advice on flights and trains
Apr 30th, 2003 | 05:29 AM
#1
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Joined: Apr 2003
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advice on flights and trains
I have a deal where I can fly to Munich,
Frankfurt, or Venice but I really want to go to Prague or budapest even though I have not been to germany or Italy before. Is there a site that tells train travel times between destinations? I can also travel to 1 city and back from another. so what would you do if these 3 cities were your choices to mix and match for a 10 day itinerary?
Frankfurt, or Venice but I really want to go to Prague or budapest even though I have not been to germany or Italy before. Is there a site that tells train travel times between destinations? I can also travel to 1 city and back from another. so what would you do if these 3 cities were your choices to mix and match for a 10 day itinerary?
Apr 30th, 2003 | 05:37 AM
#2
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For basic planning, I like the map in the (downloadable)Rick Steves Railpass book:
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/03railguide.pdf
http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/03railguide.pdf
Apr 30th, 2003 | 06:11 AM
#3
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Flying into either Frankfurt or Munich would be your best bet rather than into Venice but I can give you a VERY general rundown of the times involved from all three cities to both Prague and Budapest. The number of changes and the times involved depend greatly on your time of departure
Munich-Budapest: 7-8 hours with 0-2 changes
Munich-Prague: 6-7 hours with 1-5 changes
Frankfurt-Budapest: approx 10 hours with 0-2 changes
Frankfurt-Prague: 7-8 hours with 1-3 changes
Venice (Maestre)-Budapest: 10-13 hours with 0-3 changes
Venice (Maestre)-Prague: 15-17 hours with 2-3 changes.
You could do a cicular route to both Budapest and Prague by train from either German city or you could start in one, go to Budapest and Prague, and return for your flight out to the other. Be aware that the train times are going to eat up a lot of your day...even if you train between Budapest and Prague which I have done several times. I love taking trains in Europe but you might also consider flying within IF that is economical. Hope this helps a little.
Munich-Budapest: 7-8 hours with 0-2 changes
Munich-Prague: 6-7 hours with 1-5 changes
Frankfurt-Budapest: approx 10 hours with 0-2 changes
Frankfurt-Prague: 7-8 hours with 1-3 changes
Venice (Maestre)-Budapest: 10-13 hours with 0-3 changes
Venice (Maestre)-Prague: 15-17 hours with 2-3 changes.
You could do a cicular route to both Budapest and Prague by train from either German city or you could start in one, go to Budapest and Prague, and return for your flight out to the other. Be aware that the train times are going to eat up a lot of your day...even if you train between Budapest and Prague which I have done several times. I love taking trains in Europe but you might also consider flying within IF that is economical. Hope this helps a little.
Apr 30th, 2003 | 08:36 AM
#5
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I'm not a good one to answer this since the only night trains I ever use are more or less the "premier" ones and I'm always in First Class when I do. So, unlike some folks I have never had a bad night train experience. There may be some additional cheap airfare options for you to consider and I suspect before the end of the day someone who has much more knowledge about that than I do will post a message.
Apr 30th, 2003 | 09:45 AM
#6
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If you travel from the Frankfurt Airport train station to Prague, the shortest travel time is about 7.5 hours. There is one change of trains in Nurnberg, and the trip is in the day time. If you go at night, the trip is 2 hours longer and you don't leave until nearly midnight.
Most flights from the US are overnight and arrive in the morning. I don't think you want to hang around Frankfurt waiting 12 to 15 hours for a night train.
If you leave from Munich, the travel time is nearly 7 hours, 6:45 to be exact. BUT in Frankfurt you leave from the airport station while in Munich you must travel from the airport to the main station which is about a 45 minute ride on the S bahn.
Therefore the shorter train travel time from Munich is cancelled by the need to travel to the train.
Venice is another 6 hours longer.
Regardless of whether or not you leave from Frankfurt or Munich, you arrive in Prague from Nurnberg.
My suggestion is to leave from Frankfurt, if the price is about the same. That way you avoid the extra 45 minutes or more of riding the S-bahn. If you take a taxi in Munich the cost is about 50 - 60 euro. If you take the Lufthansa bus, the fare is about 35 e round trip. (I rode that bus three times last year and cannot for the life of me remember what I paid! It was about 18 e, but that is a shaky recall. I just handed the money over and got on the bus. I took the s bahn once and decided the bus was better for me and where I was going.)
Most flights from the US are overnight and arrive in the morning. I don't think you want to hang around Frankfurt waiting 12 to 15 hours for a night train.
If you leave from Munich, the travel time is nearly 7 hours, 6:45 to be exact. BUT in Frankfurt you leave from the airport station while in Munich you must travel from the airport to the main station which is about a 45 minute ride on the S bahn.
Therefore the shorter train travel time from Munich is cancelled by the need to travel to the train.
Venice is another 6 hours longer.
Regardless of whether or not you leave from Frankfurt or Munich, you arrive in Prague from Nurnberg.
My suggestion is to leave from Frankfurt, if the price is about the same. That way you avoid the extra 45 minutes or more of riding the S-bahn. If you take a taxi in Munich the cost is about 50 - 60 euro. If you take the Lufthansa bus, the fare is about 35 e round trip. (I rode that bus three times last year and cannot for the life of me remember what I paid! It was about 18 e, but that is a shaky recall. I just handed the money over and got on the bus. I took the s bahn once and decided the bus was better for me and where I was going.)
Apr 30th, 2003 | 10:20 AM
#7
Joined: Jan 2003
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PS. Let me answer some of your other questions, too. Most airlines will permit open jawed scheduling. For example, last year I flew with US Airways from Athens, Ga., to Paris and then rturned home from Munich.
The best site for western Europe train information is the German Die Bahn site. The URL is http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/d
There is an English version if you need it; click on the word English in the upper right corner.
Rick Steves in the past linked to this site; he had no original information.
The German site will give you details if you drill down. You can even find out the arrival times at the intermediate stops on each train.
What would I do? HMM, not sure.
Fly to Frankfurt, train to Prague, spend the next 4 or 5 nights there. Travel to Nurnberg for a night, then to Munich for 4 nights, and come home.
If time got heavy in Munich, I would take a day trip to Neuschwanstein or to Salzburg, or both.
The trip to Salzburg from Munich is fairly quick and you travel with Die Bahn all the way. (Yes you do even though Salzburg is in Austria; Die Bahn has a set of tracks there for the trip to Munich.)
The best site for western Europe train information is the German Die Bahn site. The URL is http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/d
There is an English version if you need it; click on the word English in the upper right corner.
Rick Steves in the past linked to this site; he had no original information.
The German site will give you details if you drill down. You can even find out the arrival times at the intermediate stops on each train.
What would I do? HMM, not sure.
Fly to Frankfurt, train to Prague, spend the next 4 or 5 nights there. Travel to Nurnberg for a night, then to Munich for 4 nights, and come home.
If time got heavy in Munich, I would take a day trip to Neuschwanstein or to Salzburg, or both.
The trip to Salzburg from Munich is fairly quick and you travel with Die Bahn all the way. (Yes you do even though Salzburg is in Austria; Die Bahn has a set of tracks there for the trip to Munich.)
