We want to travel from Wien to Prague in June. I've found out that there are many different railway system, from RailEurope to state owned companies to private companies. Which one should I use?
Raileurope owns nothing except maybe the servers for its website. It is a travel agency.
Railjet, owned and operated by the Austrian National Railway (OEBB), runs direct trains every 2 hours from Vienna. I'd book that one.
Thank you!!!
RailJet is owned by Austrian Railroad and Czech Railroads also have their own. The trains only differ in color. Austrian one is red and Czech one is blue. You can buy ticket from Austrian or Czech Rail for either of them. Check both websites. Sometimes Czechs sell the tickets cheaper.
Tickets will cost 19 Euro and should only be booked on www.oebb.at.
This link from the famed Man in Seat 61 gives you detailed, step by step instructions:
http://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Vienna.htm#Vienna-Prague
As noted above, RailEurope is a ticket reseller/travel agency and does not run/own any trains.
I'll be making the same trip except the other direction; how far in advance should the tickets be purchased to get the best price. I've seen the tickets for as little as €19.
If you are seeing 19Euro fares now, buy them now as there are only a limited number at that price.
As a rule, its a bit easier to catch cheap tickets from Czech Republic to Austria, then vice versa, quota of discounted tickets is bigger. But in general Czech Railways start selling ticket to Vienna 90 days in advance. In case you missed cheapest 19 euro tickets, then you can try buying discounted Brno-Vienna for 9 euro + separate ticket from Prague to Brno (cheapest are 189 czk) for the same train