Purchase of train tickets for Zagreb to Budapest

RailEurope is a ticket reseller that offers fares at highly inflated prices. Their schedules are also often wrong. Avoid them entirely. The fact that they charge so much for these "extras" should be a tip off.

For travel originating in Zagreb, it is recommended to just buy the ticket at the station prior to travel. It is not possible to buy these tickets online with the Croatian rail service. It should be about 30 Euros or so. For proper schedule info, go to www.bahn.de.

When you say "is that too risky," what do you mean? Risky for what? Train travel is not plane travel. Trains do not "sell out" and there is no one taking tickets before you board the train counting passengers. You just buy your ticket, get on the train, sit down and wait for the conductor to check your tickets. If there aren't enough seats, people just stand.

It's fine to buy tickets at the station in Zagreb or another town in that region, with no deadline to do so and no reservation requirement on these trains. You have three departures per day to choose from, two direct and one with a connection.

How to Look Up Train Schedules Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. (It does not sell tickets for this region.) When the schedules say "please reserve," that is optional.

Thank you for the information and advice. We will wait and buy tickets at the train station. The risk we were concerned about was whether they sell out and that question was answered.

I agree with Emily. I asked Rail Europe a very specific question about the train from Zurich to Ljubljana and received in return what was largely a sales pitch on the benefits of upgrading to first class. "Customer service" at its worst.