Train from Vienna to Budapest

The Austrian national rail company (OBB) sells them. Look for “Sparschiene”” tickets for the lowest prices from OBB. They are tickets with restrictions and, when bought weeks in advance, can be as little as €20. You can buy them at www.oebb.at. I buy my high-speed train tickets once my itinerary is finalized.

OBB releases their train tickets around six months ahead of time, and you can usually get the best price if you book it as early as possible. And yes, they do have an app, which I would recommend getting. It's handy to keep track of your tickets, and if there's any notifications about trains, you can usually get those through the app. Just look for "ÖBB tickets.'

Experience pays on this topic. Generally, not always, the OBB tickets will be twice the cost of the tickets sold on the Hungarian national rail site MAV. So check both before you buy. https://jegy.mav.hu/ But do shop as either company is okay. No reason to pay extra if you dont have to.

Buying 30 days in advance on the MAV site will generally ensure the best price; but not always. If you look too far in advance, May for instance, the discount tickets might not be in the MAV system yet.

Always buy a seat assignment. Consider going 1st class as this route can at times have a lot of people standing in the asiles in 2nd class. But again, not essential.

For instance, 11 Feb, 08:40 train is 24 euro on OBB and 13 Euro on MAV. I believe the seat assignment is about a euro cheaper on MAV too.

You can buy with the MAV App or on a laptop and save the ticket to the App on your phone. The phone App is easier for presenting the ticket on the train, but not essential. Pretty sure you can do the same on the OBB site.

There is also the option of using RegioJet. I really dont have experience with the company. They serve a suburban rail station. Not bad, but not as convenient. https://regiojet.com/

Next question is getting from the Keleti train station to your hotel.

I am having an issue purchasing tickets on the OBB site using my US credit card. I get all the way to checkout and then get an error message to contact Chase (my credit card issuer). I called Chase and they said they are not seeing the transaction and that the issue on the merchant (OBB) side. Any suggestions? Thanks

AFAIK, OeBB requires 3-D Secure activated on your credit card for online payments. This security feature is generally used in Europe. You need to contact your card issuer. Also make sure that you have a PIN for your credit card, otherwise you may not be able to withdraw money from ATMs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-D_Secure

The Man in Seat 61 is always the best resource for this kind of information. This link provides everything you need to know about going from Vienna to Budapest by train. I would highlight that a seat reservation is very highly recommended. As always, the father out you buy your tickets, the cheaper they will be.

https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/vienna-to-budapest-by-train.htm

Thank you very much Emily and everyone,
I used the link Emily sent and there is great info.
When I tried buying tickets on one train’s website I could not figure out how to get one way tickets. I kept getting round trip only.

Also make sure that you have a PIN for your credit card, otherwise you may not be able to withdraw money from ATMs.

I would strongly not suggest withdrawing money from your credit card via an ATM, as you will get hit with a large cash advance fee. Use a debit card instead, and I would assume that you would know the pin for that. 😊

Open and account and use a computer, its just easier (at least for me). Then when you buy a ticket it will be saved to your account on your phone app.

• The OBB site on the first link begins default as a one way ticket. https://shop.oebbtickets.at/en It isnt until after you choose a train and move to the thrid window that you even have an option to select a return ticket.
• The MAV site on the first link begins with defaut as a one way ticket, but does offer a button if you want to buy a return ticket. Dont touch it. https://jegy.mav.hu/

mlstimetotravel, for Vienna to Budapest there are only two options you should be messing with, OBB or MAV. If you are going any place else there is no benefit. EDIT, sorry I said wrong. RegioJet is a private rail company that makes the run. You can buy tickets directly from them as well.

Does anyone use Trainline to buy your tickets? We found the best deal on ours there.

Does anyone use Trainline to buy your tickets? We found the best deal
on ours there.

Doubt that. But there is recent news, you will have to buy your tickest from OBB as MAV has blocked the use of their website in the US. That means that you will be paying a lot more for tickets. By the way the only tickets Vienna to Budapest that Trainline will sell you are OBB tickets for OBB ticket prices or RegioJet tickets for RegioJet ticket prices.

You should never buy tickets from a reseller like Trainline.

I disagree that you should never buy from Trainline. Trainline has the advantage that it will show you all the operators on a route, so you can compare. And it will sometimes find cheaper fares, as it will combine tickets from different tariff buckets if possible.

Trainline has the advantage that it will show you all the operators on
a route, so you can compare.

If you use Trainline to purchase a ticket for the 9:40 train from Budapest to Vienna tomorrow morning you will pay 57.10€ (with seat reservation) for a ticket that costs:
56.30€ on OBB (with seat reservation) and
27.00€ on MAV (with seat reservation)

How is that a good deal?

If you use Trainline to purchase a ticket from Budapest to Eger, well, there are none.
Why? Because Trainline absolutely will not “show you all the operators on a route”. Which operators does Trainline not include in their searches, other than MAV, I really don’t know. It also appears that they don’t sell tickets on the CD trains from Prague to Vienna. The CD trains are quite a bit cheaper than the OBB trains.

Not sure they have a page that tells you whose tickets they do or dont sell. Its hit and miss.

I will give them one use. Apparently, there are some national train companies whose on-line ticket site are so complicated and so antiquated that Trainline is a better solution. That’s embarrassing for those companies.

But most often these third-party sellers just add a layer of uncertainty to the horrible process of buying train tickets. When will railroads enter the 21st century like airlines have. When will Google start GoogleTrains to complement GoogleFlights?

We are also going from Vienna to Budapest via train in June. Purchased our tickets on Trainline. We have used Trainline before. Zero issues. Don’t let the naysayers scare you. Trainline is easy and no issues using our American credit card unlike other sites….yes we have tried them.

We ended up buying our tickets with the OBB app. Each ticket was about 38 euros and they are for May. They included seat reservations.