Budapest – Prague
I hear music coming from the earphone of a passenger next to me as the train departs Budapest.
He gladly shares. It’s his Austrian brass band, and they had performed last week in Budapest.
Train Tip: If traveling in Central Europe, check your itinerary to see if you’ll be crossing into Slovakia. Slovakia is the missing link in terms of the Eurail Pass.
Czech to the North, Austria to the West and Hungary to the South are all covered by the Global Pass, but Slovakia is not. The fastest way to travel between Budapest and Prague is through Slovakia. You can easily buy a supplemental ticket that covers you in Slovakia, but I recommend buying it at any train ticket window, rather than on-board the train, where the price will increase.
There’s a train each morning at 5:28 from Budapest Keleti to Prague, en route to Berlin, that crosses through Slovakia. I was worried that 5 AM may be too early to buy the supplemental Slovakian ticket at Keleti station, but sure enough, ticket counters were open. The supplemental Slovakian ticket cost me 7750 Hungarian Forints, or about $35, and this is the ticket that I presented to the Slovakian train attendant on-board.
Benjamin Thomas
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I am going to Venice Italy for the first time in my life. I booked a hotel already. Anyone knows if I can see a lot in 2 days ? I will be there August 14 to 16 and I can’t wait! I wil lbe traveling from Vienna, Austria my country of origin.
Margarete
My husband and I from Australi8a wish to travel to all East European cities using Eurail Pass around May/June 2010. Any itinerary for 1 month and train pass details would be most appreciated.
My husband and I from Australia wish to travel to all East European cities using Eurail Pass around May/June 2010. Any itinerary for 1 month and train pass details would be most appreciated.
Hello Margarete — Yes, you can see a lot in Venice in two days. Most of the fun can be had just wandering through the city, along the canals, so bring some good walking shoes. Benjamin.
Hello Ruth — May would be a great time to viist Eastern Europe; spring will be in full swing, and the summer crowds will not yet have arrived. Please look around my blogs for some ideas for Eastern Europe. And don’t forget that Eastern Germany was once “Eastern Europe,” and some of the cities there, such as Berlin and Dresden are worth visiting also. Have fun! Benjamin.
I recently travelled prague-budapest and buda-prague by eurail – via alovakia.the jourbey is quite comfortable, except that when the train comes from germany into prague – there is a tussle for seats, coz sometimes seats allocations are not done properly or passengers dont want to move from the seats they are sitting in when passengers board from other stations. There are three ticket controls on the trip – not even one passport chech!The dining car is frightfully expensive, though well stocked. Yes, no wifi but good 3 g connect from vodafone and there are charging points next to your seats.only one word of caution to all travelers at each end – DONT take a taxi from the station in KELTEL BUda coz they overcharge heavily. A 3 kms run cost me Euro 20!!Please call a 4-444-444 cab from the train so that you can get a cheaper fare.Generally taxis are expensive and tend to overcharge n both places. I am told this is a central european thing, just as if you order hungrian goulsah soup – they put very few pieces of beef in it and stuff it with pasta and potatoes!!Just tell the concierge or restaraunter that it would be nice to have nice hungarian beef – he will take the hint (hopefully) and do the needful.The country side is beautiful from the undulating features in czech and upto bratislava, and then flat steppes like features in hungary. I advice a day trip to get a feel for the countryside. I always carry a binoculars and that gives the advnatge of being able to look at things in detail and absorb the natural beauty and life in the country.
Probir