Trying to purchase train tickets

It’s too early to buy train tickets for July. They usually are not on sale until three to six months prior to the train’s departure date. You can also check for their availability on the Austrian National train company website: www.oebb.at and also at www.TheTrainline.com.

Thanks for the info. What is the most concerning is that we can't even access the website when it is time to buy tickets.

I have no idea why you cant get the MAV site to load https://jegy.mav.hu/. People in the US buy tickets on MAV all the time. I just tried on my US IP number and it loaded very slow, but it loaded. Maybe something is going on with the local internet (Hungarian). Wait a few days and try again before you resort to third party sellers like Trainline. Thats rarely a good solution.

It is not too early to buy train tickets for July. Right now they are selling tickets through 18 July. If your date is later you will need to wait a few weeks. Looks like it departs Budapest-Déli at 09:00 and arrives at 16:44 and 2nd class is 52.20 euro. There doesnt appear to be a 1st class option. You will need to buy a seat assignment just to be safe and thats 2 euro more.

I find the MAV website fairly easy to use when you do get on. You will need to open an account to do so and thats a good thing. Just walk through it slowly and read everything and make the choices offered.

Then, download their app on your phone. Again, I have known people in the US that have done that, but I believe you, because I just tried on my US IP phone and got the not available in your region. Very strange. You can do it when you get here or you can simply present the pdf ticket that you will get from the Website (actually in your email if I remember correctly) on your phone. Same thing. No real difference,

The last thing is that the ticket and the seat reservation look identical. Dont worry the conductor will help you with that.

This will probably be of no use to you, but some overlook it. There are direct flights from Budapest to Zadar and they are very inexpensive and take about an hour.

Oh, I just tried the OBB website, yes, you can buy those 54 euro tickets there, but they will cost you 90 euro with the seat assignment.

You have time, if push comes to shove, I will help you get them. But I suspect the issue with logging into the website will solve itsself.

Thank you for the detailed reply. Our travel date is July 3rd. And yes we saw the 09:00 to 16:44 time on Rome2Rio. I googled the issue we are having and it seems like we are not the only ones having trouble. There is also the option of taking a 6 hour Flix bus. I'm guessing that there would not be a need for an advance purchase if we decide to take the bus? If that is the case, we can always wait to decide how to travel when we reach Budapest.

if you arrive in Europe prior to Budapest, I suspect you will have no problems buying tickets anywhere in Europe. But you should not be having trouble buying them in the US. I just sent the MAV customer service folks the question. It might take a few days. You have lots of time to buy those tickets. I would not give it a second thought until a month prior to departure. By then maybe the MAV site is working correctly.

Worst case is the trainline site if its cheaper than OBB, but using third party sites always makes me cringe.

It is not safe to assume you can buy Flixbus tickets shortly before you want to travel. Bus fares are often/usually lower than train fares, so those tickets can be very popular with students, young workers, etc. In addition, Flixbus fares can vary, typically increasing as the travel date approaches.

Thank you Mr. É and acraven! You have both been very helpful.

Last night (my time) it took a long time but I did get logged into MAV on my US IP connection. This morning (my time) no luck at all. Inexcusable. Like I said, I wrote MAV and am waiting for an answer. Its the trouble with all the government run businesses. A government only does two things well, fight wars and collect taxes.

This is really a mess, because I dont belive any of the third party sites sell MAV tickets for travel within Hungary.

• I went back and looked at OBB, want 87 euro and they are not selling seat reservations on this train.
• I felt dirty, but I did check TheTrainLine. They are quoting the OBB as the source of the ticket and the price of 87 euro for the ticket, so no seat reservation with them either.
• I checked MAV and they want 54.20 euro for a ticket and a seat reservation.
  
• Dbahn shows the train but wont sell a ticket.
  

When the time is a bit closer, if you want a MAV ticket and the website is still a problem, let me know. There are ways.