Train tickets Vienna to Budapest

Posted by wells_vella on 01/25/15 10:33 AM

We plan to travel by train from Vienna to Budapest in May. Our accommodation in both cities is already booked, so we would need to travel on a specific day, Do we need to buy our tickets in Australia before we leave for Europe or should we just buy them on arrival in Vienna? I'm thinking the trains may be quite heavily booked as summer approaches , but I'm also wondering if I'll pay more than necessary if I buy them in Australia.

Am also tossing up whether to go by train or fly Budapest to Prague. Is there a reasonable airline between these cities that doesn't cost a fortune and does it land at the main airport?

Thanks in anticipation, Lynne

Posted by Emily

Vienna, Austria

01/25/15 11:01 AM

5513 posts

Buy you tickets in advance from www.oebb.at for 19 Euro. These tickets will be for a specific date and time. You can also buy your tickets at the station before travel, but you will pay about 42 Euro. So, buy in advance to save money, or buy at the station if you want flexibility.

Posted by David

Huntsville, AL, USA

01/25/15 11:03 AM

8346 posts

Emily answered your question about train fares.

The only flight between Budapest and Prague is on Czech Airlines, and their budget fares don't appear to be in force 5/2015. The airfare is very expensive @ $378 USD equivalent. You will want to go by train.

When we were there 4/2014, we flew into Budapest and first went to Vienna on our way to Prague. It's a pretty quiet ride between these cities across a flat river delta.

Posted by gone

01/25/15 05:34 PM

2081 posts

wells,

In my opinion, you are going about your trip backwards. But you may like that.

have you thought about Prague > Vienna > Budapest ?

If you plan on going to any more places, break out a map of the area and look at the location of the places you want to go. Sometimes the places will show a pattern and how to travel.

just an for your info, i did Prague > Vienna > Budapest last year and all of my train tickets between those 3 places was approximately 20 Euros. For me and when i went, the train from Prague to Vienna was about 4.5 hours and the train from Vienna to Budapest was about 3 hours, again when i went.

NOte that i fly solo, so those ticket prices reflect that.

also, i booked/bought all of my tickets as soon as i could since it was less expensive to do so and i also had my hotel reservations.

Happy Trails.

Posted by Steve

Massachusetts

01/26/15 01:48 PM

406 posts

We did Prague --> Vienna --> Budapest last year. It was an amazing trip. Is there any chance you can change your order to do the order I did, or the reverse? Vienna is geographically sort of in the center of Prague and Budapest. It makes much more sense to do it that way.

Posted by wells_vella OP

01/26/15 10:38 PM

15 posts

Thank you Steve, Ray, David and Emily for your responses.

I totally agree that the order in which we are visiting the three cities makes no sense. We are only doing it this way because we are flying in from Dubrovnik and couldn't get a direct flight to Budapest from there. When we leave Europe to return to Australia, we fly out of Prague.

Anyway, I'm sure the effort of some back-tracking will be worth it!

I had a quick look at the OEBB website but when I entered my trip details, it came up with a message that those tickets could not be printed at home. I'll try again. Maybe it will change closer to the date of travel.

Thanks and happy travelling in 2015, Lynne