Hello could you please let me know what is a more time efficient way to travel between Vienna and Budapest in August, the train or hydrofoil. any comments thaks

By the nature of hydrofoils, you can't see very much, and that part of the Danube is not the most scenic, so I can't see any point in doing that journey by river. It would be better to do the journey by train, and to do a sightseeing trip on one of the scenic stretches of the Danube in Austria, or in the city of Budapest.

I took the train - it's 3 hrs - it was pleasent - I took it in December 2001 and the countryside was covered in snow, actually quite beautiful.

I agree with these comments

Another vote for the train. I researched this before our trip in May to Prague/Vienna/Budapest. Thought the hydrofoil might be fun, but it is a much longer trip and quite expensive. Also smoking is allowed in the enclosed seating area, all of which pretty much decided us not to go that way.

We took train IC345 which left Westbahnhof at 10:07 and arrived Budapest Keleti at 12:58. We traveled 2nd class with reserved seats. Trip was fine. Thanks again to Mr. Haines who provided us with great train info.

It was a pleassure. The IC 345, the Avila Express with restaurant car, carries on to Novi Sad at 1853 and Belgrade at 2015. Both are cheap and interesting: American and Europoean Union citizens need no visa.

Ben Haines, London