h2babe

I am trying to get an idea of the time table for my train journey from Vienna to Budapest in July. I looked up www.bahn.de, and saw that there is a train departing Wien Westbahnhof at 10:03 on Jul 15 arriving Budapest Keleti at 12:58 (zero connections), which is a reasonable option for me.
My questions are:
1. I will be staying at the Pension Perstchy, which is closer to the Stephanhof station than Westbahnhof station in Vienna (from reading all of the posts from Fodorites who have stayed there in the past, it's a 5 min walk). Should I worry about trying to get a train from the closer station, or is the Westbahnhof within a reasonable distance from Pertschy? Can I select a station at which I would like to be departing from in Vienna?

2. There are 2 arrival train stations in Budapest, Keleti and Deli. What are the main differences between the two stations? I will be staying at the Mariott Hotel (not the apartment), so I'd definitely prefer to be arriving at the station closest to my hotel.

Thanks for everyone's help!!!

Intrepid1

The Deli station is on the western side of the city (in other words in Buda); Keleti, which is more the "main" station in the city, as well as Nyugati are stations located on the Pest side of the river.

I suspect Keleti may be the station you want.

framboise

h2babe,

From Stephanplatz take subway U3 to Westbahnhof.
From Keleti take metro M2 to Deak.

bob_brown

As near as I can tell from reading the ÖBB site, the trains from Wien West go to Keleti and require no changes of train enroute.

The trains from the Wien Südbahnhof go to either Keleti or Deli depending on which one you ride, but all connections require a change of trains.

Personally, I would prefer not changing trains on the way and arrive at Keleti.

The ÖBB site confirms identically the information you have about the 10:03 train.

Ironically,the fastest connection requires 2 changes of train! The travel time is 2 hours, 38 minutes on the schedule. I suppose if you had only a light case to swing about, that might be interesting. Making sure you got off for the right connections would keep you alert!

tedgale

FYI: Keleti and Deli are both connected to the subway. Deli, being newer, has easier connections. At Keleti you have to walk out of the station, as I recall, to a below-grade space in front of the station to find the metro.

The Marriott website indicates that Deak Ferenc ter station is 0.5 miles from the hotel. That seems an exaggeration to me -- and the same site says that Keleti is 5 miles distant, which is nonsense.

But you might want to check it out more carefully on a city map.

BTW: Deak is the main crossover point for all three lines of the metro.

You could switch there to the tiny, ancient metro A (the oldest in Europe and very pretty -- and the stations are just one flight below ground) to Vorosmarty ter, which is a little closer to the Marriott.

You will have a wonderful time in Budapest, of which I think with ever-increasing nostalgia. Lucky you!

JerryS

Suggest you contact Bela Lukacs at [email protected] or by phone at 00(361)24-26-722. He offers a private door to door car service. We used him in October to go from Budapest to Vienna (Pension Pertschy. You will avoid taxis and he will pick you up at the hour you desire. We paid $120US (he accepted US dollars so no extra conversion fees).
Beats the train for convenience and comfort also. Good luck.

h2babe

Thanks everyone for the replies!

Framboise, if I were to catch at 10:03 train, how much time should I allow myself to get to Stephenplatz, and then to Westbahnhof?

tedgale and bob, for right now, it looks like I can probably keep the timetable that I had looked up earlier departing from Westbahnhof and arriving at Keleti. I also prefer not to have any transfer, to give myself a peace of mind

JerryS, would Bela Luckas charge me more if he had to pick me up in Vienna and drive back to Budapest? Is $120 a flat rate? I've never thought of this, but I should really consider this, because of the convenience. And I might be able to have more luggage with me. Did it take you about the same time riding in car and the train?

If anyone else has more inputs, please let me know!

framboise

h2babe,

there are four or five stops bet Stephanplats & Westbahnhof. Leave pension an hour before train time, a bit earlier if you are to buy train ticket for Budapest on that morning. ( I myself had bought a few days before)

Checked out the map. Marriott is close to Intercontinental which I stayed at. Having light bags, I changed metro at Deak to yellow M1 line getting off at Vorosmarty ter (only one stop). Hotel was within easy walking distance, probably 5 minutes or such.

If you have heavy suitcase with you, you might want suggested door to door service to avoid changing metro twice holding large luggage.

h2babe

Thank you framboise for your detailed information, this will be very helpful. I don't plan on toting a lot of luggages, but thought that it would be *nice* if I could shop more in Vienna, which private door to door service can offer so I will definitely consider this option.

JerryS, my email to Bela Lucask came back as undeliverable, do you mind checking his email address for me? Thanks!

h2babe

Framboise, I hit the post reply button too quick, what I meant was, if I didn't have the worry of toting more luggages, then I could shop more in Vienna

JerryS

h2babe, Concerning Bela Lukacs, I doubt that the rate from Vienna to Budapest would be much differecnt than from Budapest to Vienna but you should contact him and find out. Time-wise, it will be much quicker going by car (very little traffic when we went) since you will avoid going to and from train stations and waiting for trains and cabs. I also think it will be less expensive and certainly easier.

h2babe

JerryS, I tried contacting the email you gave me for Bela, and it came back undeliverable. Can you help?

I am seriously considering this option, because the train ticket is probably going to be about 60 Euro, but I would have find transportation, like you said, to and from the train stations.

JerryS

That's the E-Mail address I have on his card. However, if you search for "Bela Lukacs" and "Hungary" on this site, you will see various postings from him and others listing other E-Mail; addresses. I am sure one of them will be good. Good Luck.

h2babe

Thanks JerryS!

tedgale

60 euros, Budapest to Vienna?? One-way?? I don't think so! Probably about one-third of that.

I got a return fare last Easter Budapest-Vienna-Budapest, including free ground transport all weekend in Vienna (subway, bus and tram) and it sure didn't cost me 60 euros.

someotherguy

There's also the Vienna-Budapest hydrofoil along the Danube. The dock in Budapest is a just a little way along the river from the Marriott (on the same side).

h2babe

tedgale, when I checked the website for bahn.de, that's the rate that came up with my itinerary for Vienna-Budapest, it's actually 56 Euro. Am I not looking at the right website? Is that too expensive? How were you able to get a deal that includes ground transportation? I am thinking to purchase all of my tickets when I arrived in Berlin at the beginning of my trip, since I have an idea of what time I will be departing from each city to the next. Is that a good idea?

someotherguy, from reading a lot of threads here, I did not receive the impressions that the hydrofoil was the better choice than the train, maybe it was faster but a lot more expensive??? Would you share your experience, pro's and con's with me?

someotherguy

h2babe: I'm afraid my own experience with the Hydrofoil was inconclusive. I was in Budapest (at the Marriott) and went along to the boat dock to book a seat for a few days later, but they were already sold out. This was in September when they have only one trip a day. I did look at the boat itself, which is quite small. All the seats are inside in 3+3 aircraft-type seating. The attraction for me was the opportunity to see the views from the river. I mentioned it because it's an easy schlep from the Marriott. There's information and pictures here: http://www.budapesthotels.com/touristguide/mahart.asp

In the end, I took the train from Deli, which was ok (I was in first class) but not scenic. Deli station is on tram line 18. There's a stop for Trams 2 and 2a right outside the Marriott.

Giovanna

We had considered the hydrofoil from Vienna to Budapest on our trip in 2003. I posted here and received 100% negative comments. Expensive, scenery not great, and the clincher for us was the fact that they allowed smoking in the enclosed passenger area. We're ex-smokers and try not to be obnoxious, but for a trip that length we didn't want to cope with the smoke.

We took the routing you noted from Westbahnhof to Keleti and enjoyed the trip. The train was quite crowded (in May) and we were glad we had reserved seats (in second class). Don't remember what we paid for the tickets. We took cabs from our hotel in Vienna and again from Keleti to our hotel in Budapest. Don't remember either being terribly expensive, especially in Budapest.

someotherguy

I just reviewed some other threads about the hydrofoil and it seems I was lucky not to take it. So scratch that suggestion.

Also, although the Budapest trams and metro are great once you've learned to use them (and Metro line 2, the red one, connects both Deli and Keleti stations to Tram line 2) I'd agree that a taxi is the best bet on arrival.