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The Hungarian Rail Service sure did a inconvenient thing.

First, I dont think there is a reseller for MAV tickets. When MAV shares a route with OBB of DBahn or the Czech Rail; well, then you can buy the ticket from either. MAV can be significantly less expensive than OBB and DBahn as they seem to sell more discounted tickets and closer up to the date of departure; but not always. For trains within Hungary I am not aware of anyone you can buy tickets from but MAV.

Okay, so, we had a post here were someone was having trouble logging into the MAV website, so I wrote MAV and asked. Hard to believe with customer service these days, but they answered me the next day. Well done MAV. But the answer. What are these guys thinking?

From: [email protected]

Dear Passenger,
Thank you for your inquiry.
We would like to inform you about the following:
For security reasons, regional restrictions have been introduced for ticket sales platforms where MÁV Zrt. provides services. Ticket purchases from the following countries are still possible without any problems.
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Great Britain
• Germany
• Hungary
• Italy
• Ireland
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Romania
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Sweden
• Serbia
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Ukraine

If you have a ticket purchased in advance, when you enter an authorized country (cross the border), you will see your ticket. If you have a ticket that you received in PDF format in the confirmation email (with a QR code), you can also show it and you can travel with it.
We apologize for the inconvenience!
Thank you for your e-mail. We wish you a pleasant journey!

Best Regards,
Székács Magor Barnabás
Customer service assistant
cid:[email protected]

MÁV Személyszállítási Co.
MÁVDIREKT
Hungary, 1091 Budapest, Üllői St. 131.
Post address: 1426 Budapest, PoBox: 56.
Phone: +36 1 3 49 49 49
Mobile: +36 20/30/70 499 49 99
E-mail:[email protected]
Web: www.mavcsoport.hu/en

Posted by
30081 posts

Mr. E, please clarify the problem; I am confused.

Thanks.

Posted by
25198 posts

You cant log into the MAV site in the US. Therefore you can not buy MAV tickets in the US.

International tickets are sold by both countries so you can buy Budapest to Vienna through OBB for often twice what MAV wants for them.

No thrid party to my knowledge sells MAV train tickets for local trips. Going to Eger for instance. So for those you just have to wait till you get here and pay a bit more because you didnt by them in advance, but trains within Hungary are pretty cheap so not a killer. Also, if you are 65 or over they are free.

Posted by
850 posts

I assume a VPN with an European exit would still work to buy tickets?

Posted by
25198 posts

Here is a good solution for Vienna to Budapest and back. The thought of paying OBB prices turns me off so much, and the nonsense of MAV also turns me off. So, RegioJet to the rescue. The down sides are they only sell tickets a few months in advance which makes some folks nervous. As of today 30 January the furthest out you can buy a ticket to Vienna to Budapest is 28 March.

And then there are the stations which in Budapest are Kelenföld or Deli. Pick Budapest, Kelenföld (same train first stop, then metro into Pest).