OBB from Budapest to Vienna

You can book this easily on the Rail Europe website. I did a dummy booking for mid-June & the round trip price was only $140. www.raileurope.com

Thank you Tom, I guess what I am trying to do is save some money. I found that website previously but thought the prices might be high, not to mention they also add handling fees. The OBB website has that trip at 19 euros (about $28) in 2nd class and 29 euros in first (about $42), more than half the price. Maybe there are other charges that I am not aware of on the OBB website but I think it will still be cheaper to book directly through them.

Hi John, I'm going to take a stab at this. I may be wrong, but I do not believe that the discounted tickets go on sale at OEBB.AT until 60 days prior to your journey, so that may account for why you are seeing higher prices. Additionally, and you may already know this, but there is a "Vienna Excursion Ticket" (Kirándulójegy in Hungarian) available that costs 31 euro and includes a roundtrip Budapest-Vienna ticket along with a 2 day pass on Vienna's public transportation (within Zone 100). I think it's 25 euro if you opt to forego the public transportation option. Your roundtrip travel must be completed within 4 days. I'm unclear of when this ticket goes on sale, and I'm also not sure if you can book it at OEBB.at because your trip will originate in Budapest. Currently, the Hungarian Train website (MAV) does not allow for non-Hungarians to book travel online, but rumor has it they were going to their system sometime this year to allow for foreigners to book. Here is a page from MAV that sort of explains the ticket you'd need, but it's only in Hungarian and you will need to use Google Translate if you aren't fluent. Look under the "Vienna Quotes" section and you'll see info for the Kirándulójegy ticket: http://www.mav-start.hu/utazas/becs.php Also, you may find this thread from TripAdvisor.com helpful - pay attention to the poster "GCEK," as he is well-informed about rail travel in the region: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g274887-i263-k4290407-Train_from_Budapest_to_Vienna_Scenic-Budapest.html Lastly, if all else fails you could always take the bus between the two cities. We used Orangeways (www.orangeways.com) and it was cheap and comfortable! For August, however, I'd advise buying tickets online in advance, as there is limited bus space (obviously). Good luck!

Hi Angela, Thanks for your response, it is very helpful and I will take a look at those websites. I will definitely do my homework before I buy any tickets. I called OBB today and apparantly I cannot buy a ticket originating in Budapest online because the ticket needs to be picked up at a station in Austria. They do not have a system that will allow me to purchase a ticket online that the Hungarians will recognize. At least that's what I understood from the conversation. I did find the MAV website today and looked at it a little bit, however, I wasn't aware that you could not purchase a ticket online as a foreigner. I will have to look at that a little closer. Anyway, thank you so much for your response, I am going to take a look at those websites right now. John

I'm just glad my response didn't add to any confusion! What the Austrian train agents told you today corresponds to further research I did on the matter after I posted, that you'll not be able to purchase tickets online from OEBB.at for that routing. It's nice to have an authoritative answer on that. As for MAV, apparently they used to only allow online purchases from people who had a Hungarian bank account, thusly eliminating most foreign travelers. This year, however, they are supposed to allow foreign bank transactions, and may have already done so. The process may still be in Hungarian language only, which will complicate things a bit. You may find some useful information over on the TripAdvisor.com Budapest forums. Speaking of which, I found the people over there very helpful when planning our trip last year, and GCEK is seriously an accomplished rail expert. If in doubt, you may want to consider posting a question over there as to whether or not the Kirándulójegy (Vienna Excursion Ticket) is still available, because if it is, it's a tremendous value. You may also want to confirm where you can/should buy it - I don't think it is for sale online but I do believe you can purchase it directly at the train station in Budapest, even on your day of travel. If this is the case, then it won't matter what MAV does regarding foreign bank accounts and there will be no need for advance online purchase. But you'll want to double check this, as things may have changed. Sorry for the long-winded-ness, and again, good luck!