We are visiting Budapest and Vienna with our 4 teenagers this summer. When we leave Budapest, we are taking the train and thought it might be fun to spend 5/6 hours in Bratislava to see another country. Is this stopover worthwhile? We are planning to take the train to Bratislava - Hlavná stanica and store our luggage here for the day. I believe we will arrive around 12:30, and thought we should depart around 7pm so we don't get into Vienna too late. We are now trying to figure out how to get from Bratislava to Vienna and It seems the train schedules aren't working with our plans. Plan B, I was thinking to hire a shuttle, but I can't seem to find a company that services those cities. I've been quoted 350+ Euros for this trip which seems so steep. Thank you for any advice or tips.
Posted by
Singapore
551 posts
Bratislava is well worth the trip - a very nice compact and historic city, and an easy train ride from Vienna (or to Vienna in your case). When you say the trains schedules don't work, what exactly do you mean? There are multiple trains - given the efficiency or rail, unlikely you will find a shuttle, hence the very high quote. Do you have time to stay in Bratislava overnight and take the train to Vienna in the morning?
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
20156 posts
584 euro for 6. That's less than $100 each or about $70 more per person than just taking the train straight to Budapest.
Great idea if you still have 4 full days in Vienna and 5 in Budapest. But my choice would be the Archabbey at Pannonhalma ... which is easy on the train with no detours.
Posted by
Virginia
633 posts
Bratislava is worth and a day trip. We did it as a day trip from Vienna, which was about an hour trip on train. I believe it is a longer trip from Budapest. When we did it some five years ago the train ticket from Vienna would allow you to, use the buses in Bratislava for free. What I like about doing it from Vienna is that you don’t need to stop with your luggage in Bratislava to then pick up your luggage and go to Vienna
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5507 posts
Trains from Budapest to Vienna do not stop in Bratislava, so you are taking a detour. Maybe consider visiting Bratislava as a day trip from Vienna which will likely be just as efficient minus the luggage? Also look at this - https://www.oebb.at/en/regionale-angebote/ueberregionale-angebote/bratislava-ticket
To answer your question, though, there are trains at :16 every hour from Petrzalka to Vienna. The trip takes 60 minutes. Is this what you are seeing?
Posted by
Southeastern US
2607 posts
askibbs, you're getting answers on both threads. Maybe you could ask the webmaster to merge them?
Posted by
8 posts
If this isn't too late, consider taking the ferry - a friend (he's from Germany and is extremely well-traveled) suggested this as a scenic way to get from one to the other. I haven't done it myself, but I did see a video someone posted on YouTube of their trip, and it looked rather charming. Here's the ferry's website. https://www.twincityliner.com