Transportation from Budapest to Prague
 

Hello-

My wife and I are planning to spend 5 nights each in Budapest and Prague (starting in Budapest) in mid-September.

I have several questions about transportation between the two cities.

1 - Train: can someone give me an idea how much this would cost per person? I was able to find timetables on www.bahn.de, but I haven't been able to find how much the trip would cost. Should we try to book ahead of time, or wait until we arrive?

2 - Plane: early research indicates that the cost of this option is prohibitive. Are there discount carriers I should consider that would total less than the $700+ (for both tickets, one-way) I'm currently seeing?

3 - Car: we've taken several trips to Europe, but have not rented a car yet. If you've driven this route before would you recommend it to a couple of newbies? If so, how much would it cost?

I think that should do it for now. Thank you in advance, and if you have any other tips/suggestions for out trip in general, I'd love to hear them.

1. I took the overnight train many years ago--if I could afford it then, I'm certain you could now. It will certainly be less than rental (with drop off fee) or flights. Hopefully someone will know the price offhand.
I love night trains though. I don't think you need to book it now, but I would book it while in Budapest in advance of the trip. (so the sleepers don';t get booked up)

ttt

I am going to Prague next week and initially considered taking a train to Budapest--changed my mind, though, because of time constraints.

I checked www.myczechrepublic.com, and according to them, the fare is 45 Euros.

I also checked www.jizdena.com and it computes the cost for a Class 2 ticket from Budapest to Prague at 47.50 euro.

Hope this helps.

Anybody else?

Have you checked out smartwing.net? They are a low-cost airline, probably similar to Southwest in the US. I have not used them, so can't give a personal recommendation.

I arbitrarily plugged in Sept 19 one-way from Budapest to Prague and got a fare of 59 euros (one person). Perhaps this is an option.

We flew but friends of mine took the train. It took most of the day and she said the trip was quite boring - not much scenery.

I wouldn;t drive unless you plan on seeing things/ stopping on the way.