Quickest Way from Vienna to Prague
 

Hello, I am trying to find the fastest way to get from Vienna to Prague - either train or transfer, in April.. I've tried looking at the train schedules OBB, but they seem to be about 5 hours. I would appreciate any recommendations, even for private transfer companies.

Thanks in advance

"Private Transfer" might save you 2 hours, because you can travel door to door and not hassle with getting to/from train stations. But it will cost far more than a train. This page offers one-way transfer for three people for only 231 Euros:

http://czech-transport.com/index.php?id=121

Thanks Andrew -- I found this site as well and emailed them. I wasn't sure they would do Vienna to Prague as we are not originating in Prague…..Hopefully they will respond favorably. Is the OBB the only train service between the two cities?

there are buses but only one train service - run by Austria and Czech Republic train systems.

Curious as to private transfers how much if any does the driver expect to get tipped?

I don't know who offers the train service, but ÖBB's website should show the international trains between the two cities. You can always check www.bahn.de/en to look for all possible train options, but I suspect most of the direct trains have about the same travel time.

For the same amount you can use Mike's Chauffeur Service. Mike has been used by several people on this board and is reliable and professional.

http://mike-chauffeur.cz/central-eur...to-from-prague

4.5 to 5 hours is correct for the train plus time to and from the train stations.

You would buy your tickets from the country where you're originating. I'm not sure what you mean by "train service." You might be on a Czech train but the train tracks are the same and the time is the same.

Thanks everyone……I'll check into Mike's - by train service, adrienne, I meant train operators, but as you say the same tracks…..Thanks again…

Just book a train at www.oebb.at from €19.

It's centre to centre while you relax, with room to move and even a dining-car!

Man - did you read the OP's criteria - fastest - and that is not the train and easiest - door to door. In your hubris to highlight discounted tickets please read what the OP is asking! she thinks 5 hours is already too long -not sure how long a private transfer would take but I bet door to door much quicker. Price to some is not always the everything.

You give great advice on low-cost tickets and I always refer to your excellent site in my many train posts but price is not always the most important point to folks with money to burn.

A value of crowd sourced site like this lies in diverse ways posters interpret inquiries. Sometimes OPs have put thought into all relevant aspects of the topic and pose questions on relevant points only. Sometimes OPs have placed numerous artificial boxes around themselves and pose questions assuming they had to live within these self-imposed boxes. Even if the OPs choose to reveal all the relevant facts, each responder can still interpret the essence of the inquiry differently. If all the reponses stick literally to the inquiry, the site would be like the Microsoft faq -- always correct but often ineffective in not exploiting all the relevant facts around the inquiry.

A question on "quickest" can be the matter of time spent for the trip portion only or the same question can be based on additional assumption not always stated. Does the 5 hours spent on train differ only in the time spent? Can you do more things on the train that you cannot do in a car?

One memory of my first trip to France was traveling on TGV over lunch time. Older couples around us would pop open travel picnic baskets. In them were full course meals with silvers. Of course, that included bottles of wine. I don't think you can do this in a transfer.

Does the 5 hours spent on train differ only in the time spent? Can you do more things on the train that you cannot do in a car?>

good points greg makes - fastest would depend on road conditions at that time and the door to door aspect would certainly be faster if travel times were similar. But like greg I enjoy the relaxing part of a train ride - see and talk to locals - not isolated being driven around in a vacuum by some bloke who many not speak much English.

Again I wonder what kind of tip would be expected for such a car transfer? None? How do you know?

5% to 10% tip unless the owner is driving then no tip.

How do I know? I don't know - it's what I would give.

My thought is that if someone can afford E230 for a transfer then they can certainly afford to tip E20 to the driver.

On second thought, I would give 10%.

Not that it really matters, but the intent of my post was to get from point Vienna to Prague in the fastest manner possible. Unfortunately, we have a very limited amount of time to spend in each city, and while generally we would enjoy the experience of train travel (most especially being in the company of locals) we do not have the luxury of time on this trip. We are attempting to get to Prague to catch a 1:30 trip out to Terezin as the travel day is the only day we have available. As it turns out the trip from hotel to hotel is estimated to be 3 hours 20 min, which will save us approx. 1 1/2 hours., and allow us to get out to Terezin. That, to me is priceless. To be characterized as having "money to burn" is a little unfair, but whatever, we all make different choices. To PalenQ, I do intend to tip the driver, the amount is yet to be determined. It will be dependent upon how the trip goes, his/her punctuality, personality, etc….

skiobx - no need to explain why you want the transfer. Everyone spends money according to their needs and has their own priorities.

Hope you enjoy the trip and use Mike. I found him delightful and have recommended him to others who have been very happy with his service.

As I see it, the intent seems to be to arrive in Prague in time for the Terezin tour. While some might think it is same as traveling Vienna to Prague in the fastest manner possible, the risk profiles are different.

If the goal is to make it to the tour, you might have to account for the contingencies. For example, at this moment according to Google traffic, there is a small ~1km traffic tie up of some sort near Hořice on the highway your transfer will likely to use. There may be none or more in April. Even if the transfer turns out to the be fastest means of travel on that day, if you don't arrive not only in relative but also in absolute sense, the effort will fail to meet your actual intent.

so why not just go to Prague the day before, by train?