München / Munich to Klagenfurt by train

How to travel from München / Munich to Klagenfurt by train

This is one of Europe's most scenic city to city railway journeys, so if you will be travelling from Bavaria to the lake shore resorts on lovely Wörthersee, taking the train is definitely the way to go.

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Routes

From München Hbf/Munich main station to Klagenfurt Hbf

Travel Information

Final Destination: Klagenfurt

These trains also call at: Bad Gastein and Villach (take the 08:17 train and connect in Villach for Ljubljana and Zagreb) and at these Wörthersee resort towns:
Velden am Worther see
Portschach am Worther see
Krumpendorf am Worther see

4 x trains per day

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

On the DB booking site look for journeys that have:

  • 0 in the Chg. column
  • RJ or EC in the Products column.

Use the earlier/later buttons* to search for the cheapest ticket prices.
Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.

*As there can be gaps of more than three hours between the departures of these trains, you may need to search through the departures on the booking sites to find them.

Seat reservations:

Book 1st class ticket journey tickets on DB and your seat reservation is included - but they're optional when booking 2nd class tickets, or if you will be travelling with a 1st or 2nd class rail pass.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
DB Bahn from €27.90

DB Bahn Guide

DB is the national railway operator in Germany, so its website can be used for booking journeys by German express trains; the ICE and IC trains and it doesn't charge booking fees.
It also sells tickets for journeys by direct trains on all international routes from Germany regardless of whether DB is operating the train service.

It also sells an extensive range of end-to-end journeys which involve making connections both within Germany and in neighboring countries, but journeys between Germany and Britain cannot be booked on DB.

A key feature of DB website worth keeping mind is that it offers 1st class ticket purchasers complimentary seat reservations on journeys both within and to/from Germany.

Seat reservations for daytime in both 1st and 2nd class can also be booked separately from tickets.

OBB from €27.90

OBB Guide

OBB is the national rail operator and its booking service offers journeys by express trains within Austria, as well as international journeys which don't involve making a connection outside of Austria.

It pays off to book online, as the discounted 'Sparscheine' tickets are only ever made available on the website, and when making international journeys to and from Austria, these Sparscheine tickets tend to be cheaper.
OBB can offer particularly good value for money when travelling with children on international rail journeys, but something to watch out for when travelling between Austria and Germany on daytime trains, is that reservations are an optional extra; but if you book 1st class tickets with the Germany railways website DB, the reservations are complimentary.

OBB often takes a unique approach to its booking path, but a key thing to keep in mind is that the first price you will see for any journey is that of a Second Class seat.
The costs of upgrading to first class, a reservation, or a sleeping cabin etc, is then added to this price.

Omio from €27.90

Omio Guide

Omio is an online ticket agency which offers tickets for rail journeys in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain.

The three key advantages of using Omio are

  • it offers prices in multiple currencies
  • it usually offers price comparison with other modes of travel including flights and buses
  • when visiting Europe, you can book journeys in multiple countries in one transaction.

The disadvantage of booking with Omio is that it often adds a booking fee to the final price; therefore when it does so without offering a price advantage, SMTJ doesn't tend to offer Omio as a booking option.

Happyrail from €27.90

Happyrail Guide

Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.

HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.

Trainline from €27.90

Trainline Guide

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - YesMountain viewsNot High SpeedLake views

Good to Know

The first train of the day is now a Railjet.

The coaches to Klagenfurt on the EC trains can be joined to coaches heading to Zagreb ; the train separates at Villach.
So when boarding check that you will be in the part of the train heading to Klagenfurt.
Don't be overly concerned about this, the conductor will verify that you're sat in the correct part of the train when they inspect your ticket.

Between Salzburg and Bad Gastein Between Salzburg and Bad Gastein
From the right, shortly after departing Bad Gastein From the right, shortly after departing Bad Gastein
Between Bad Gastein and Villach Between Bad Gastein and Villach
Between Bad Gastein and Villach Between Bad Gastein and Villach
The view over the Worthersee, which can be seen between Villach and Klagenfurt The view over the Worthersee, which can be seen between Villach and Klagenfurt

This is one of Europe's most stunning railway journeys undertaken by express trains.

The best of the views are from the right of the train (when facing the direction of travel); though the approach to Bad Gastein is best seen from the left.
The highlight of the journey is the stretch between Bad Gastein and Villach.

Views over a lake can also be seen from the right of the train between Villach and Klagenfurt  (the video was taken from a train heading south from Klagenfurt).

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