save on the airport train, however, you’d need to use the slower S-Bahn if you don’t want to waste one reservation voucher right away.
Austria has a great train network which is not Vienna-centred. With this ticket, you can explore the real Austria: the mountains, the scenery, and the countryside, which is what the country is known for. You can visit the Semmering area, Graz, Kalgenfurt, Innsbruck, Hallstatt and the Bregenz/Lindau area.
Speaking about Lindau, ÖBB passes are valid until the train crew change takes place, which is the first station abroad in many instances. Some examples are:
- Lindau and Passau in Germany (The 9-Euro-Ticket is valid from these and Salzburg)
- Breclav and Znojmo in Czechia (if you are a student, you can have great discounts with an ISIC card)
- Bratislava-Petrzalka in Slovakia (on the Northern Line, the ticket is only valid in Austria!)
- Hegyeshalom, Sopron and Szentgotthárd in Hungary (Hungarian operator MÁV doesn’t allow you to combine international and domestic tickets. You can either get off at these stations or buy tickets from ÖBB.)
- Jesenica in Slovenia (On the Maribor line, only valid in Austria.)
- Tarvisio and Brennero in Italy
- Buchs in Switzerland (The train goes through Liechtenstein)
Conclusion
All in all, the Sommerticket is a great deal for anyone wanting to visit Austria. ÖBB provides good and reliable services. Even with the reservation mandate, it still competes with the Danish version or even with the 9-Euro-Ticket in Germany.