i'm planning a trip to include budapest, vienna, and prague. how long would it be to travel by train to these cities? i wouldn't like to spend more than 3-4 hours on a train. any suggestions about planes if the trips would be longer than this? how much do the trains cost? thanks for any help you can give.

www.bahn.de

I just did the same trip last year. Flew into Budapest then trained to Vienna then to Prague. The train rides were under 4 hours with interesting scenery. I forget the cost but it was pretty reasonable.

pugsly,
did you get your tickets before you went or when you got there? should i be doing any side trips? how many days did you have in all three places? thanks for any help.

If you book well in advance (up to 90 days allowed) by phoning the Austrian rail call center, you can get SparSchiene fares of 19€ for Budapest-Vienna and Vienna-Prague. Go to www.oebb.at/en and click on the SparSchiene link. Book ASAP to have the best chance of getting those fares.

I did this same trip in March 07. I couldn't figure out how to buy the tickets in advance so we just bought them when we got there. No problems. I think Budapest to Vienna was a few hours and Vienna to Prague was around 4 hours. Both easy trips.
If you want to see my trip report for ideas, you can check it out on my website;
www.wired2theworld.com
Click on "Central Europe 03/07"

We did this trip a few years ago. Like Kristina we could not find a good way to book the train trips ahead of time so we did it when we got there. In Budapest we used the the rail office on Adrassy St. In Vienna we bought them at the rail station upon our arrival. Hint: when looking for the ticket office consider that it is sited to be easy for people arriving from the street not arriving by train!