We're planing to take the overnight train from Prague to Budapest. what's the best website to find out how much the fare is? checked few websites, they all gave me different prices. Does anyone know in terms of comfort level what's the difference between 1st and 2nd class? Does it worth to buy 1st class?
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Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
I can't comment on the difference in classes, but maybe this will help you out on fares. The Czech transportation ministry has centralized alll public transit at http://www.vlak.cz/JRCis.asp?tt=c&cl=E5 . If you click on "Tariff Calculator" at the bottom, a new window will open up. Click on "International Tariff Calculator" at the top, and it will set itself as leaving from Praha. Type in "Budapest" in the "To" window, and a basic fare for second class comes up as 1880 Czech koruna or 66.40 Euro. You can change the class to 1st and see the basic fare go to 104.80 Euro. Back to the original window and click on "Trains Search" in the upper right. Enter "Prague" and "Budapest," the date you want to travel, and the time you want to leave. It will show you the trains around that time. Use 20:00 hours as your departure time to get the overnight sleeper. Click on the little yellow and black seat icon, "Pre-reserve," to open another new window. There, it will allow you to select your sleeping accomodations. It will give you a reservation number that you must bring with you to the station when you purchase your tickets. The cost of a bed in a three-bed compartment is 566 koruna, or about 20 Euro. You can also book couchettes, which will be less expensive. If you want, you could also probably e-mail them to confirm the prices you find. Be aware that railways rarely put their tickets on sale much before three months out, so you may not find your exact date available until 60 or 90 days out. An e-mail to them might be able to find that out.