Wikivoyage:Tourist office/Archives/2024/June

Safe and sound

Asked by: 41.116.167.94 18:12, 15 June 2024 (UTC) How can you be sure if the place is safe and sound?[reply]

See Stay safe for general advice. Please give more details if you want a specific answer as a safe city centre hotel is somewhat different from a safe arctic campgsite. AlasdairW (talk) 22:33, 15 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Vienna-Berlin train

Hi, everyone! For those of you who have taken that route: is it very scenic? The possibilities are either no changes or a change of trains in Nuremberg. Ikan Kekek (talk) 19:44, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Which route are you looking at? Looking at trains tomorrow, there are no-change trains via Nuremberg (eg ICE 92 at 10:13, costing €254) or via Brno, Prague, Dresden (eg RJ256 at 13:10, costing €140). There are more possibilities changing in Nuremberg, Prague etc or changing in Salzburg and Munich. If you can extend your stop to 2-3 hours, you could see a little of Nuremberg or Brno, but it wouldn't be worth spending such a short time in Prague or Dresden. I think the route via Prague is reasonably interesting and scenic in places, although it is an hour longer than via Nuremberg for a no-change train. AlasdairW (talk) 20:26, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I was just looking at trains from Vienna to Berlin available on https://www.thetrainline.com/en-us. This is a few weeks out, 2nd week of June. But the results don't show me what route the direct trains take, only where a change of trains is required when one is indeed required. We wouldn't get off to visit any city, because the entire trip takes about 7 hours 45 minutes. I see that ICE 92 is the quickest possibility, so thanks for telling me that goes through Nuremberg. SO be it. Does any of that route go over the Alps? Ikan Kekek (talk) 00:37, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just replying to myself: The 7-hour 40-minute train from Vienna to Berlin appears to run only on weekdays. On weekends, all trains take at least 9 hours. We haven't decided whether we'll take a train leaving at 10-something AM or fly. Ikan Kekek (talk) 10:34, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I was using Bahn.de the German rail (DB) site, which is partially in English, and gives stops if you click on "Haltestellen". The "man in Seat 61" has a review of the two trains, but this is mainly about the inside the train. AlasdairW (talk) 19:30, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The routes via Nürnberg normally go via Wien – Linz – Passau – Regensburg – Nürnberg – Erfurt – Halle/Leipzig – Berlin. Wien – Linz and Nürnberg – Halle/Leipzig are mostly high speed railways, making the route faster than via Praha, despite the detour. High speed lines tend to have a lot of tunnels, deep cuttings and noise barriers, so they're usually not very scenic. The occasional long and high viaduct compensates somewhat. High speed trains are also expensive to run per kilometre, so multiplied with the detour, this route should on average be a lot more expensive than the connection via Praha.

As both Wien and Berlin are north of the Alps, none of the sensible routes pass over those mountains. The line between Praha and Dresden does however pass the Elbsandsteingebirge, at the east end of the Ore Mountains, along the bank of the Elbe/Labe river. The section from Lovosice to Pirna is one of the most scenic railways in Europe.

Trains tend to be about an order of magnitude more eco-friendly than planes. Please take that into consideration. PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:14, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I do take that into consideration, but I'm also traveling with a partner, so for example, we chose to fly for 1.5 hours from Berlin to Zurich and then going from there to Lucerne instead of taking ~10 hours of trains to Lucerne. Cost is not an object, because we have Eurrail passes. Sadly, traveling via Prague didn't make sense unless we had had the time to visit Prague, which we don't this time (nor do we have the time to stay an extra day in Vienna and take the 7-hour 40-minute direct train that doesn't run on weekends). The trip will already be over 9 hours, which is pretty long even if we don't miss any connections, and I'm not that confident in Deutsche Bahn after having missed connections this past Friday (making us over 1 hour late) and yesterday (delaying us for about 25 minutes, using a different connection than planned). We have done the Munich-to-Berlin ICE before, which goes via Nuremburg, and it's somewhat scenic, though not like the ICE from Bologna to Munich over the Alps! So far, we are planning on taking the train. Ikan Kekek (talk) 10:35, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know whether it is more fit for your journey or not, but I do want to make mention of Westbahn, which seems like a solid option too. They operate between Vienna and Munich via Salzburg, and therefore roughly follow the foothills of the Alps. I have no local knowledge, so I don't know whether that's any more scenic than the ICE 92's route via Passau would be. The main advantage is though, that Westbahn is technically classified as a regional service, which for some stupid reason gives it priority over ICE's. It stops a bit more, and doesn't get up to 200 kph, giving you more chance to take in the scenery, too.

All that should take away some of the stress of making a connection in Munich, from where you have 40 minutes to stock up on whatever you need for the hours-long connection to Berlin with ICE 11 - the one you mentioned taking before. It doesn't seem to take much longer than the 7h40 route you had already found, but it does take away what I personally find to be the worst part of rail travel in Germany: Connection stress. It'd be rare if Westbahn would be delayed to where you couldn't connect in Munich, and ICE 11 starts from Munich and may therefore in a worst-case scenario depart late.

You will probably have to register both journeys separately for your EU-Rail pass, since both OEBB and DB's journey planner will try to force you onto OEBB's Express service to Munich.
― Wauteurz (talk) 10:57, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We actually considered getting off in Munich and going to an afternoon concert there before going to Berlin, but we're leaving Vienna on a Sunday, and the train from Munich to Berlin that day takes over 6 hours, not the usual 3 3/4 - 4 hours every other day. Ikan Kekek (talk) 01:37, 23 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

So, our train trip from Vienna to Berlin ended up taking over 10 hours, as there was almost an hour of delays. The trip within Austria was beautiful, as was the trip through the Bavarian countryside, even if neither was spectacularly breathtaking like the long detour to Sargans and Innsbruck that we had to take while going from Zurich to Munich during the southern German floods or the trip through Suedtirol and Tirol from Verona to Innsbruck that was part of a trip we took from Florence with a change of trains in Bologna to Munich. It was also beautiful to pass through Eisenach and some other areas of Thuringia, but in general, past Würzburg, the scenery or our trip from Vienna to Berlin with a change of trains in Nuremburg was much less interesting. (By the way, we had to change trains because the only direct train was sold out for seats.) Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:24, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sagrada Familia main entrance

So I’ve visited the Sagrada Familia, and, as of right now, the church is still in construction. The main entrance is something I’d like to ask about. Currently there are shops and a road in the way, meaning that in order for the main entrance to be built, everything has to be demolished… at least, that’s what I think is supposed to happen. I remember my tour guide saying that the road will be closed or something like that.

My question: How will the main entrance be built?

Asked by: 62.36.43.134 13:10, 18 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I couldn't find too much of what you're trying to ask but from I can tell, that shouldn't happen. According to march 2023 (So bare with me here) the property shouldn't expand on to or over the street which wouldn't out well, and now, I believe they're not going to expand due to recent pictures about the renderings about the finish 2026 product (Which I personally think that only adding to the design). But this could be my take, I hope someone can correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks. HistorySports (talk) 02:39, 22 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Borealis page (Train)

Hello this is HistorySports, I'm wondering if it'd be ok to make a Wikivoyage about the new Midwest Train Route Borealis since the Empire Builder (An bigger and older route) Has it's own route. Just curious about a future article, thanks! Asked by: HistorySports (talk) 02:19, 22 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. It would be an itinerary article. Ikan Kekek (talk) 02:30, 22 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]