Train Tickets

A good place to get started is this website: http://www.seat61.com/. Just input where you want to travel and it will give you information on options and where to buy tickets online.

I'm sure the train gurus on this forum will chime in with specifics also.

I personally don't think your train journeys would justify any type of rail pass, but if you want a good reason to skip the rail pass and go with point to point tickets just read this review that was posted just this morning.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/global-eurail-pass-bad-deal

In general, you are not showing enough train travel in any one of the four countries to cost justify a Eurail pass. That being said, the nice point-to-point discount fares won't be beneficial to you unless you can nail down the precise day and time of travel. The discounted tickets are usually non-refundable but sometimes exchangeable for a fee. For a 3-1/2 month trip, it might be difficult to nail down the travel dates but if you do know where you are staying each night and you have the reservations, then the point-to-point tickets will be easy to purchase and print out at home.

The best website to view all of your train travel is www.bahn.de This is the German train website. It's the best of the best in researching train travel throughout Europe. You can even see the train numbers, intermediate stops along the way and even a map of the train route. For travel to and from cities in Germany, you can even purchase the tickets up to 90 days in advance on this website. You can also purchase the tickets from Fussen to Vienna.

For Paris to Strasbourg, you can see this journey on www.bahn.de but to purchase, you will need to go to the French train website http;//en.voyages-sncf.com Select France as your ticket collection country. If you select USA, the website will try and switch you to RailEurope which you do not want. These are nice TGV runs for as low as 33Euro and, you can print the tickets out at home within minutes of your purchase.

For Vienna to Prague, you can purchase tickets on the Austrian train website www.oebb.at For tickets from Prague to Budapest, you want the Czech Republic train website. http://czech-transport.com/ I can see fares for as low as 42Euro.

With all of these different websites to purchase tickets, it may seem that it's much more convenient to just get the Eurail pass. It will be more expensive but its your choice.

There are a number of segments in you trip that can be less expensive as individual tickets. Start by eliminating them from your list and see if the remainder justify a rail pass.

Munich to Füssen is only by regional trains anyway, and you can ride regional trains (all day weekend, after 9 AM workdays) with an all-day Bayern-Ticket pass for 23€ (for one person).

Use the German Rail (Bahn) website to get ticket prices for trips beginning and/or ending in Germany. Use the Austrian Rail website (www.oebb.at) for Austrian tickets.

With advance purchase, you can get Paris to Munich for as little as 39€ (69€ looks more common), Strasbourg to Munich for as little as 29€.

I would go Munich to Prague and Prague to Vienna. There is a Bahn Intercity bus that goes from Munich to Prague in less than 5 hours. With advance purchase, tickets can be as low as 29€ with seat reservations. In case you can't get the lowest bus fares, Munich to Pilsen is 26€ with a Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket. Pilsen to Prague is about 3,50 more with a Czech Rail ticket.

You can get prices for Prague to Vienna and Vienna to Budapest on the Austrian Rail website.

As for the French part of you travel, remember two things. (1) Reservations (requiring a supplement for a rail pass) are required on fast French trains and (2), passholder reservations are limited on these trains, so you might not be able to use your pass even when there are seats available for purchase at full fare.

@Larry - I may be wrong but I think the OP is leaving in 3-1/2 months, not traveling for 3-1/2 months.

@ Nancy. Thanks. I see that now. I think that my information still holds up. Much appreciation.

hlindsey6,

Im more or less following the last 3 parts of your trip this September and will be doing it by train.

Im choosing to buy point to point ticket and just use the country of starting as my purchase point.

happy trails.

• Paris-Munich is the most expensive ticket, and therefore offers the most significant discount for early booking. The German web site is the best place to buy any tickets that touch Germany that you are ready to lock in up to 3 months ahead, and then the Austrian site (under SparSheine) for tickets to/from Vienna. See also general info at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/buying-tickets.

• If you plan to use a Bayern ticket for a Munich-Fuessen daytrip, then you can buy that in the station.

• A railpass does not save money for your stated travel plan. FYI, if you were to choose a Eurail Selectpass for 4 countries (not 5), starting at $380 2nd class for a youth under 26 or $580 1st class for a single adult, it would still be important to reserve early for the TGV departing Paris, since the number of places for passholders is limited on those trains.

Hi,

The Paris-Munich route is also a night train option if you decide on it ; the CNL night train departs from Paris Est to Munich Hbf direct, arriving a bit after 0700. I've done it, it was all right. I've had better experiences with the CNL other than this Paris-Munich route.

Not sure why you would go Vienna to Prague and then back to Budapest; unless you are trying to drag out the trips to make night trains out of them because you are convinced it is worth it to save on a couple of hotel room costs?

I was able to get a good deal on flights flying out of Budapest and the time I want to arrive back in the states.. I have to go to work the next day.

I understand but the logical (short distance) order is Prague to Vienna to Budapest and not Vienna to Prague to Budapest.

Your correct just looked at train times and may change Prague to
Vienna to Budapest

I just booked a similar trip, in reverse. I am arriving in Budapest and then travelling by train from there to Vienna. From Vienna, I will travel by train to Prague. From Prague, I have a private shuttle booked to Cesky Krumlov and from there to Salzburg the next day. Then I will take the train from Salzburg to Munich and fly home from Munich.

I have booked first class train tickets with seat reservations for those three train trips at less than half the cost of a rail pass. In addition, by booking through the countries' rail websites, I had access to many more options (time-wise) than the Rail Europe site showed. (Individual tickets through the Rail Europe site were also a little more expensive.)

That worked best for us, since we are travelling at what I expect will be a busy time and have booked our accommodations in advance, as well, so we know our exact travel dates.

Had a rail pass been even close to the cost of booking individual tickets, I would have considered it, but there was no contest.

If I recall correctly, most of the sites allow you to purchase 90 days in advance, but at the Hungarian rail site it's 60 days, I think. However, I guess this wouldn't affect you, since you will be travelling into Hungary by train, not out of Hungary, so you would book at the site for your departure country, anyhow.