Rail-ski map of Austria
Austria has fantastic ski resorts. As you might know, many of them have a train station located in the resort village or a short distance away.
By train, the scenery you witness travelling to and through the Austrian Alps is spectacular. On journeys, I’ve often wished the driver would stop and reverse – for a second viewing.
Naturally, the more Austrian ski resorts I visit by train, the more I want to help other snow lovers do so too.
I realised that a key part of this would be a rail-ski map of Austria. It didn’t exist—but now it does.
That’s thanks to the dedication of David Cooper, the graphic designer who also created the France rail-ski map. In spring we started a project to create a rail-ski map of Austria, with some funding from Austria Tourism.
I hope you find our map both inspiring and useful. You can view it below and you can also download the map as a PDF so that you can have your own copy to wow friends, amaze family members or impress first dates.
The next question is: what are your options for reaching Austria by train?
Buckle up, scroll down and I’ll try to summarise the main ones.
Rail-ski map of Austria
Train options to Austria
Railjet train in AustriaPhoto: ÖBB
Essentially, between the UK and Austria, you have three main options:
Eurostar + European Sleeper (overnight)
You go to Brussels and then take the European Sleeper from there
Eurostar + Nightjet (overnight)
You go to Brussels, Paris or – for winter 2024–25 only – Amsterdam and then take the Nightjet from there
Eurostar + ICE (daytime)
You combine a Eurostar to Brussels with a couple of ICE trains and possibly another local train
Excited or curious? Let's look at each option in turn.
Eurostar + European Sleeper
European SleeperPhoto: European Sleeper
The new kid on the block is the European Sleeper winter service. European Sleeper is a private train company that's been running overnight trains in Europe since March 2023. It’s now launching a winter service from Brussels to Innsbruck (and onwards into Italy).
The good thing about the train is that it has proper couchette compartments with flat beds. Better still, this winter service will have a proper bar and restaurant carriage. Rail travel is all about the experience and this sounds exciting, romantic and evocative.
However, in its inaugural season, European Sleeper's winter service will only run on certain nights in February and March 2025. Hopefully, if the season is successful more dates will be added. Ticket prices are not cheap, but then running sleeper trains is an expensive endeavour, especially if you aren’t getting a government subsidy.
Outbound dates (going to the Alps) with the European Sleeper
• Wednesday 05 February 2025
• Friday 14 February 2025
• Thursday 21 February 2025 (to Innsbruck only)
• Saturday 23 February 2025
• Thursday 28 February 2025 (to Innsbruck only)
• Tuesday 04 March 2025
• Wednesday 12 March 2025
Inbound dates (coming from the Alps) with the European Sleeper
• Sunday 09 February 2025
• Tuesday 18 February 2025
• Saturday 22 February 2025 (from Innsbruck only)
• Thursday 27 February 2025
• Saturday 01 March 2025 (from Innsbruck only)
• Saturday 08 March 2025
• Sunday 16 March 2025
You can find out more in SnowCarbon's Guide to Eurostar + European sleeper journeys.
This is the European Sleeper website.
I’ve not travelled on the European Sleeper, and the winter service is new, so I can’t speak about it from personal experience.
Eurostar + Nightjet
Nightjet sleeper cabinPhoto: Daniel Elkan
The Nightjet provides access to two of Austria’s biggest ski regions, Tirol and Salzburgerland. I’ve travelled on it several times.
The usual three main routes from the UK to Austria via the NightJet are:
London > Brussels > Cologne > Innsbruck
London > Brussels > Salzburg
London > Paris > Salzburg
However, for winter 2024–25 there will be some engineering work around Cologne, meaning that the London > Brussels > Cologne > Innsbruck route will change to London > Amsterdam > Innsbruck.
Although on paper this looks like one less change of train, it means a longer journey overall, with time spent in Amsterdam.
So, for 2024–25 your options are:
London > Amsterdam > Innbsruck
Outbound journeys run every day.
Inbound journeys run every day.
London > Brussels > Salzburg
Outbound journeys run Mon, Wed, and Fri.
Inbound journeys run Tues, Thurs, and Sat.
London > Paris > Salzburg
Outbound journeys run Mon, Wed, and Fri.
Inbound journeys run Tues, Thurs, and Sat.
You can find out more in SnowCarbon's Guide to Eurostar + Nightjet journeys.
Eurostar + ICE (+ ICE)
ICE restaurant carriagePhoto: Daniel Elkan
Overnight journeys have a magical way of shrinking time because you sleep while you travel. For the Austrian Alps, geographically further from the UK than the French Alps, this matters.
Daytime journeys, even though often on high-speed trains, can't perform this temporal conjuring trick. However, things balance in different ways.
I recently travelled from London to Turkey and back by train, far further than I've ever travelled by train before. This involved two daytime journeys from the UK to and through Austria, and I had a wonderful time.
You travel to Brussels by Eurostar, and from there you take a couple of ICE trains and then a Railjet or Eurocity or a different local Austrian train.
ICE trains are really spacious and comfortable, with a proper restaurant carriage (see photo above) on board. They put UK trains (and Eurostar, for that matter) to shame.
The changes of train are easy. Yes, you have to haul your luggage off one train, switch platform and board another. That's not for everyone but it's a small sacrifice for a scenic, exciting journey. ICE, ICE baby.
That said, the journeys, done in one day, are long and not necessarily for the rail-to-resort first timer. If you've got a friend who is a Doubting Thomas, don't try to persuade them not to fly. That way you can enjoy the rail journey without them squawking 'Are we there yet?', to which the answer would be: "Not to the resort, no; but to the limits of our friendship!"