travelermama

Hello,

We are traveling from Budapest to Ljubljana in September and are looking to make the trip overnight. It's my husband and I and our 2 year old. She has traveled all over the states with us and throughout Italy, so I'm not worried about her flexibility or ours.

When I look on the mav-start website (hungarian train site) to book a train the only offering is a day train. We are looking to maximize our time in both cities, therefore the night travel.
Any other night options between the cities?

Thanks

kja

rome2rio.com shows a night train -- check it out and be sure to go to the source sites it lists.

Good luck!

rtt0921

There are no more direct night trains between the two cities, only night trains that require changes at horrible hours. One option is with a change that includes a 2h30 transfer between 11pm and 1.30am and another has two changes, one of which is a 20-minute transfer at 4am.

Man_in_seat_61

Just take the 08:30 day train, easily bookable for €39 at www.mavcsoport.hu

PalenQ

Yes stay in Budapest and take the day train - no more direct night trains and rtt0921 says - no feasible way by train -not sure about buses but would eschew any overnight bus with a kid that young.

Do as Man in seat 61 says - stay in Budapest - rest up and takethe direct morning train. check man's commercial site - www.seat61.com for more info on trains - www.seat61.com.

travelermama

We really don't want to take the day train as it cuts into a day in Slovenia and we already have limited days in each destination. That's why I am hoping to find an alternative to the previously schedule night trains. I am familiar with the seat61 website- and have used it extensively, and love it. However, for this particular transfer am looking for other options. Hoping to find some that answer my question here.

rtt0921- where/how would you go about booking the train with transfers? Specifically what city are you transfering through? Do you have a route that you recommend?
Thanks

rtt0921

I just used www.bahn.com, the Deutsche Bahn website, which is the go-to European train journey planner, I've never taken the train between the two cities personally.

The first option, with the 2h30 transfer, is a 5.40pm direct train from Budapest Keleti to Salzburg Hbf, which you reach at 10.52pm, followed by a 2.5 hour wait for the 1.34am night train to Zagreb, which reaches Ljubljana at 5.59am. Note that just the second leg is a night train, the first leg is a regular train with no sleeping compartments.

The second option is a 6.40pm regular intercity train from Budapest Keleti to Vienna Hbf, which you reach at 9.18pm, then change to the 9.25pm night train to Venice. You get off that train at Villach Hbf at 3.51am and change to the aforementioned night train to Zagreb at 4.15am and again reach Ljubljana by 5.59am.

If taking option no. 1 (the more realistic one), I would see how much the Hungarian Railways quote me for the whole journey and compare it to the cost of buying the tickets to Salzburg from the Hungarian Railways and then the tickets from Salzburg to Ljubljana from the Austrian Railways. It's more likely that the second option will be cheaper as there's a higher probability of finding reduced fare tickets for the individual legs than for the journey as a whole.

If opting for option no. 2, I would go for a single ticket through the Hungarian Railways, as the transfer times are much shorter.

PalenQ

neither option is a good one for folks with a 2-yr old with them or really anyone- the 2nd option is not terrible but involves getting up in the middle of the night and transferring to a night train that is already loaded - I've had experience of boarding such trains in the middle of the night - the compartment doors will be locked if a couchette and folks in there will not be happy being disturbed by it all.