What is the best way to get from Salzburg to Prague?

Hi David,

Have a look at this site - http://www.rome2rio.com/

Just enter the ‘From’ and ‘To’ destinations and it will bring up all the options and costs.

Happy travels

Baz,

This is the best website ever. Thanks for sharing.

David

If you are willing to do the trip in about an hour longer (7h37m), you can do it for less than $40 for one, just over $50 for two, by going through Germany (Landshut) and Pilsen.

A Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket, purchasable in Salzburg for 25€ for 1 person, 29,50€ for 2, will cover you by regional train from Salzburg Hbf via Germany to Pilsen. Before you get to Pilsen you should be able to purchase your ticket from Pilsen to Prague from the Czech conductor for 100Kc (about $5) per person.

There is a regional train (RB27086) leaving Salzburg Hbf at 11:07, getting to Landshut at 13:21. At Landshut, at 13:32, you catch EX355, which goes direct via Pilsen to Prague at 18:44.

And, I'm sorry, that website is not that great when it comes to German travel. It's good that it compares various modes of transport, but it overstates the cost of rail transport. It computes fares as the sum of individual legs, when tickets for the entire trip are less. It also does not take into account regional (Länder) tickets or advance purchase rail fares. For instance, they show the fare from Salzburg Hbf to MUC (Munich airport) as $60 (Salzburg to Muenchen Ost, $50; Ost to MUC, $10). A ticket including RJ to Munich Hbf actually costs $56 if you purchase it at the time of travel, $26 if purchased in advance. Using a Bayern-Ticket, purchased just before travel, and a slightly slower regional train, will cost you less than $32.

I've noticed the same problem with websites that purport to compare rail passes to individual tickets.

Whatever you do, don't take the train direct through Linz. I faced the same question two years ago and no one had actual experience with the trip for advice. So, I booked the train from Salzburg to Prague. Two transfers, 8 hours. A LONG day and one of the transfers was at a station that had no platform - hop off the train down to the gravel, walk along the track to another waiting train, and get up onto it (again, no platform). It was a great travel experience, but one you will want to avoid if you can.