yogiboar321

Six adults traveling in May. Thought train would be good but only travels at night. Would like to see the country during the day. Would consider a layover in Vienna. Has anyone tried a private transport?

thursdaysd

What do you mean there are no day trains? You have to change in Vienna, Innsbruck and Verona, and it takes 13 hours, but you can definitely do it in daylight. Personally, I would stop off in Innsbruck. The train south from Innsbruck is very scenic, as is the latter part of the journey from Vienna to Innsbruck.

Even if you travel overnight you'll have to change in Vienna:
http://seat61.com/international-trai...Budapest-Italy

PalenQ

Yes there are day trains but all involved 11-14 hours all told - not getting to Budapest until 9-11pm (days are long in May) - it would be neat to break your trip in Vienna for a day or two - otherwise a very very long day on train.

For lots on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Try to put a stop in at Vienna - as nice as Budapest IMO if you have to chose between the two.

thursdaysd

Better to stop in Innsbruck to break the journey. Vienna is very close to Budapest.

janisj

>>Better to stop in Innsbruck to break the journey. Vienna is very close to Budapest.<<

That was my thought as well - Vienna doesn't work as a 'break in the journey'. If you've got that far you are almost there - barely 90 minutes farther.

frugaltraveler

We traveled March 2016 from Budapest to Vienna to Prague and hired a private transfer for both legs. It was with https://ondaytrip.com ..I recommend this company highly. The website offered us stops between the cities that we wouldn't have seen by traveling by train. In fact, I have reserved them again for this same trip in April. Both drivers were so informative on all the stops. We even stopped at an Iron Curtain area between Vienna and Prague that being from the states, we never thought we would have a visual of that and it was a freebie. Again, I highly recommend them, prices were good, the comfort, convenience and seeing more on a travel day enriched the trip.

thursdaysd

"Prices were good". Not informative, your good may be the OP's bad. How much, in euros?

PalenQ

Yes just to break a journey the sake of breaking a journey Innsbruck makes sense -but if going to Vienna at some time on your trip do it then-can be in Vienna by 17:30 but yes if not planning on doing Vienna at all and not wishing to go straight thru on marathon train ride Innsbruck makes sense -lots of hotels near the station.

And the next day take the bit longer route between Innsbruck and Salzburg -the inland route which is far more scenic than the main faster route via Germany. the inland route goes thru lovely Alpine valleys- the Germany route is not that scenic but about an hour or maybe 2 faster I believe but if into nice Alpine scenery take the inland route.

frugaltraveler

thursdaysd : from Budapest to Vienna pickup at 8:30am, stopped at Esztergom, Bratislava, Kreuzenstein Castle, arrived Vienna at 5pm ( I think we arrived closer to 7 tho) $240 divided by how many go not per person.
The same price from Vienna to Prague with stops at Lednice, Trebic and Kutna Hora.. When I do this again in April, I will limit us to 2 stops between. It was great having our own tour guide with information that made each stop more interesting. You can either pay at the end of the day or use paypal - which we did.

neckervd

Stop over at Vienna, leave Vienna by direct train at 6.25 and arrive at Venice at 14.05
If you want to get up later, you may stop over at any place between Vienna and Klagenfurt.

PalenQ

neck - I would assume they are going the other way by the title but not sure I guess.