My friend and I will be traveling from Budapest to Vienna via Bratislava on a Sunday in May. We have booked a half day tour in Bratislava before traveling on to Vienna so we'll be in Bratislava for around 5 hours. Can we purchase one train ticket with a layover in Bratislava, or will we need a separate ticket for Bratislava to Vienna?
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Easier to buy two separate tickets. A direct train Budapest to Vienna would not go via Bratislava, so even if you had a ticket valid on any train you still couldn't stop in Bratislava.
And it is different railway companies.
For info on these routes and buying tickets, see here:
Budapest to Bratislava: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/prague-to-budapest-by-train.htm
Bratislava to Vienna: https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Bratislava.htm#Bratislava_to_Vienna
Posted by
Coeur d'Alene
378 posts
As an alternative, you can take a boat from Bratislava to Vienna with Twin City Liner. We did it from Vienna to Bratislava, spent two nights, and then trained to Budapest. The boat was a pleasant way to go on the Danube. The docks in each city were very convenient. We just walked to our hotels. The dock in Bratislava is close to the old town.
Posted by
Brooklyn, NY
4295 posts
We also took a boat from Vienna to Bratislava. It was a lovely ride and we walked to/from our hotel in both cities. We went on LOD.sk the Slovakian company. They were one fifth the price of the Austrian company.
Posted by
OP
25 posts
Thank you everyone for your responses. Special thanks to you, Chris F, for the links to the Seat 61 site. After reading the posts by him, I believe I understand how to buy tickets now. We will travel from Budapest to Bratislava, spend several hours there, and then go on to meet friends in Vienna.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8337 posts
FYI: It's only 39 miles from Bratislava to Vienna, and the bus stops in front of the new Vienna train station. We took the bus from a plaza down by the river. That way, we didn't have to take a taxi back to the train station. Our incoming taxi driver took us all over town instead of the straight as an arrow route.