This page contains some tips how to travel to and from Vienna. For information on transportation inside Vienna see the page Local Transport in Vienna.
Flying to/from Vienna
Vienna International Airport is some way from the city center, but it offers a couple of convenient means of transportation to the city: S-Bahn, Bus, City Airport Train.
Another possibility is to fly to Airport Bratislava, which is only one hour by train from Vienna. After you arrive to Airport Bratislava, you can take bus number 61 to the Main Railway Station (this takes around 25 min.; the tickets can be bought from machines on bus stops) and then a train to Vienna. The train departs approximately each hour. All important information can be found on the web pages of Airport Bratislava and on the ÖBB Reiseportal.
Traveling from Dresden to Vienna
Most of the first year students will travel from Dresden, so below we list some suggestions of connections from Dresden to Vienna:
Flight: Germanwings flies through Cologne, which is really out of the way. We did not find any other convenient flight connections.
Train: There is a direct train connection from Dresden Hbf to Wien Simmering (departing at 11:08, arriving at 18:06) and to Wien Meidling (11:08-18:22 or 21:08-06:07). The tickets can be bought on DB Bahn for 29 euro. There are U-Bahn (metro/underground) stations at both destinations (Simmering – U3, Meidling – U6 Philadelphiabrücke), so this option is actually pretty convenient.
Mitfahr: If you like a little adventure, you can get a ride from somebody who is already going to Vienna (usually for a small fee). Check the Mitfahrzentrale (at the moment of writing, there were already a couple of nice offers for 19.2. there) or any other Mitfahr page. If you find the right offers, this could work out as a very cheap mode of transport.
Traveling from Vienna to Bolzano
The best means of transportation from Vienna to Bolzano we found so far is a train. You can make this trip with only one change in Innsbruck. If you are lucky, you can find some offers of cheap tickets on the ÖBB Reiseportal (at the moment of writing, there were some tickets for 30 or 40 euro).
If you cannot get such a offer, you can buy a VORTEILScard <26 from ÖBB if you are younger than 26 (check the webpage). This card costs about 20 euro for a whole year and you get 50% discount on train tickets in Austria and 45% on tickets to other countries. Also you get additional discount for a group ticket – the more people with a Vorteilscard in the group the bigger discount (for details and the exact rules, check the ÖBB web page). This really pays of even for one trip: a normal ticket to Innsbruck costs around 50 euro, so when you buy a Vorteilscard for 20 euro and get 50% discount you save around 5 already, and then you save also on the other ticket (plus a discount for a group ticket). Also, then you have a Vorteilscard that is valid for a whole year. So the best idea would be to arrange a group of students who would buy a Vorteilscard and then get a group ticket from Vienna to Innsbruck and then from Innsbruck to Bolzano.
How to buy a VORTEILScard <26: You need a photo (passport size) and a valid official photo identification (passport, for instance). Ask for the Vorteilscard in any ticket office of ÖBB (these are located in most train stations in Austria). They will give you a form to fill. The form will ask you for an address where you want your card to be delivered, so remember the address of where you will stay in Bolzano. Then you pay around 20 euro and they give you a confirmation that you paid for your Vorteilscard, with which you can get the discount. This confirmation is valid for 2 months.