Getting from Budapest to Zagreb

It sounds like the plan was very tight to start, subject to upset if there was any flight delay, for instance, but now it's a bus cancellation causing the upset. Looking at few sources for bus, train, and flight options, I don't see a reliable way for you to catch that flight out of Zagreb.

A direct train departs Budapest at 15:35 to arrive Zagreb at 21:04, but between city centers, not airports. It would allow you to transfer to a night train departing Zagreb at 23:00 and arriving to Split at 6:45 a.m. Then you could rent a cheaper car or take a local bus to Dubrovnik, about 4 hours.

You're planning to fly into Budapest, get on a bus to Zagreb, and then fly to Dubrovnik same day? Wow.

Looks like you can't book FlixBus tickets for May 2 yet - so wait a few weeks, buses will probably reappear.

If you must get there same day, you could fly Budapest to Venice Treviso 4:25pm-5:50pm and then Venice Marco Polo 8:10pm-9:25pm. Could be tight switching airports in Venice, though, maybe not practical - haven't considered carefully.

Or Budapest to Paris CDG 3:20pm-5:40pm + Paris to Dubrovnik 6:50pm-9:05pm. That might be a too-tight connection too, depending on where the two flights arrive/depart from. You have to go through passport control upon departure to DBV because Croatia isn't a Schengen country.

Thanks for your response Laura. The original plan was not super tight - We would have had several hours between our flight landing and the bus leaving Budapest, and another several hours between the bus arriving in Zagreb and the flight leaving Zagreb. Unfortunately the bus schedule appears to have changed since I originally looked this up which is what has thrown this into question. A night train is not something we are looking to do - We'll have flown on a red-eye from the US and then gotten on a bus and then to spend another night traveling on a train and a bus and not get to Dubrovnik until the following morning would be too much (and I am used to doing a lot). I was hoping someone knew of another bus or train company that I did not know about, or knew of a company that does transfers Budapest > Zagreb that isn't outrageously expensive (all the ones I am seeing are at least 300 euros). Too bad there are no reasonable flights from Budapest > Zagreb or Dubrovnik...

If you have to be in Dubrovnik the same day as you land in Budapest and it seems practically impossible why don't you fly from Washington to Dubrovnik via what ever airport in Europe (I don't think there is direct connection) instead of via Budapest to make it to Dubrovnik on time.

Thank you for the flight suggestions Andrew. I did look at flight options but they either have absurdly long layovers and/or cost $400 per person (usually both). I saw that the FlixBus schedule only goes out to the end of April right now so I can't see the bus options for May 2nd yet, but I looked on their schedules page and it told me that on Wednesdays, there are only 2 buses from Budapest to Zagreb: at 8:00am - 1:10pm (too early) or 4:00pm - 9:10 pm (I think this is too late for us to catch a 10:05pm flight).

Ilja, we looked into that, however flights from Washington to Dubrovnik were literally twice as expensive as the flights to Budapest.

Looking at the Flixbus site, now, I see a few issues.
* They're currently booking travel through April 25, so we can't see your real travel date. I didn't find a separate schedule in a PDF format, for instance, just the live booking engine.
* Not every Wednesday in April has the 1:30 departure option, so you probably do have to wait to confirm.
* It also helps to search just from "Budapest," not specifying the airport. If they did depart from the airport previously, it looks like they're not now.
* You'd need to get straight out of the airport to grab a taxi (or local bus, but probably slower) to Népliget or Kelenfold train station areas. If your flight arrival is scheduled to arrive at 11:20, per your original post, that's 2 hours to get through the airport and into the city.

Thanks for giving me a second set of eyes on that, Laura. I was looking at the schedules on this page: https://www.flixbus.com/bus-schedule-bus-stop/budapest and then I scrolled down to where it says 'Find schedule between' and entered Budapest and Zagreb there and then unchecked all the days except Wednesday. That is where it was only showing me the 2 times I mentioned above.

Could also take a Flixbus to Vienna then fly VIE-DBV at 7:45p via Zagreb on the same flight you were already looking at - for $154 per person plus about 20 Euros for the bus. Not sure if you booked ZAG-DBV already or not; if so, you'd save money canceling the ticket for no refund and rebooking via Vienna for $154, because for some reason, VIE-ZAG itself is more expensive than taking the connection all the way to DBV.

If you book the train, you can connect directly to an airport train at Wien HBF; with Flixbus you'll have to find another bus, taxi, or train to the airport. The train leaving Budapest-Keleti at 13:40 would get you to Vienna airport about 5p and that should be plenty of time to make a 7:45p flight. Might have to hustle to get from Budapest airport at 11:20a to the Keleti station by 13:40 but you should be able to make it if the plane in is on time.

Andrew! That is not the worst idea ( ;) ), thank you! We haven't booked anything yet except the flights from Washington to Budapest, so I am looking into your option now. I didn't realize that Vienna is actually a bit closer to Budapest than Zagreb (and a more major city so more transportation options). I see that there is a FlixBus from Budapest at 3:00 that goes right to Vienna Airport at 5:40 which should be ok for a 7:45pm flight (or at least that's what the schedule for Wednesdays from Budapest to Vienna tells me). I also see a train on Hungarian Railways that leaves Budapest at 1:40pm and gets to Vienna's main train station at 4:18 which should give us plenty of time to get to the airport (we have been to Vienna before so we have a little familiarity with the transit there which is the best). Are there any other bus/train options that I am not thinking of besides FlixBus and Hungarian Rail?

Well, I checked the German train site Bahn.com and it shows most European train schedules; it shows that same train you saw but also a connection right to the airport via another train.

I'm guessing that the train tickets can be purchased in advance for some discount but not sure. This may help:

https://www.seat61.com/websites/mav-start.htm

I'd prefer the train myself given the choice, especially with such an incredibly long day of changing modes of transportation! I suppose a direct bus to the Vienna airport is simplest. The FlixBus will have WiFi, too, and probably comfortable enough. Note that they can be delayed - my FlixBus from Ljubljana to Trieste was 45 minutes late last May, then we had a 20 minute passport check stop at the border. On the upside: FlixBus has a good phone app, and at least they let me know (twice) that they were going to be late! And you can show your bus ticket right on the phone - nothing to print. Trains can be delayed too of course, but they seem less likely to get stuck in rush hour traffic or something.

The one thing to keep in mind about Vienna is that there are several big train stations. It's important to choose the correct station if trying to connect!

The only time I have gone from Budapest to Dubrovnik I flew Wizzair to Podgorica and drove up the coast. By bus from Budapest sounds like a bus trip I wouldn't enjoy.

This is why car rental is preferable for me. I enjoy the flexibility and freedom of coming and going on my own terms.

Why don't you fly from Budapest to Dubrovnik? There are flights. This seems like a problem which could have been solved a bunch of better ways.

We left Dubrovnik, drive down the coast along Kotor Bay, spent a couple of nights in Perast, then to Podgorica, and flew to Budapest from Podgorica. Beautiful country.

Hi Paul, thanks for suggesting flying, that was one of the first options I looked into but it does not work. There are no direct flights from Budapest to anywhere in Croatia, and most of the flights that leave Budapest to Croatia after we land in Budapest have multiple stops or very long layovers and wouldn't get us to Croatia until the next day.

IF you wanted to fly to Dubrovnik there is sort of a way as there are direct flghts to Belgrade and Titograd. We ran into the same issue some years ago and ended up flying in by way of Belgrade where we spent a night and had a wonderful time. Two flights, Dubrovnik to Belgrade and Belgrade to Budapest. Both were about $60 and it was the perfect excuse to see a place we would have otherwise missed. Turns out we loved it.

Then out by way of Podgorica. Now Podgrica (Titograd) its self isn't any great gem but the drive along Kotor Bay and the couple of nights we spent in Perast were priceless. We were so impressed by Montenegro we returned and are returning again. A direct transfer might cost you $200 if you hire a Montenegrin; more if you hire a Croatian. Time is under 3 hours; but you would be nuts not to spend a night half way and enjoy this place...

Thank you for the recommendation James - I just looked up flights but unfortunately it looks like they only run the nonstops from Budapest > Belgrade every other day, and Wednesday does not happen to be one of the days when they run it! :( And there are no direct flights from Budapest to anywhere in Croatia. We travel extensively and I plan all of our trips myself and I have never had such a hard time planning a trip as I'm having with this one, haha.

Glad to hear you loved Montenegro though - We are planning to take a side trip to Kotor from Dubrovnik :)

If you take that side trip to Kotor you will be half way to the airport in Podgroica.

Yeah, Dubrovnik is just our first stop though, we will then be going north up through Croatia for the rest of our trip, so from Dubrovnik we're just heading on to Split, not going back to Budapest yet.

My bucket list is very, very long. So long that i don't have to force a route. I pick a place i want to see and then i see what links easily with it. The only challenge i have is that all trips must end in Budapest. So when the day comes that i choose Croatia i would probably start by flying into Zagreb from the US and then going south through Croatia to Montenegro or Kosovo or Sarajevo where i can get direct flights to Budapest.

In my experience (more than 45 years of traveling this globe) When I come upon a problem like this I sit back and rethink my initial plan and reasons for having to be in one place or another on a certain day. In every case I have found it better to relax the self imposed "necessity" of my itinerary and make changes. It has always worked to my advantage and I have never regretted the changes I've made.

In any case good luck and have fun.

aarthurperry: I was thinking of writing exactly that post. The imposed limitations in this itinerary seem artificial. Of course, OP might have a wedding in Dubrovnik or something, but if it's a simple hotel reservation or something, that could be changed. The strict limit of one day to make 3 connections is quite odd. We never put ourselves in that position when we go to Europe.

Thanks for all your help, fortunately the schedules posted for May and the bus I needed was on the schedule once again, so my problem has been solved.

Have you considered hiring a driver to drive you from Budapest to Zagreb? I too am wanting to travel this route and it seems to be the most direct especially with a time crunch.