Hi. My DH and I are going to a meeting in Budapest in August and are thinking of spending a few days in Prague before arrival in Budapest. Is it a hassle using the train between the two cities? Approximately how much does a ticket cost (US)? Is there a better way to travel between them? Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Is close to nine hours on the train a hassle? That's what it takes.

You could break the journey in Vienna, of course, stay the night, then carry on.

Cost about 50 Euros or equivalent per person (that's 2005, may have gone up some) in second class, plus extra for seat reservation if that's preferred (a good idea in August!).

Or fly - no budget flights that I know of, Austrian airlines etc. charge USD350 and up unless you grab a lucky special.

WK

Thanks WK. That's exactly the info I was looking for. We think we'll skip the 9 hour train ride and do some day trips from Budapest instead.

Prague is so fabulous, I encourage you to include a few days there in your itinerary.

The train trip is not difficult. If you catch the 7:37 am train from Prague, you should be in Budapest by about 2:30 pm, a duration of 6:45. Check out the Die Bahn website:
http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en.

I don't know what the regular ticket price would be, but it looks to me as if you should be able to get a Prague Excursion Rail Pass through the following website for about $57 each. Add to that th cost we paid for reservations of about $11 each, and you're not out too much money.
http://www.railpass.com/new/railsaver/railsaver.asp

By the way, we got our rail passes from a different source than the one cited above: Budget Europe, 1-800-441-2387. Brian rally held my hand through selecting the right combination of passes and tickets for our travel between Budapest, Prague, Vienna, and Munich.

I wanted to add that it's true that some trains leaving Prague after the 7:45 departure I cited do have longer travel times and multiple changes. Th 7:45 dparture involves no changes.

Also, I just wanted to encourage you once again not to miss Prague. It's simply enchanting and was our favorite on our recent trip, which icluded Munich, Copenhagen, Arhus, Berlin, Krakow (a close second to Prague in our estimation), Budapest, and Vienna.

Don't know how long you have in Budapest, but we had 4 full dys there and then flew to Prague for 5 full days - we loved both cities, if you can tie it in -

while I would always love a month in every city, at least we got a taste of both. Prague is a great city with lots to do -highlights for us were Charles Bridge, Hradcany/Castle, St Vitus, Golden Lane, day trip to Terezin (Theresienstadt) and Cesky Krumov, and the great food, theater, opera

But a nice day trip from Budapest was the boat ride to the Danube Bend and to visit Szentendre - a link to info about this city for day trips and some others follows:
http://tinyurl.com/sycg5

We took the boat trip up, walked the city, had lunch, and took the train back. It was a lovely break and a quaint town - the center has some 'touristy' touch, but the buildings worth seeing and small streets are worth getting lost in - we strolled a bit exploringn on our way to the train - some of my best photos of that trip were taken on this day.

Both great cities I'd love to return to someday !

Hi Pc,

I would go to Prague for 3-4 days, train to Vienna for 3-4 days and then go on to Budapest.

When will you get the chance again?

It's about 7 hrs (not 9) between the 2 cities...did this trip in the fall. Prague is well worth the visit...was our favorite over Vienna and Budapest. Definitely go if you can.

Pcooper, how about a Prague, Krakow and Budapest combination? I am considering that or a Prague, Vienna and Budapest trip next spring. So many interesting cities in that region!

Hmmmm. Sounds as if we should give including Prague some more thought. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

pcooper, I mistakingly gave you only the night train times - you can indeed get there much quicker during the day as pointed out by sharp-eyed posters.

If you take the 06:20 that gets into Prague at 13:25, you have a half day and a night - then another almost full day and the 16:40 train gets you back to Budapest at 23:22.

Sorry about that!

WK