Transfer from Krakow to Budapest

I've used DayTrip.com a couple of times. They were very good. I just booked them for a transfer in November.

Krakow to Budapest
DayTrip(.)com 6:45 / 450€ for two
Train 8:00 to 9:00 / 70 to 80€ a ticket
Flight 1:10 / 16€ and up a ticket
Flixbus 6:45 to 8:00 / 20€ and up a ticket
Sidetrip 9:00 to 10:00 / 525€ for two (but it could get cheaper of the van fills up). Two stops along the say for sight seeing. Vlkolinec and Banská Štiavnica so maybe cheaper than DayTrip.com if you include the stops. And while DayTrip just dumps you at a site, Sidetrip provides a guide.

Personally if the choice was between 8 hours in a train, and 7 hours in a car I would take the train any time. If you want fast, fly. If you want comfortable, take the train...

WengenK; A day that will go down in history!! I agree (on the if you want fast, fly). Its why I listed the choices.

• The DayTrip solution is hotel door to hotel door. So, the time is the time. 7 hours. But not cheap.
• The train solution for the temperament of most tourists will require an hour to get to the station early enough to be comfortable and a half hour a the back end. So, 9.5 to 10.5 hours.
• The Bus, about the same as the train so 8.5 to 9.5 hours.
• The flight solution will take 2 hours preflight (Schengen to Schengen) from home to airport and 1.25 hours post flight to the next home. So, 4.5 hours,,, ehhh, I will call it 4.75 hours.
  

Where the car pays off is you can stop and see some of the sights along the way. Daytrip offerst that for more $$$ But if you look at it like a day trip to interesting places its a little easier to justify.

• Orvasky hrad 2h for €45
• Vlkolinec 45m for €26
• Kalwaria Zebrzydowska 1h for €32
• Kosice 1h 30m for €81
• Banska Stiavnica 1h for €28
• Esztergom 1h for €28

Thank you for your thoughts. You are correct that a train or plane might be a faster and less expensive way to travel between the two cities. But in this case, we like the idea of combining transportation and sightseeing. We want to see the western Carpathian mountains and villages along the way. From what I can see, the rail route avoids the mountains altogether.

So far, the only company I've found is SideTrip. They offer sightseeing-transfers between several major cities across Central Europe. From their website, it appears to be exactly what we're looking for. But we'd really value hearing from someone who has actually used their service, or a similar one such as DayTrip. Are there other options?

There is a website called findtransfers.com where you can input your
preferences/requirements and local companies will reply to you with quotes and
you can interact with them to tailor your proposal the way you want.

A lot of local taxi and shuttle companies do not have a huge web presence so
this is another way to find them.

I might also look at the Krakow and Budapest airport websites under ground
transportation. Often local companies are listed there.

Thank you!

Seeing the stuff inbetween is called smart travel. I get it completely.

DayTrip.com. I've used them twice in Austria and once in Hungary. Using them again in a fee weeks in Austria/Germany. Never an issue.