What has been your experience?
Would I be able to purchase them when I arrive to each city?
I will be in each city at least 3 days.
The trip would be in June/July of 2017.
1- Venice to Florence (train)
2- Florence to Rome (train)
3- Budapest to Vienna (train or bus?)
4- Vienna to Cesky Krumlov (bus?)
5- Cesky Krumlov to Prague (train or bus ?)
You might want to take a look at this website, for really good information about travel in Europe and how and where to best purchase tickets:
http://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm
3- Budapest to Vienna (train or bus?)
Train. Purchasing in advance will save you about 30 euro last time I looked (29 euro vs 60 euro more or less). BUT, there is no flexibility this way. Someone may have more current numbers. Or try the Seat 61 website. For my money, unless there were six of us I would buy tickets at the station so I could be flexible.
4- Vienna to Cesky Krumlov (bus?)
CK Shuttle or Bean Shuttle. Yes, I would book in advance to get a seat on the departure I wanted. Cesky Krumlov is a wonderful town, but I would travel down late one morning and leave early the next afternoon. In that time you can see a lot of it and your time will be more necessary in either Prague or Vienna or Budapest depending on your interests. I would say add 2 days to Budapest and 1 day to Gyor & the Archabbey at Pannonhalma, but that's just my preference.
5- Cesky Krumlov to Prague (train or bus ?)
CK Shuttle or Bean Shuttle. Yes, I would book in advance to get a seat on the departure I wanted.
You didn’t ask about Rome to Budapest, so at the risk of being chastised for offering something not asked, you can reach Budapest non-stop for under $75 from Bologna, Rome, Milan and Bari (either Wizzair or Ryanair).
Also, not asked; the theaters close in mid-June and all of July. So if that sort of thing interests you ......
Advance purchase of the Venice-Florence and Florence-Rome trips saves you some EUR 20 to 25 per person per leg if you don't mind being bound to a specific train (day and hour). These discounted tickets can best be booked directly with Trenitalia.com (payment by credit card; pdf for printing at home). The above-mentioned Seat61.com will give you further reliable practical information.
4 - Vienna to Cesky Krumlov
If money is a concern, I'd take the train. You (may) have to change trains at the Czech border, but it's well timed and they will wait if the arriving train is late. Then again in Ceske Budejovice. From there, I'd take a bus. Trains to Krumlov are infrequent and take FOREVER. The bus station is across the street from the train station on the top floor of a shopping mall. Busses leave about once per hour (yes, this is still better than the train...) Tickets are very cheap and can be bought upon entering the bus.
If you're more interested in arriving 'stress-free', I'd book a private shuttle. Krumlov has a dozen or so companies that serve Vienna.
5 - Cesky Krumlov to Prague
In the past, I would have said to take a bus the whole way. But now that they've installed TWO new high speed rail lines, it can be faster or at least the same speed with more comfort. Arriving in the main train station is a whole lot more convenient than than any bus options. The prices are comparable. Both are on metro lines. The Regiojet (aka Student Agency) busses are comfortable, quiet and most times have video screens showing movies. Whatever you decide, the Tourist Information booth in the town square can book tickets for you.
Scott
How do you think Europeans get their train and bus tickets? (Hint: they don't come to the US to buy them.)
There are manned ticket counters in virtually every major station in large cities (and that is mostly where you are traveling). In smaller towns there might only be ticket machines, and these might have a short learning curve.
For some journeys, particularly longer ones, you might save some money by committing to a specific conveyance in advance and booking ahead online, but it is not necessary.
The German Rail (Bahn) website shows rail connections between each of your destinations. I doesn't usually show bus connections outside of Germany. The Czech Rail website shows slightly faster connections from Cesky Krumlov to Prague using a bus from Cesky Krumlov to another Czech city and a train from there, but the time savings are small. I'd stick with the trains.
