Train Prague to Budapest

If you're going on a Rick Steves Tour, you can opt out of any activity by coordinating with your guide and finding your own way back to meet with the group. But the train ride from Prague to Budapest takes 7 hours, with direct trains departing at 7:48 and 9:48. During that time, you would miss any information the guide provides on the bus ride, any place that the bus might stop for breaks, and most likely the afternoon walking tour scheduled on Day 5 of the tour itinerary.

Instead of that, I'd suggest staying another day or more at the end of the tour and taking a shorter train ride within Hungary. There's lots more to see there.

I agree with Laura. You would shorten yourself of experiences which other tour members would get. If your main reason is that you don't tolerate long bus ride then you don't have a choice.

Because of strict European regulations, bus drivers have to stop for 15 minute breaks every 2-2.5 hours and for 30 minutes for lunch. That means a mid-morning break to stretch your legs, use the toilet, get coffee and a snack. Then after another couple of hours, a lunch stop, then you'll have another couple of hours on the bus before arriving at your Budapest hotel.

The shortest train ride is nearly 7 hours. And you'd have to get to the Prague train station from the hotel and from the station in Budapest to your hotel. And unless you find a tour pal to take your suitcase from the hotel to the bus and from the bus to the hotel, you'll have to schlep your luggage with you.

Your choice.