I'll be taking the train from Vienna to Budapest this summer and I seem to keep seeing different reports as to which train station in each city I'll be using. Also, I'm assuming you can wait until a few days before you want to travel to get the tickets, is that correct. If you've booked the tickets on line way ahead could you give me a link to where to go to do that. Thanks

I seem to remember taking the train from Westbahnhof as the the schedule was better. It's under a 3 hour ride.

I would wait to buy your ticket until you get to Vienna. I would probably buy it a few days in advance if possible to get the seating you want.

If you book far enough in advance (up to six months allowed), you can get a SparSchiene fare of 19€. Book by phoning the Austrian Rail Call Center. Dial your country's international access code + 43 (country code for Austria) + (0)5-1717. Omit the initial zero in parentheses which is only used for calls originating in Austria. For information on SparSchiene fares and timetables to Hungary, go here: http://tinyurl.com/3c9ae3.

i was able to get the 19 eruo fare off season in march just a few days in advance. but for the summer if that is important, i would take tims advice.

we left from westbahnhof.

we had seat reservations included in that price, which was nice.

i am not sure which class it was.. but it was comfortable and that train had a very nice restaurant car with tabelcloths.

Trains for Budapest leave from both Westbahnhof and Sudbahnhof and arrive at either Keleti (most) or Deli. See www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml for schedules.

Thanks. Tim, the website looks like you can buy your ticket on line and print it. Have you done this? Doesn't look like you need to call or go to the station ahead of time or anything. Looks almost too good to be true but I'm ready to book it if it's as easy as that web site looks like. But if you can do it online why did you say you need to call?

Has anyone else booked the 19 euro fares online months ahead of time?

the " print your own ticket" system is widespread in Europe.

should be fine.

isabel,

When you click on the booking link, everything reverts to German. If that's not a problem for you, then you won't need to pay for an international call.

Tim, I see what you mean about reverting to German. That doesn't bother me as it still seems pretty self explanatory. But I don't see Budapest as a destination station (when you are on the page for booking that is, it's on the main page with the schedule). Is it called something else? Thanks for your help.

lincasanova - did you get your tickets at the station or on-line?

the concierge called. it took two minutes.
the main budapest station is called keleti.

The full name for the station is Budapest-Keleti pu.

We took this train in September 2006, and just turned up athe Westbahnhof and bought our tickets. One of the great things about the ride was the 2 "attendants" that came around inquiring about what tourists might need upon arrival in Budapest. Between the 2 of them, they spoke about 6 or 8 languages, gave us a very nice, detailed map of Budapest, and answered several of our questions quite thoroughly, including what subway route to take from the train station to our car rental place, including a transfer clearly explained. We were very impressed with this service.

I will be traveling from Vienna to Budapest in Nov '08 so this info is very interesting to me.

I just checked and RailEurope and the price is $110 to $140 for 2 passengers.

crusty - if you wait until you get there to buy tickets, they should be a good bit cheaper. If you insist on buying ahead, at least look at the Austrian railways web site rather than Rail Europe - www.oebb.at/en/.

If doing the Raileurope thing i always suggest www.budgeteuropetravel.com for their expertise and i think much lower than $18 RE mailing fee. But they give great personal service and you can talk to someone knowledgeable on the phone at no obligation. That said i believe you should be able to book these on arrival without too much problem - unless there is some soccer match or whatever going on in Budapest or something.

There are trains about every two hours throughout the day - you should have no problem getting tickets even just before the train i believe - worst case scenario you'd have to go first class.

Last week I ordered tickets through Raileurope. They were the same price as other sites I checked out. They were to come in 2 or 3 days with free shipping. They arrived the next day - no charge.
I have never been charged $18 to buy tickets from RE.
They were sent from White Plains, NY.

"They were the same price as other sites I checked out." I just checked tickets for Budapest to Vienna in September - $70 on Rail Europe, 20 euro on the Austrian Railways site.

thursdaysd
You are right, you can probably purchase tickets in Austria at the train station cheaper.

RE is very convenient for me to use.

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my posting. I was checking the sleeper train from Budapest to Venice and that is the ticket I purchased.
The sleeper train needs to be reserved to be sure we have the right compartment for 3 persons.

All other tickets we will purchase at the station where we will be.

If anyone has taken the sleeper train from Budapest to Venice and has any suggestions I would appreciate them. Especially keeping the door locked.

I assume you are going to Vienna and then taking the direct 20:45 overnight train to Venice, arriving 8:45

I have taken the Vienna-Venice night train recently and if you get a private triple then you will have no worries about locking the door - there will be two or even more separate locks IME, including a bolt lock that can only be opened from the inside i suspect. So there should be no worry as long as your party members remember to lock it on their return.

sleeping cars usually have an attendant who monitors coming and goings as well.