h2babe

someotherguy and giovanna -

Do you remember how much you paid for the taxi from your hotel in Vienna to the train station, and then from Keleti to your hotel in Budapest?

JerryS recommended that I hire a door to door service from Bela Luckas that is highly praised on this site, and he quoted me the price to be US$135 and I am not sure if this is high or not.

I understand that I will be paying extra for the convenience, and that's not a problem, but I'd like to get an idea of how much the train + cab rides are going to cost before I can make a decision whether US$135 is high or not. Anyone has any inputs?

JerryS

h2babe, A taxi from Pension Pertschy to Westbanhof is about 10 Euros; a cab from the train station to your hotel in Budapest (assuming it is centrally located in Pest) will al be anywhere from 10-20 Euros, depending on how hard you bargain with the driver before entering the cab.
Since I gather only one person is traveling, the train and taxis will probably be less expensive than the door-to-door service. We were two people so it was clearly better for us to take the car service.

someotherguy

h2babe: I don't know the location of the Pension Pertschy, but I paid about 10 Euros for cabs from Westbanhof to the Marriott and (on a different trip) to the Hilton in Vienna (these are both by the Stadtpark).

h2babe

Thank you again for your replies JerryS and someotherguy on the cab rides' cost.

I am still waiting for tedgale's reply on the price for the train. I was quoted for 56 euro one way trip from Vienna to Budapest, and tedgale said that's too expensive. Anyone can help me with this info? I checked the price from bahn.de. Thanks!

Dennis4049

I just got back from Budapest and I took a cab from Kaleti to the Marriott. It should not exceed 3,000 Hungarian Forints...you can bargain but 3,000 should be your max. (currently approx. $15 US dollars)

tedgale

I regret I simply cannot remember the exact price of the train tkt.

But I do remember clearly that Budapest - Bratislava RETURN was 26$Cdn ie. about 15 euros.

That was 2 months previous to my Easter trip to Vienna (still in 2004)...

framboise

h2babe,

I have now tried bahn.de & oebb.at. but could not find fare. Before I traveled I had checked sncf.com, whose price was quite similar to what I bought in Prague. Now checked sncf again and it was 35 euro, 2nd class one way.

I also think for 2nd class 56 euro is too much. I bought tickets for Praha to Wien & Wien to Budapest at Cedok Prague, 1st class one way with seat reservations. Total fare for these two tickets cost about 110 euro.

h2babe

Framboise, it sounds like you paid for a similar fare for 2 different trips( Praha-Wien and then to Wien to Budapest) for a total of 110 Euro. Because 56 Euro was the quote I got on bahn.de for one way trip from Vienna-Budapest 1st class with seat reservation.

What I am considering to do is just to wait until I get to Berlin and book all of my trips at the beginning of my trip to avoid waiting on the line.

framboise

h2babe,
yes you're right. Forgive me I should have noticed you meant 1st class, not second. When I checked sncf yesterday it was 53 euro 1st class with reservation.

h2babe

Framboise, I never checked snfc.com, it seems like it's cheaper than bahn.de. Have you ever booked through either one? Which one is your pref? I really wasn't planning on booking my fares through the internet, because I figured that getting it in Berlin might be okay.

framboise

h2babe, yes I have experience purchasing via both websites, but only during high season or when I found discounted fare, for example SNCF Prem's or Die Bahn's seasonal 29 euro ones. In your case, I don't think there is need to book online. You take 1st class, don't you ? If you want to reserve online I would recommend Die Bahn. SNCF seems easy to me only when you find Prem's or when you are to issue tickets in French stations.

h2babe

Thank you Framboise for the information. I don't really know the difference between 1st and 2nd class so I made the assumption that the 51.80 Euro fee would be worth the difference in class level 1st vs 2nd (I checked the price again today, and it had gone down 4 Euros).

h2babe

Framboise, actually the 51.8 euro is 2nd class. Is this too expensive then? The first class is 78 Euro. Hmmm :-?

framboise

h2habe, hmmm :-? to me they sound expensive. Last summer I read a post on a travel board in my country. He bought Praha - Wien which was a little longer and a little more expensive than Wien - Budapest, it cost 945 Czech crown, about 31.5 euro, 2nd class with reservation.

I have now tried raileurope.com and it said $58 2nd $80 1st Wien - Budapest. Raileurope fares are usually a little more expensive than those national rail websites such as sncf.

I think you might want trains & taxis if you like travel by rail, but want door to door van if you shop that much in Vienna, at whatever they cost. Anyway it is difficult to know the precise train ticket price in advance.

Enjoy planning !

h2babe

Framboise - Yes, right now I am leaning toward the door to door service for Wien-Budapest (I was quoted for US$135 by Bela Luckas) after I checked out the 1st class price for the train last night.

US$135 is very reasonable considering that it would probably cost me about the same to take the train 105 Euro or about US$125(80E 1st class train + 25E cab fares for both Wien and Bud).

So I will be paying approx US$10 more for 1) the convenience of being able to bring more luggages with me, 2) the convenience of being able to determine the departure time 3) shorter time on the road and 4) Bela said that he'll be more than happy to give me recommendations of places to go/see in Budapest during our trip.

Thank you for taking time to research the data with me that helped me make this decision

sapa

Hello h2babe
I just returned from Budapest and used Bela Lukacs car transfer from Vienna to Budapest instead of taking the train.The price you mention for the train ride Vienna Budapest was quite right for 1st class.My decision on using his services was based exactly on the cost and convenience.
He's punctual,the trip was quite interesting -although i'm not very keen on car trips - we talked all the way about his country,asked for advise and compared notes.He's very helpful.
I took the time to post this to let you know that if you are still hesitant, don't be.

h2babe

Hi Sapa - Welcome home. I am glad you enjoyed your trip. Thank you so much for pulling up my post. How much did Bela charge you? Was the car ride comfortable? He's going to pick me up from my hotel in Vienna I think around 9:30 and he estimated noon to be the arrival time. Please post a trip report once you're settled in. I will only have a day and a half in Budapest before flying home and don't have a lot of things scheduled yet in my itinerary.

dvidon

Hello Sapa or anyone who can help me.

I am trying to e-mail Bela Lukacs for the last week but it seems that i've got the wrong address.

Do you have an e-mail address that you know for sure he will answer ?

Again, thanks for any help.

h2babe

Try this: [email protected]

I booked his service for my upcoming trip in July.