Correction: Train from Munich to Budapest

You can fly Munich to Budapest on Lufthansa for about $200 and it takes 1 hour and 10 minutes.

You're still looking at a 7 hour train ride.

Same answer as before... the Board Bistro is open to everyone on the train, the only thing first class tickets get you is waiter service directly to your seat. There is no "club car" that's exclusive to first class.

No baggage check, you carry your own luggage and store it either above your seat, or in the luggage rack that usually sits near the middle of each carriage.

Same answer again... if you want the cheapest tickets, by them in advanced from the Deutsche Bahn website. They usually start selling them 90 days in advanced and they get progressively more expensive closer to the travel date.

A Munich to Budapest express train will probably be an Austrian Railjet rather than an ICE. The DB site will still have the tickets for sale, and I would buy from there as recently some people here have reported problems using the Austrian railways site to buy tickets from the US.

"You can fly Munich to Budapest on Lufthansa for about $200 and it takes 1 hour and 10 minutes."

1 hour 10 minutes is flying time. By the time you take the S-Bahn out to MUC and get there 2 hours early so you can check in, go through security, get to your gate, and wait in line to board, it will be 3 hours before you start the 1h10m flight. Then, in Budapest you have to deplane, get out of the concourse, find ground transportation, and ride it into town, the 1h10m flight takes more like 5 hours, with a lot more hassle than just getting on a direct train. On top of $200 for the flight, you have 10,80€/P for the S-Bahn to MUC plus whatever it costs to get from the airport to Budapest.

If you book well in advance, which you are going to have to do anyway with flying, you can get a 2nd class Savings Fare ticket from the Bahn for 39€/P. There is a RailJet that leaves at 11:24 and goes direct to Budapest, arriving at 6:19 PM.

I put in a date 2 months in advance and the 39€ fare was still available. One month in advance is was 49€/P.

Hi,

If you're pressed for time, take the night train option Munich to Budapest. Both those cities are night train hubs for EN and CNL night trains.

If you want go by day, take the Munich to Vienna, ie Wien West, then change to BP. You don't need 1st class for either leg. The advantage is fewer passengers are in 1st class, good if you want to avoid the locals.

You gotta remember not everyone travels the way you do (or I do). Both the train and the plane are valid. I just happen to prefer the plane when I can save 3 or 4 hours. My vacation time is precious and I get a little stir crazy being locked in a train for more than 3 or 4 hours.

From the center of Munich to the airport is about .5 hours by taxi and about USD40
Arrive 1.5 hours early
Flight of 1.25 hours at USD185 (of course to get that fare you have to buy a round trip ticket and you toss the return ticket).
Landing Gate, pick up luggage and to downtown Budapest is 1 hour and about USD30 (I land in Budapest 3 times a year so I have this down pretty pat).
Total door to door time = 4.25 hours
Total for two folks = USD440. Personally I would take the 9:55pm flight and then start the stay in Budapest the next morning. But there are a number of direct flights all day long.

OR

Center of Munich to the train station (I will assume cause it’s on the cheap you walk or tram) .5 hours and about USD3
Arrive .5 hours early because you have never done been to the station before and you don’t want any surprises
Train to Budapest 7 hours and okay, 49euro or about USD55
Train to Metro to the center of town .5 hours and about USD2
Total Door to Door Time = 8.5 hours.
Total Cost for two folks = USD115

As for Fred's night train. If you are the type that can sleep on one of those things, its one of the better. No stops, straight through. You might actually be able to sleep. Arrival time is a realistic 9:30 in the morning. Fred, what's it like in one of those cans in the heat of the summer?

Thanks for the replies. The info is good & we will follow up with the train in July.
Re air vs. train: We are two retired couples on a 3+ week trip thru Europe. I usually build one "rest" day into our trips to recover from the scheduled activities we have on a vacation vs. our relatively comfortable retired life of 4 seventy year olds in the US. In our former life, the two guys flew around enough for two lifetimes. Flying is not a big deal, although I will admit that it was much easier then. It seems to me that sleeping in late one morning & taking a midday 6 hour train ride thru Germany, Austria & Hungary while sipping a Gentleman Jack after driving for a week plus thru Germany & Austria meets my loose definition of a "rest" day.
Once again, thanks for the input. As usual, you guys have been most helpful.
Now, about the train ride from Garmisch to Munich.....

Now, about the train ride from Garmisch to Munich.....

Trivial. Really. Get on at one end and when it gets to the other get off. And it is scenic, too.

There are hourly RegionalBahn (RB) trains from Munich Hbf (tracks 27-36) to Garmisch-Partenkirchen Bahnhof. The trip takes just just over 1h20. If you leave after 9 AM, you can do a round trip with a Werdenfels-Ticket for 19€ single, 23€ for two.

"From the center of Munich to the airport is about .5 hours by taxi and about USD40"

In you dreams! From the airport to Marienplatz, the MUC website says 40 min. Lufthansa bus says 40 min. TaxiFareFinder says 44 min in moderate traffic. MVV says 44 min on the S8, so you might as well take the S-Bahn for 10,80€. According to TaxiFareFinder, the fare would be 60, 24€ including a 10% tip. Using the distance, 34km, from ViaMichelin and the fare schedule from Taxi Zentrale Freising, I get a fare of 62€, with tip. That's 70 USD, not 40.

"Center of Munich to the train station (I will assume cause it’s on the cheap you walk or tram) .5 hours and about USD3"

If you book RJ65 3 months in advance, it's a 78€ ($90) Saving Fare from Marienplatz (or whatever the closest S-Bahn station is) the price is the same and includes any S-Bahn (3 minutes from Marienplatz to Hbf, S-Bahn every few minute), so you don't have to walk. The trip from Marienplatz to Budapest-Keliti, including 11 minutes to get to the train at 11:24. DB shows the entire trip from Marienplatz to Keleti as 7h09.

By the way, for 138€ ($160 for two), you can get advance purchase 1st class tickets with seat reservations.

Lee, Okay, assuming the time to the airport is 40 minutes instead of 30 minutes, then I round it up and its 4.5 hours vs 8.5 hours. No argument about the extra cost. My personal value of being in Budapest vs on a train; even if only a 4 hour difference is still within the cost difference (and I think you are indicating that the train is more expensive than I thought). Those two hours in the airport? I use one of them to eat lunch or breakfast. But I know that's not for everyone, nor should it be.

As for "now back to trains"; I cant think of how many times I didn't know there was another question to ask. So, thinking that others might be similar, I think it can be helpful to throw out options.

My point in comparing the time to the airport by taxi vs the S-Bahn was to show that the taxi isn't any faster so you might as well take the less expensive S-Bahn. However, the OP didn't initially say there were four of them, so it wouldn't be 10,80€/P for the fare, but rather a group network ticket of 23,20€ ($26) for all four. I also showed that the trip for Marienplatz to Keleti takes 7h09, so the entire trip, including the trip from there into "downtown" Budapest would be just over 7½ hours, not 8½ hours.

But, I have always tried to arrive at MUC 2½ hours ahead of flight time, just to allow for any unexpected delays (and I only have carryon luggage). I've never encountered any delays and have had to wait a long time, but less than an hour, to board. One and a half hours would not have been enough time. That's why I said 2 hours, which makes flying 5 hours.

Four people at $185 each plus 23€ to MUC makes it $766 to Keleti vs 156€ ($178) for a Saving Fare ticket (also to Keleti) for 4.

For someone who has limited vacation time, perhaps spending $147 to save 2½ hours is worth it, but for someone who is retired (like those four or me), who have more time than money, $294 per couple is the cost of two days in Europe, so spending 2½ hours on the train to stay in Europe 2 extra days is worth it for us.

For someone who has limited vacation time, perhaps spending $147 to
save 2½ hours is worth it, but for someone who is retired (like those
four or me), who have more time than money, $294 per couple is the
cost of two days in Europe, so spending 2½ hours on the train to stay
in Europe 2 extra days is worth it for us.

Lee, good points; and with the German end I am not the expert. I have been to the Munich airport a few times, but only in transit. Not a bad airport at all. To arrive 1 or 1.5 or 2 hours early is a matter of tolerance for risk. If it were Chucky D I would go two hours early. What I have seen of Munich I would arrive 1.5 hours early. But I might be pushing the envelope a little, you have the experience, not me. To be honest, for the train I would show up 45 minutes early. Find my track, confirm I know what I am doing and then sit and have a drink. Just my style. The way I travel the savings would only pay for another day. And besides I max out the time I have. You could give me another $3,000 and I still couldn't stay away from the business another day. So my savings would have to go to jewelry for the wife.

Now if there were four of us I would look at hiring a transfer in a van. I think you can get one for that trip for about 500 euro or about 125 euro a head door to door. With a little tipping I have gotten these guys to pull over for a little sight seeing as well.

As for scenic views, I guess they exist in Germany, but the last 3 hours of the train trip are going to be pretty mundane.

"...in one of those cans in the heat of the summer." @ James...not bad actually. The night trains I 've taken recently, ie, since 2009 have mostly been in June, no discomfort problems for me in the general seating area. In the past I did the night route in August going from Paris to Germany or vice versa, .not uncomfortable at all. Of course, I do not use the couchette or sleeper option, don't need it, which presumably could be hot or stuffy. I don't have any experience in that regard. Maybe I'll get a chance to take that Munich to Budapest EN night train in the upcoming trip.

Fred, you may convince me yet. I have done one sleeper in my life and that was in 1979. "Remarkable" experience.

Just some recent first-hand experience... If you stay at a hotel in Maxvorstadt/Schwabing, you could make it to the airport by car or taxi in just about 20 minutes, obviously depending on traffic. If you’re taking a flight inside the Schengen Area and doing carry-on or using those handy automatic bag drops that Lufthansa has, 1.5 hours early is plenty of time.

I took a trip to Budapest a few weeks ago, sleeper car there, day train back. Sleeper was run by the MAV, the Hungarian rail network, and was like stepping back 20 or 30 years in train technology. Not in a nostalgic way, but in a disgusting bathrooms and dirty foam mattresses in the sleeper cars sort of way. Was both hot and cold at night, but somehow never comfortable. The train back to Munich was the Rail Jet run by the ÖBB. Was supposed to take 7 hours, took almost 9.