Tools and apps: need to know

Organized by purpose: which app or website to use for each task, how to use it, and what to bring. Compiled on 10-30 from the records already in this repo; each item gives its source and check date, and anything not checked says "not verified". For ticket rules (what if you miss it, seat reservations) see Ticket notes; for single items to buy or book see Tickets and reservations.

Bottom line

1. Finding places: search Google Maps by the local name. In the "Overview" on each day page, click the local name of a place to copy it; the "Map ↗" next to it opens Google Maps directly (D-62).
2. Looking up train times: for Austrian trains and buses use the ÖBB app (or ÖBB's timetable system Scotty); for the lakes you can also use the official OÖVV lookup. Check again the day before you leave.
3. Buying train tickets, REX 7 to the airport: use the ÖBB Tickets app, or an ÖBB ticket machine in the station.
4. Buying Vienna city tickets: use the WienMobil app. A digital ticket is tied to one person; bring your passport. The airport is outside the Vienna city ticket area (Kernzone), so buy a separate ticket to the airport.
5. Lodging: the night of 10-30 is at Vienna hostel (4 people, night of 10-30), booked on Agoda; the confirmation is in Gmail; check in at the front desk.
6. Use TheFork for booking restaurants and the Ryanair app for flight check-in: neither of these was verified in the repo; see the sections below.

Finding places and navigation

• Search Google Maps by the local name: for example search Figlmüller, Wollzeile 5, Wien, not the Chinese name. If the result is off, add the address (D-62, recommended default).
• The "Overview" on day pages: after each place to visit there is a local name on a grey background; click it to copy. "Map ↗" opens the Google Maps search results. "Transit directions" on a place card opens the Google Maps public transport route. Lodging has no location on the page; check the booking for the address.
• Bus and tram stop names: you can also search the stop name in the ÖBB app (D-62).
• Offline maps: there is often no signal in the valleys and in the metro. The pre-trip list says to download offline maps in Google Maps (Budapest, Vienna, Bad Ischl—Hallstatt—Gosau—St. Wolfgang—Altaussee). Whether they were downloaded was not recorded.

Looking up train times

• Austrian trains, replacement bus SV170, cross-state services: look them up in the ÖBB app or Scotty and check again the day before (school holidays are 10-27 to 11-02, so services change). The ÖBB app sometimes recommends a service from WB (WESTbahn); ÖBB tickets are in principle not valid on it, so switch to an ÖBB train at about the same time (Ticket notes, item 7). When an earlier leg is late and you miss the connection, screenshot the delay in Scotty and keep it as proof (Ticket notes).
• Lake buses (541, 542, 543, 150, etc.): look them up in the official OÖVV lookup verkehrsauskunft.ooevv.at or the ÖBB app. The one-way fares at the lakes were checked on 10-24 in the official OÖVV lookup (Ticket notes).
• Inside Vienna (U-Bahn, tram, bus): the WienMobil app is the official Wiener Linien app. Its journey lookup was not verified in the repo (what was verified is ticket buying); the Vienna city services shown on the day pages were looked up by this system with open data (Transitous).
• Where the train times on this site come from: this system looks up services in Transitous open data. The Hallstatt ferry, the lake boats and the cog railway are not in it; they were entered by hand from the official timetables.

Buying tickets

• Austrian trains (IC, Railjet, REX): buy with the ÖBB Tickets app, or at an ÖBB ticket machine or counter in the station.
• Only tickets bought with the same ÖBB account that is logged in to the app show up under "Tickets" in the app. For a ticket bought as a guest on the website, click the link in the confirmation e-mail to get the PDF; when tickets are checked, show the PDF plus your passport (for Youth Card tickets, the Youth Card too) (ÖBB FAQ, read 10-27).
• Add the seat reservation in the app: choose the same train, tap "More / Mehr" under "Best price", choose "Ticket already exists"; about €3 per person (Ticket notes, "How to reserve seats").
• To the airport: REX 7 Wien Hbf → airport: buy with the ÖBB Tickets app or an ÖBB ticket machine in the station. The whole trip is about €5.50 (airport section €2.30 + Vienna city €3.20); only if you hold a still-valid Vienna city ticket when you board (24-hour ticket, 7 Tage) do you pay just the €2.30 airport section (prices from wien.info, read 10-22 and 10-31, the page shows no date; prices on the ÖBB and VOR official sites not verified). wien.info says people with a multi-day ticket or the Vienna City Card only need to add one "airport → Vienna city limit" ticket for €2.30, bought at an ÖBB machine or counter; the same page gives the same price for S7, R7 and Railjet, so Railjet is also fine. On 10-31 at about 13:50 I bought a 24-hour ticket with the WienMobil app (valid until about 13:50 on 11-01), so in the evening at Hbf only the €2.30 airport section needs to be added (D-75). How to choose that top-up in the ÖBB Tickets app is not verified: if you cannot find it in the app, use an ÖBB machine or counter in Hbf, say you have a 24-hour ticket and only want the section to the airport; if you really cannot buy it, buy the €5.50 full-trip ticket.
• From 2026-09-07 the S7 only runs as far as St. Marx and does not stop at Wien Mitte or Rennweg; REX 7 and Railjet still run from Hbf to the airport as usual; the CAT has been replaced by a bus between Wien Mitte and the airport until 2027-10-31 (wien.info, read 10-31). When looking up trains, the routing will recommend the CAT bus or FlixBus, both of which cost more than REX.
• Inside Vienna: buy with the WienMobil app (official Wiener Linien).
• Prices (wienerlinien.at, from 2026-01-01, read 10-22): 24-hour ticket digital €9.70 (paper €10.20); 7 Tage digital €25.20; single digital ticket €3.00 (the single price comes from ORF and vienna.at reports; the single-ticket page on the official site was not found).
• Digital tickets are tied to one person; bring your passport (a government ID with a photo).
• Valid only in Kernzone Wien (the core zone of Vienna). The airport (Kernzonengrenze Schwechat), the CAT airport express, Westbahn and Flixbus are not included: buy a separate ticket for the airport, see the previous item.
• Show discount cards at the moment you buy the ticket: the block on a day page where a ticket must be bought says which card to show (D-75). Lesson: the host sent the Salzkammergut Card for the lakes (free with a stay of 3 full nights) on 10-28, one per person, valid until 10-31, with up to about 25% off cable cars, boats and the salt mine, buses not included; but we ended up not going to the cable car or the salt mine, so the card was hardly used. The only thing we may have missed is the one-way boat from St. Wolfgang to St. Gilgen on 10-28 (€11.80): the official booklet only lists the full-lake ticket at €31 → €29.40 with the card, and whether the one-way fare gets a discount is not recorded; probably a euro or two per person at most. The day page at the time did not say "show your Salzkammergut Card when buying the boat ticket".
• Lake buses: Freizeit-Ticket OÖ €26.50 per ticket, shared by 2 adults for one day, on weekdays from 09:00 until 03:00 the next day (ooevv.at, read 10-24).
• Buy with the OÖVV Ticket App, the ÖBB Tickets app or the wegfinder app, and buy before boarding. There is no signal in the valleys, so buy at the lodging first.
• Tickets bought online are named; bring your passport.
• Buying from the driver is cash only (OÖVV terms 5.3); bring coins and small notes up to €10. If you want to pay by card, buy in the app with the card.
• Budapest (past): BKK tickets are bought with the BudapestGO app, which needs mobile data (bkk.hu, read 10-25).

Meals and reservations

• You make reservations yourself; this system only prepares them and does not place orders.
• Figlmüller (Figlmüller schnitzel): the Tickets and reservations page gives the "Lage & Kontakt" (location and contact) page of the official site figlmueller.at; how to reserve online is not verified. On a Friday night without a reservation there may be a queue; if the queue is too long, go next door to Lugeck (beef cutlet, a Figlmüller restaurant) (10-30 day page).
• TheFork: not verified. The repo never checked whether Figlmüller or the other restaurants on this trip can be booked on TheFork. If you want to use it, first search the restaurant name in TheFork; if it is not there, use the restaurant's website or call.
• Restaurant ratings: the "Google Maps 4.x (N reviews)" on the cards is mostly the Google Maps rating reposted on Wanderlog pages; Google Maps was not opened directly to check.

Accommodation

• Vienna, night of 10-30: Vienna hostel (4 people, night of 10-30)
• Booked on Agoda (booked 10-27, non-refundable, cannot be changed); the confirmation is in Gmail (checked 10-30).
• Check-in from 15:00; check-out before 11:00 on 10-31.
• The hotel e-mail suggests checking in online in advance, which needs everyone's ID details: you do this step yourself; if you skip it you can still check in at the front desk.
• City tax about €4, paid at the property.
• Whether the front desk will keep luggage after check-out was not asked. Not needed on 10-31: I only have a carry-on bag, which I carry all day, and the climbing gym has lockers; Companions take their suitcases to the airport (D-74).
• Bad Ischl (past): message the host in the Airbnb app.

Sight tickets

• Kunsthistorisches Museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum (incl. dome café)): buy timed tickets on the official site shop.khm.at, choose the "students (University/College)" category, €19 online (€20 for students on site). From 2026-09-08 entry is by booked time slot only; tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded, so ask first how many people are going. Bring a student ID and your passport; they check at the entrance (official sites khm.at, shop.khm.at, read 10-24).
• Belvedere (Upper Belvedere (Klimt's The Kiss)): buy timed tickets on the official site belvedere.at/tickets, choose Upper Belvedere, the date, the time slot and "Students under 26". The site says all venues need a timed ticket, and the length of your stay is not limited. Bring a student ID and your passport (belvedere.at/tickets, read 10-24).

Flights

• 11-01 07:45 flight Vienna → Stockholm: booked and paid, the order is in Kiwi, carry-on bag only (D-02). You do the check-in yourself (D-46).
• Whether to check in with the Kiwi app or the Ryanair app: not verified; open the Kiwi order and read the check-in instructions; keep your passport with you.
• Ryanair check-in and document check (Ryanair Help Centre, search summary of 10-31; the help page returned 403 and was not read directly): online check-in closes 2 hours before departure (05:45 for the flight); after that only desk check-in is possible, for an extra fee. Non-EU/EEA passports must first be stamped at the Ryanair Visa/Document check desk before going through security; without the stamp you cannot board and get no refund; the desk opens at least 2 hours before departure and closes 40 minutes before departure (07:05). For some nationalities "passport validation" can be done during app check-in, and if it passes you do not need to go to the desk. The gate closes at 07:15 (old record). Terminal: a third party says check-in at T1, security and boarding at T3 (a 2021 claim); go by the boarding pass (D-75).

Luggage storage

• Wien Hbf lower level (UG) digital lockers (Tamburi): keyless, contactless card payment only; can be booked in advance on the Tamburi website or on the spot, and the pickup code is sent to your e-mail. There is no staffed left-luggage office in the station; when the lockers are full, use a nearby Stasher partner point (on the Vienna Central Station (luggage storage, groceries) card, official site read 10-22). Go by the price on the locker screen (the official site and older material disagree).

Taxis and ride-hailing

• Bolt: the pre-trip list names Bolt as an optional app. At the lakes there are often no cars at night (for example, on the evening of 10-27 after 20:05 there is no bus from Bad Ischl station to the lodging), so the only options are a taxi or making your own way. Taxi fares were not looked up; whether Bolt can get a car at the lakes is not verified.

Weather and mountain conditions

• For mountain weather and snow conditions see bergfex and GeoSphere Austria (the nightly re-check in the operating guide). The 10-30 choice to go to Hallstatt used Open-Meteo's cloud cover forecast.

Not verified

• Whether TheFork can book the restaurants for this trip.
• Whether to check in for the flight with Kiwi or the Ryanair app; whether your passport counts as the kind that must go to the desk for a document check, and whether the app's passport validation will pass.
• The journey-search feature of the WienMobil app (only ticket buying was verified).
• How to choose the €2.30 airport-section top-up in the ÖBB app (if you cannot buy it, use the Hbf ticket machine or counter).
• Whether Bolt can get a car in the Lake District, and taxi prices.
• Whether the offline maps are downloaded.