plane or train?
 

Hello,

Four of us will be traveling from Prague to Budapest then a few days later from Budapest to Venice.

The cost of taking a train between these cities is approximately 730 Euro in total for the four of us. It seems expensive to me. Would flying be a better option? I heard that flights are inexpensive from city to city once you get to Europe.

Thanks,

For low cost airlines go to: http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp

Where are you looking for prices? Have you read seat61.com?

Michael,

Budapest does not seem to be on the Arrival Airports list at the website you mentioned.

Train fares are like plane fares - the cheapest seats go early. And there aren't budget airline between all pairs of cities.

I would look at bahn.de to check out train schedules and then the local train companies to see what discount fares are being offered. And then double check if there are discount flights on these routes.

Prague to Budapest has very few, if any discount airlines flying the route. I can't see anything for under $200 (and very few of those) in September - October.

Budapest to Venice has lots of cheap flights - as low as $49.

So, I suggest you plan on maybe taking the train to Budapest and then flying to Venice. That makes sense logistically, too, since the distance to Venice is 50 % more than to Prague, resulting in the air travel taking far less time than the train.

Aramis,

Where did you find the $49 price?

Thanks,

I was not claiming that there were any cheap flights between the various cities on your itinerary; but if there were any, they would be found on that web site.

Ryanair offers the cheapest flights from Budapest to Prague

http://www.ryanair.com fly from Budapest to Treviso

look at whichbudget.com and skyscanner.com for ALL the budget airline possibilities

You could book either a 4-person compartment or two privagte double compartments on the overnight train between Prague and Budapest - saves time over flying which always takes a half-dy not matter how long the flight and saves on the cost of a hotel.

And there are Vienna to Venice night trains as well. Total cost with no hotel costs could be cheaper than flying and saves daytime travel time as well.

For lots of great stuff on European trains check out these fantastic IMO sites - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. And you can get discounted tickets on overnight trains as well from the web site of the national railway involved.

Prague to Budapest by train from €19 at www.cd.cz/eshop.

Budapest to Vienna from €13 at www.mav-start.hu then Vienna to Venice by the direct sleeper train at www.oebb.at from €49 with couchette or €69 with bed in a 2-bed sleeper. Why not stop off a few hours in Vienna?

Simples!

when you're looking at comparing costs, IMO you shouldn't just look at the headline price but the underlying costs too - eg the time you waste hanging about as well as the time it takes to get to the airport, the cost of getting to the airport, the overpriced food you'll eat there, the time you'll take at the other end with passport control, customs, etc. the cost and time of getting from that airport to your destination - and the fact that you really don't see much from the air.

as Pal and the Man point out, you can get very reasonably priced rail fares, and make it part of your holiday.

Thanks so much for these suggestions everyone.

Man_in_seat_61 I am having difficulties with these train booking sites that you suggested. My browser is translating the different languages to English but when I plug in my dates of travel, they are not accepted. Is it too early to book July travel?

Even when the dates go through on another site, I don't get the same fares as you do. We don't qualify for any discounts that I know of except 1 youth and 1 child rate.

I guess I have to study the sites closer?

Even when the dates go through on another site, I don't get the same fares as you do. We don't qualify for any discounts that I know of except 1 youth and 1 child rate.>

Man in Seat 61 seems kind of like a used car salesman - when he/she says from means just that - a handful are sold from 19 euros but will not appear on many searches as their numbers allotted to be sold may be paltry and sell out as soon as they get on the calendar - like the ballyhooed 9 euro fares in Italy.

Anyone when talking about 'from 19 euros' should also add with many country sites that you may have to spend hours making the transaction and at some point even reach a break down, etc.

Ah it sounds so nice - no matter where you are going 'from 19 euros' - well if you've read the litany of complaining posts about say trenitalic.om or renfe.com or voyages-sncf.com you'll realize that it is not as easy as Man in Seat 61 makes it out perhaps - some sites work well - www.eurostar.com works easy for Chunnel trains - www.bahn.de is pretty straight forward - but many others are not!

Plane or train?

Why do you go to Europe - to see a handful of large touirsted cities and airports and tarmacs or do you also want to see the lay of the land - the Europe in between say Paris and Amsterdam or Munich and Vienna - I enjoy the Europe in between the mega tourist cities as much as the cities themselves.

Plus overnight trains can save time and money.