On Oct 24,2019, 4 seniors need to find transportation from Prague to Budapest. Considering a train. Is it worthwhile to book first class/business class ? Is train the best way to make this trip ? Looks like train/plane will take about the same time (considering airport time). Any helpful info please ?

There are buses too I believe but IMO train is the best and most comfy - book trains very early for discounted fares - www.trainline.eu is one site to try as it matches the cheapest tickets of national railways which you can also book yourselves on online. www.seat61.com has an avalanche of tips on booking own cheapest train fares - general info like 1st v 2nd class and overnight trains: BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. Trains take about 6.5 hours! Flying would be quicker but all in all not by much plus with train you see the lay of the land iin between the two cities - flying you just see airports. There is a direct overnight train too - if never taken one it could be a nice experience.

It's more like 6-8 hours, not 12

https://czech-transport.com/index.php?id=402

Yes St-Cirq - I must have put some other city in www.bahn.de/en (German railways online schedule site for all European trains) as all said 12 but doing again and puting in Prague to Budapest yes about 6.5 hours by direct train. Thanks for correcto! Have edited my post to reflect that.

PalenQ and StCirq- thanks for the info. It looks to me as if this would be an enjoyable train trip. I saw that some trains that had interesting stops, but I think luggage would be a problem. I wish this would be one of the high speed trains that are in other places in Europe. Those trains are a wonderful means of travel. We will take your advice.

You usually have luggage storage in train stations should you want to stop someplace. But that means two tickets usually at more cost.