I thought I had a simple question, but it turned out to be a project. We are a family of 4: 2 adults, 1 -15 year old, and 1 - 10year old need to reserve a sleeping cart for 4 from Prague to Vienna on the 5th of April and back on the 8th of April. I even searched out the exact train schedule: 5.4. Praha hl.n. 23:26 0:05 477 Metropol /407 2. Wien Meidling 6:07 6 7.4. Wien Meidling 22:21 22:24 R 406 Chopin /476 2. 8.4. Praha hl.n. 3:59 4:29 Now, czech-transport.com quoted me the following: one way ticket for 3 adults in 4p sleeper would be 189 EUR plus one youth would pay 42 EUR for ticket and bed. Total cost including delivery to hotel would be 256 EUR I have a feeling that they are the middle person and adding some interest for their services. To deliver tickets to the hotel they charge 30ERO. I concluded that contacting http://www.cd.cz/en/ would get me the real deal, but it turned out that the prices the "English speaking" representative gave me are higher than those of the middle person. Has anyone took this trip recently? What is the actual price of an adult ticket and is it cheaper when you book round trip? What is the easiest way to go about reserving in advance so I would not worry about availability of the tickets when we arrive?
Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
I like night trains, but I'm not sure I would want to take them on this route. The rides are relatively short so you won't get much sleep and the arrival time for Vienna-Prague is really early in the morning. If you book several months in advance on the Austrian Rail site, you can get a SparSchiene fare as low as €39 each way on direct daytime trains. No, it's not cheaper to book roundtrip.
Posted by
columbus, nc
294 posts
I think Tim is right on.
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
Prague to Vienna takes only 4 h 40 min. by train during a day. As Tim says you won't get enough sleep. Timetable is not appealing (arrival too early) and the sleeper if you try to buy it from here will be overpriced. I would go during a day and enjoy scenery (about half of the way between Prague and Brno is scenic). You can buy ticket to Vienna when you arrive to Prague.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
I originally suggested that you book daytime trains both ways on the Austrian Rail site. However, I just checked the site and found that online booking is not possible for routes beginning in the Czech Republic. I suggest that you call the Austrian Rail Call Centre and book tickets over the phone. Dial 011 (US international access code) + 43 (country code for Austria) + 5-1717. I'm pretty sure that Austrian Rail will mail your tickets to your home address. If you can get SparSchiene fares when booking over the phone, do so for both directions. If online booking is required for those fares, then book Prague-Vienna over the phone and book Vienna-Prague online.