Italy Smart Ticket to Vienna, stop at Salzburg & Linz

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Hi,

I am wondering if SMART ticket bought on trenitalia.com can have stopovers and only valid for 1 day. It says on trenitalia.com: The Smart ticket is valid only for the day, category and train booked on; cannot be altered. I am not sure about this....

If I buy Smart 2 overnight couchett ticket from Bolgona to Linz, and stop Salzburg in the morning for a few hours and catch afternoon train onward to Linz? As I am going to Ceske Krumlov from Linz.

I am also preparing to buy the same Smart 2 ticket from Bologna to Vienna but for a later day. As I am going further from Ceske Krumlov to Vienna. My plan is to go back to Linz to catch the same overnight train (from Italy) to Vienna. This way can save me a lot of money on fare. But I wonder is it OK to do so?

The Smart 2 ticket I check now single way from say Bologna to Linz for a 6 Couchett only cost 8 euro in March. It is also strange the Smart 1 ticket is higher than Smart 2, and this sales price is much lower than claimed 29 euro from Italy to Austria.

If this Smart Ticket can also allow me to make multiple stopovers, then I am also able to stop in Venice for a day trip from Bologna.

Please let me know if this is OK.

Thanks a lot for the help.

Unfortunately for you, but tickets sold with tariff "Smart" (basically it is discounted global price fare, in which actual ticket part 'merged' with seat reservation part) are only valid for a non-stop journeys or journeys with predefined stopovers (like change from EuroStar to EuroNight train in Venezia Mestre for proposed by TrenItalia overnight route Bologna-Linz), thus if you will get off train in Salzburg you won't be able to continue to Linz with the same ticket (even if it will say "Bologna-Linz").
In some countries you can actually choose those predefined stopovers and even increase time of the stopover, but not in this case.

Concerning the 8 euro fare. It does sound strange, thus almost certainly it is some kind of system error. We just tried to book similar Smart2 ticket Bologna-Linz for random dates in March, first it showed 28 euro in total for EuroStar Bologna-Mestre and C6 Mestre-Linz in EuroNight Venice-Vienna, but after all the required fields were filled it showed message "Sorry but we are unable satisfy the type of travel solution requested. Please select a different solution. (Error 2170)", while on previous stage it showed availability of Smart2 ticket for both legs. And such thing happened couple times.
So with TrenItalia online booking you can be definite about fare and possibility to book only while approaching the very last stage

Hello,

Thanks for the quick reply. I really appreciate it and yes, I did try to book the ticket but it showed the same message as you said....Then I try to book a normal priced ticket, still trenitalia does not let me proceed to final stage. Maybe they are undergoing some maintenance....

Also is the night train from Venice to Prague not running anymore? Can't find any train info or time table on trenitalia.com....2-3 years ago, I took CNL direct train from AMS to Milan, with ticket bought on bahn.de for only 39 euro, it seems this route is not running also....

Maybe they are undergoing some maintenance....

Actually it might just be long lasting problem of the whole online ticket selling system. There are multiple reports about problems in general, problems with cards acceptance etc.. So you might simply consider purchasing ticket from DB. They don't sell tickets for Bologna-Salzburg or Linz, but you can buy ticket Bologna-Rosenheim/Freilassing (from 43 euro seats, 59 for 6 berth couchette) or  Bologna-Passau (seats from 53 euro, couchette from 69 euro). Freilassing is basically outskirts of Salzburg, while Passau-Linz is rather short ride.

You can also hunt for OeBB discounted tickets, their online systems seems to work fine, but there are two conditions for tickets Italy-Austria bought from OeBB (only accepted in Italy if: "they have already been confirmed with a control stamp by a member of the ÖBB train crew on the jorney from Austria to Italy (I guess this will not work for you) or you have a member of the ÖBB train crew in the couchette coach or sleeper put a control stamp on your ticket immediately at the start of your jorney in Italy")

Not sure whether visit to Linz is essential for you or it is just a way to get to C.Krumlov? If it is the second option, then you might also consider buying ticket Bologna-Rosenheim from DB website, in the morning in Rosenheim purchase Bavaria-Ticket Single, visit Salzburg (the ticket is valid till it), then simply omit Austria and go to C.Krumlov via Bavaria (route via Plattling-Zelezna Ruda looks shorter, but via Wurh im Wald-Domazlice seems faster). You can also purchase Bavaria-Bohemia ticket instead, thus covering you Czech border-C.Krumlov part of the journey.

is the night train from Venice to Prague not running anymore?

Well, routes and schedules do change over time
Most of such overnight trains in the region run by CNL, more about up to date routes here http://www.citynightline.ch/citynightline/view/en/index.shtml

hi,

I do look into the Bavaria-Bohemia ticket. It is the cheapest way from Germany to Czech!

yes, my destination is C.Krumlov. I am trying the route of your suggestion with the Bavaria-Bohemia ticket.

bahn.de is really good....it can also allow stopovers up to 48 hours with the same priced ticket in direct route.   

Thanks again for the reply. It really helps. A great website with so much info....

I do look into the Bavaria-Bohemia ticket. It is the cheapest way from Germany to Czech!

Well, it is exactly the point - you pay only 23 EUR for all your travels within Bavaria, visit to Salzburg and all your legs within western Czech Republic.
The only shortcoming of such option is the fact that Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket is valid from 9am during weekdays. So if you plan to arrive Mon-Fri, then you either will need to wait till 9am in order to catch train to Salzburg or pay extra 10 EUR for ticket Bologna-Freilassing (instead of Bologna-Rosenheim/Munich), thus allowing you to be in Salzburg around 8am.