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Budapest to Trieste

A friend of mine is having trouble putting together plans for herself and her spouse, and since I've only traveled in western Europe, my advice so far has been somewhat limited. They arrive in Budapest the afternoon of the 25th of June. They want to be in Trieste by the night of the 26th. They are public transit enthusiasts and would rather not rent a car and drive, preferring to take a train or bus. So far between the three of us, we've found few options that look like they will work. Does anyone know of a safe, reliable way to get from Budapest to Trieste in 30 hours or less on a Monday?

Posted by
11294 posts

You can check train schedules (but not prices) on the Bahn's English page: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en You can check budget airline flights on these websites: http://www.skyscanner.com/ http://www.whichbudget.com/ Another search engine for flights within Europe: http://www.opodo.co.uk/ Expect one or more connections, no matter how you do it. But, like James, I'm intrigued. Arriving in Budapest one day and wanting to be in Trieste the next is like arriving in St. Louis one day and wanting to be Nantucket the next. Budapest is not like Frankfurt or Amsterdam, a common nonstop destination from the US. What is the rest of the story? Can they change their ticket to just arrive in Trieste? I'm sure it will be costly, but it may be less trouble (and possibly less money) than the alternatives.

Posted by
106 posts

Hi there! There is a day train to Ljubljana that gets in at about 2200 on the 26th and then you can transit to Trieste the next day, or take a train to Villach and take a connection (there are buses to Venice etc from there) but otherwise, you're pushing it to get there that fast without driving or taking a direct transfer. Agree with the other guy, why fly into Budapest and then try to kill yourself getting to Trieste? There are flights from the US to Venice i think or to Frankfurt\Munich where there are flights on Air Dolomiti to Trieste. Cheers
Greg and Rona

Posted by
97 posts

The plan is to end in Budapest. They fly in and out from there, and the last bit of the trip is in Hungary.

Posted by
17644 posts

Budapest is a great city to decompress in after a long trip across the continent. BUT, why don't you look into an Open Jaw ticket? Arrive in Italy (if that is the other half of your trip and depart out of Budapest). I bet that the additional cost of the open jaw you will find well worth the expediture once you discover the work involved in doing anything else. And you can get pretty lucky with some tickets and the addiitonal cost is minimal. Or stay more localized. Austria/Czech/Hungary/Romania/Bulgaria/Slovakia all work pretty well together.

Posted by
11294 posts

Unfortunately, your friends made a classic mistake. For others reading this: fly open jaws (called "multi-city" on booking websites), flying into your starting city and flying out of your ending city, even if it costs more than a round trip ticket. You'll save time and money in the end. If they can't change their ticket, they should consider changing their itinerary. As James said, there's lots of great places to see that are closer to Budapest. If they are locked into starting in Trieste, they will have to pony up the money for a flight. Flights into Trieste are limited, but do exist (many through Munich, as already said). Look into booking a round trip flight BUD-TRS and just not using the return portion - that's often much cheaper than a one way ticket.