Which station in Vienna?
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Vienna Hauptbahnhof is Vienna's swish new central station, opened fully in December 2015 and used by all international trains and all ÖBB domestic mainline trains. Hauptbahnhof is often abbreviated to Hbf, it simply means main station in German. Vienna is Wien in German.
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Vienna Meidling: Some domestic and international trains call at Vienna Meidling before or after calling Vienna Hbf. By all means use Meidling if it's closer to your hotel, but normally it's better to use Vienna Hbf as this is the main station with much better facilities. Journey planners often suggest changing trains at Meidling, chances are you can equally well change at Vienna Hbf which is a better place to change.
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Vienna Westbahnhof: Once Vienna's most important terminus, now only used by regional & suburban trains and by the hourly Westbahn trains to Linz & Salzburg, with a few extended to Munich. All other international trains and ÖBB domestic mainline trains ceased using Vienna Westbahnhof in December 2015.
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Vienna Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof: A small terminus in the north of the city, you'll only need it if you want to take a regional train to Ceske Velenice for onward connections Ceske Budejovice & Cesky Krumlov.
Vienna Hauptbahnhof
Vienna Hbf is Vienna's swanky new central station, a modern station fit for a capital city, opened fully on 13 December 2015. The idea was simple: To replace 3 separate dead-end termini - Westbahnhof, Ostbahnhof & Sudbahnhof - with one big central through station at which all trains could call when passing through Vienna, both east-west & north-south. East-west trains no longer have to go into the dead-end Westbahnhof, change locomotives and head back out again. Passengers no longer have to trek between stations by taxi, tram or bus to make connections between east-west trains using the Westbahnhof and northbound or southbound trains using the Ostbahnhof or Sudbahnhof. All trains now use one main central hub, Vienna Hbf. It has transformed travel to, from & across Vienna, making interchange easy and cutting 30 minutes off the journey from Munich or Salzburg to Budapest, for example. See virtual tour of Vienna Hbf.
View over Vienna Hbf from the 15th floor of Motel One, looking north towards the city centre. The station entrances, concourse and facilities are all at ground level, the tracks run through Vienna on a viaduct so the platforms are one floor up.
Main entrance on the northern side of the tracks, nearest the city centre as you'd expect. This entrance is on the western side of the concourse, there's smaller entrance on the eastern side.
Main concourse seen from just inside the main entrance. The upper-level windows on the right look through to platforms 3-12.
The ticket office (Reisezentrum) is on the right of this photo, beneath the red ÖBB sign. The stairs just left of centre lead down to platforms 1 & 2 used by S-Bahn & some regional trains, and to toilets and U-Bahn.
Beyond the ticket office on the right is the broad passageway leading under tracks with escalators or lifts up to platforms 3-12. The entrance to the ÖBB Lounge is in the far distance on the left, the lounge itself is on the first floor. See panorama tour of station.
Vienna Hbf main concourse, seen from the 1st floor windows of the ÖBB Lounge. Underneath the departures board is is the wide passageway under the tracks, from which stairs, escalators and/or lifts lead up to platforms 3-12. To the right of the departure board is the ticket office. The stairs just visible on the far right lead down to platforms 1 & 2, toilets & U-Bahn.
South side entrance. The Interspar supermarket & ÖBB's company headquarters are on this side of the tracks
Which platform for your train?
Platforms 1 & 2 are below ground level, used by S-Bahn suburban trains and regional trains.
Platforms 3 to 12 are above ground level on a viaduct, served by all ÖBB mainline domestic & international trains. They're numbered from north to south, with platform 3 closest to the main entrance and concourse.
There are no ticket gates or entry checks, just easy open access from street to concourse then up lifts or escalators or stairs to each platform. Platform numbers are posted on the main departure board and on the screens on every platform, usually around 20 minutes before departure.
Tip, train formation screens: At the top of the escalators on each island platform, as well as a summary of departures there's a screen showing train formations for upcoming departures from that platform. Each platform is divided into zones A, B, C, D & E, with A at the west end and E at the east end. The train formation screen tells you where each car will stop along the platform, so if you have a reserved seat in a specific car, go and wait in the right zone. It'll save you running up and down like a headless chicken when the train comes in.
Platforms 3-12 are one level up from ground/concourse level. Each pair of platforms is reached by stairs, escalators or lifts from the passageway below.
Departure screen & train formation displays showing upcoming train formations for platform 7 & 8. Larger photo.
Ticket offices
The main ticket office is on the main concourse on the northern side of the tracks, see the photo below. It's well-organised with a reception desk and numbered queuing system to make sure you go to the right ticket counter in your turn. There is a separate ticket office with counters for Westbahn and Regiojet trains, to the right of the main ÖBB ticket office, see the photo below.
ÖBB Lounge
If you have a 1st class ticket or any sort of sleeping-car ticket, or a 1st class Interrail or Eurail pass, you can use the ÖBB lounge for up to 90 minutes before or after your journey. It offers free WiFi, tea, coffee & snacks.
There's one exception: You can use the lounge with a 1st class DB Sparpreis or Flexpreis fare, but not with a 1st class Super Sparpreis fare.
The lounge at Vienna Hbf is open 06:00-23:30 every day of the week. The entrance is on the main concourse, the lounge itself is on the first floor, there are stairs and a lift.
You'll find similar lounges at Vienna Meidling, Vienna Westbahnhof, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Graz & Klagenfurt. You can find opening hours and access conditions at the Austrian Railways website www.oebb.at.
The ÖBB Lounge is on the first floor, accessed by stairs or lift.
Luggage lockers
There are plenty of left luggage lockers if you need to leave your bags, see the luggage lockers page for details. The locker room is one floor down from ground level, down the escalators towards underground platforms 1 & 2, see the photo below. They are clearly signed, follow the locker pictogram signs. They are coin-operated using a control panel in each block of lockers. Tip: There's a change machine to change euro notes into coins inside the entrance of the toilets on the same floor.
Supermarket...
The best place to stock up for a journey is the Interspar Pronto supermarket on the ground floor of the station near the steps up to platforms 11 & 12, on the south side of the station - see the photo below. The supermarket also has an entrance off the south side forecourt.
Places to eat
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There are plenty of eateries & food outlets around the station, including cafes and fast food.
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Der Ringsmuth (www.der-ringsmuth.at) is a decent restaurant just across the road from the station. Its quiet interior is an oasis away from the bustle of the station and it does a good beef tartare and Vienna schnitzel. Walk out of the station's southern exit (that's the platform 12 side of the station), look diagonally across the road to your right and you'll see a building on the corner with Restaurant written across it in large letters.
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Bierochs Bierkeller is 7 minutes walk south of the station, recommended as a quiet & atmospheric basement bar to kill time between trains. See article. See walking route map.
Local transport: Walking, taxis & metro
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Walking... You can walk from the station to the city sights, but it's a fair way. Vienna Hbf to St Stephen's cathedral is 2.9 km and takes 35 minutes, see Google map of Vienna showing stations. You may prefer to take the U-Bahn, a tram or taxi.
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U-Bahn: Vienna Hbf is on line U1 of the Vienna U-bahn (metro). This will take you direct to Stephansplatz in the city centre, change there for line U3 to Vienna Westbahnhof. Vienna Meidling is on line U6. U-bahn stations are marked with a distinctive U sign. For metro information see www.wienerlinien.at.
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Tram: There is a tram stop underneath the station called Hauptbahnhof Ost, this is served by tram D to Franz Josef's Bahnhof.
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Buy transit tickets on your phone: Download the WienMobil app for iPhone or WienMobil app for Android. You can then buy Vienna city transit tickets (good for U-Bahn, tram, bus) in the app on your phone using your credit or debit card, either single tickets or an inexpensive Day Ticket giving unlimited travel on trams, buses & U-Bahn all day. The whole system is open, with no ticket gates to go through, you simply show the ticket QR code on your phone if stopped by an inspector.
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Taxis: For a taxi fare calculator see www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=Vienna-Austria&lang=en. Taxis are usually plentiful outside the station.
Hotels in Vienna
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Near the station: There are a number of good and relatively inexpensive hotels just outside Vienna Hbf, try the Novotel Vienna Hbf, Motel One Vienna Hbf (good & inexpensive, I've stayed there myself) or the Hotel Zeitgeist Vienna Hbf just round the corner from the station, which I've also used.
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In the city centre near the sights: Central hotels tend to be expensive, but try the 3-star Pension Nossek (with art nouveau rooms, just 5 minutes walk from St Stephen's cathedral), 4-star K&K Palais Hotel, Mercure Centrum Wien or Le Meridien Vienna. If you really want to push the boat out, there's always the 5-star Palais Hansen Kempinski Vienna & Park Hyatt Vienna.
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For something inexpensive try the Best Western Plus Amedia Hotel, a little way out of the centre and a taxi ride from the station.
Vienna Meidling
Many mainline and international trains call at Meidling before or after calling at Vienna Hbf, but I recommend using Vienna Hbf unless you have a specific reason for using Meidling. Vienna Meidling is closer to some parts of the city, for example the Schönbrunn Palace, but it's much smaller and lacks all the facilities of Vienna Hbf. Meidling basically consists of two pedestrian subways linking all the platforms, one at the east end, one at the west end. The one at the eastern end has a small underground concourse with ticket office and ÖBB lounge sandwiched between it and the adjacent metro station. At street level there's little more to Vienna Meidling than steps or escalators down into these underground passageways.
Journey planners often suggest changing trains at Meidling, for example when travelling from Germany to Budapest. Chances are, you can equally well change trains at Vienna Hbf which would a much nicer place to change.
The main entrance to Vienna Meidling - basically just steps & escalator down into a small underground concourse with a passageway linking all the tracks. Note the skylight visible between the tracks on the right, above the underground concourse.
The small underground concourse at Vienna Meidling, with bakery, ÖBB ticket office & ÖBB Lounge. Behind the camera is Meidling metro station. On the far side of the concourse is the passageway linking all the platforms. The skylight in the ceiling is the one visible in the previous photo.
There are 8 platforms at Vienna Meidling.
Vienna Westbahnhof
The current station was opened in 1952 and it's classic post-war architecture always reminds me of the cold war era, when Vienna was the neutral ground between the eastern bloc & the west. Vienna Westbahnhof is a terminus, with around 11 platforms. It used to be Vienna's most important station, handling trains on the Paris-Salzburg-Vienna-Budapest axis, including the Orient Express for over a century. However, in December 2015 all mainline trains were transferred to the new Vienna Hbf and now the Westbahnhof is only used by regional trains and the hourly Westbahn trains to Salzburg, some of which are now extended to Munich. You'll still find plenty of shops, cafes, restaurants & ATMs at the Westbahnhof. Left luggage lockers are available, see here for opening hours & prices.
Vienna Westbahnhof...
Inside the Westbahnhof. Up the steps or escalator to the upper level, then out onto the platforms...
Platforms 6 & 7 at Vienna Westbahnhof, with two double-deck Westbahn trains to Salzburg & Munich.
Vienna Franz Josef's Bahnhof
You'll only need the Franz Josef's Bahnhof in the north of the city if you're heading for Cesky Krumlov and need to take the Austrian regional train to Ceske Velenice for an onward train to Ceske Budejovice & Cesky Krumlov. It's currently being rebuilt, a gloomy local station buried under an office block next to a MacDonald's.
The easiest way to transfer between Franz Josef's Bahnhof & Vienna Hbf is on tram D, this goes from the Hauptbahnhof Ost tram stop underneath the eastern end of Vienna Hbf. For travel between Franz Josef's Bahnhof & Vienna Westbahnhof, use tram 5. Both these trams leave from the tram stop in front of Franz Josef's Bahnhof. For city transit information see www.wienerlinien.at or download the WienMobil app for iPhone or WienMobil app for Android so you can buy tickets on your phone.
Vienna Franz Josef's Bahnhof. The station in beneath that office block...
Vienna Franz Josef's Bahnhof, platforms. The station is currently being rebuilt..