Day 3b: Paris - Stuttgart - Vienna
Second day of travel:
First Train
Operator/Train: SNCF, TGV 9579 inOui
Origin: Paris
Destination: Stuttgart
Duration: 3h 10min (estimated)
Distance: ~500 km
Stops / Changes: 5 stops
Seat Reservation: Yes, required.
I managed to use my first class pass again, which was great because otherwise I feel like I would have wasted those extra £80.
What can one say about TGV? Fast, comfortable, not too noisy, lights not to bright, spacious… Honestly was there only 3h and a half-ish and it was so comfy that I felt myself falling sleep towards the last hour of the journey, but with an overnight train next, I stopped myself. In hindsight, I could have done with an hour of comfortable sleep.
Connection: 39 minutes connection in Stuttgart Hbf. I trusted the French and German operators, because if this was UK there’s not way in hell I would chanced a connection with less than an hour margin.
At the end the TGV arrived 20 minutes late, which still left me plenty of time. And in any case, the second train was 30 minutes delayed on its departure so, even more time stuck in Stuttgart station where everything was already closed. Joy!
Second Train
Operator/Train: IC 461
Origin: Stuttgart Hbf
Destination: Wien Hbf
Duration: 8h 22min (estimated)
Distance: ~534 km (notice the difference in time for about the same distance?)
Stops / Changes: 20 stops (that’s an average of around 2.5 stops every hour and I felt the pain of each and every one of them 😤
Seat Reservation: Recommended but not mandatory. I did get mine but apparently it didn’t show on their system because my seat wasn’t marked as reserved. It’s not like it mattered, the train went mostly empty at the start until Munich. There started filling up but still ok to have 2 seats for each person (at least in the 1st class carriage!). It only got busy in the last hour, I believe because the locals use it as a regular commute train for early shifts.
This was the first sleeper of the journey and I had no idea what type of seat I ended booking because there were no options. I was hoping that even if the seats were chair-like rather than bunks, that they would still be comfy like the TGVs (or the ones I’ve seen in the Caledonian Sleeper or in the Canadian when we did the section between Vancouver and Jasper). I had a first class booking so for an 8h and half journey that runs overnight I was expecting… Well, more than what I got 😅
When I first saw the train I thought it looked like a Renfe Cercania (that’s Spanish short distance trains). Ok perhaps slightly better, like the Scotrail Edinburgh to Glasgow but with two decks. The only noticeable difference between first class and regular carriages was that there were less seats by carriages, the were ever-so-lightly larger and the tables were more spacious, but that’s it. Not even reclinable seats!
If that was all, I think I would have been ok. But the worst part for me was the fact that the light were super bright and constantly on, and that due to having so many stops and those being announced by the cheerful attendant, you pretty much woke up every 30/40 minutes.
So not the best train journey by far, and I should have probably gave up on trying to sleep but I was stubborn and I managed to bag some intermittent slumber for a few hours.
I made it to Vienna (Wien) on time, and that what really matters, And yes, I was pretty knackered after trying to get some sleep curled over myself in a kind of 4-shape , but after a couple of hours resting in the hostel, I felt refreshed enough to go out and make the most of my first time in Wien!