Fantastic, thank you so much! Good to know about this supplement.

Um... so does this mean that I can book the 1st class ticket at bahn.de, then at the Munich Hbf I can just go to a live agent and buy the 25EU fixed supplement for RJ premium class? Or could I buy this supplement on the train? I'm guessing I'd need to buy it at Hbf to also secure the seat reservation. Part of the trouble is that the RJ website doesn't really explain these logistics... of how to buy the Premium class seats. I am guessing that I could buy this at Muenchen Hbf a day or two before the actual travel so that I'm not in a rush to buy it on the actual travel day.

Now I'm considering Muenchen to Wien, then later Wien to Budapest. Simply to break up the 7 hour train journey as well as enjoy Wien for a coupla days before Budapest. I've never been to Osterreich and this could be fun!

Thus... is it possible to buy a Muenchen > Wien > Budapest ticket online... and would I be able to pay the same (or same plus small supplement) for this ticket as a Muenchen > Budapest ticket? Or is this treated as two separate transactions? I apologize for asking here instead of on the European Rail thread, but we already have such good history and info on this thread!

Danke!
Michael

I would neither call Budapest or Prague 'Eastern European Cities'. Moskow and Kiev are in Eastern Europe, the two cities mentioned are in Central Europe.

Hear, hear!

Vienna is to the (South-)East, seen from Prague :D

This is almost our itinerary exactly for next Sept. as we plan to meet our son who is studying in BUD. I am interested in the best way to navigate "the Magic Triangle.":

1. We are traveling RT from SFO....is there an advantage to flying into any of these cities and out of the other or is it pretty much a wash either direction? Are Delta's fares always so much cheaper for this route (almost half) or should I wait for UA rates to get competitive?

2. What is the difference between the Railjet and RailEurope?
http://www.raileurope.com

3. If we chose to fly...who is the best low cost carrier for the route?

3. We had not even considered the Riverboat option had it not been for FT.
When does the season end? (We will be traveling in Sept.) Is there a big difference in time and $$ compared to rail travel? Which would be the more worthy/interesting leg to travel via the river - BUD-Vienna or Vienna - PRG? Any rec.'s for companies?

Using points for all hotels so we are all set in that respect.

Thanks!!!

msk6261

Regarding those Danube river runs - I was intrigued with the idea so did a round trip Vienna-Bratislavia. I'd had visions of sedately floating along the river, looking at the scenery. Reality was that I'd managed to pick a hydrofoil. Quicker of course, but there was no top-side seating, and down inside the boat was moving so fast that the windows were just a blur of splashing water. So you might want to look at the boats first and do a little research before embarking on this mode. I still enjoyed the run (I pretty much love all boats), just not what I had expected. Had an elegant, delicious lunch.

I didn't poke around very long, but looks like September is the last month, at least on the web sites I brought up. Searched on "Danube Vienna Budapest". The web sites also have running time.

On those low-cost air carriers, some of them use totally different air terminals than their big brother major carriers. Watch the exact airports carefully if you go this route. As an example, for Barcelona the low-cost carriers use an airport clear north near Girona.

When you get the logistics set, I'd suggest going to your local library and picking up an armload of guide books and even historical novels about the cities.

Romelle

I can only suggest, based on my experience. I would fly into BUD, and take the train to Vienna. Depending on the time of day, traffic to/from BUD can be horrendous, so I would get it out of the way, on the way in, when you have time to spare. Once it took us almost 2 hours by private car to reach central Pest from the airport. The train ride to Vienna is very comfortable, and both stations, Budapest Keleti and West Bahnhoff are pretty central.

Departing back to SFO from Vienna or Prague might be easier for flight selection, and the choice of which one, could be determined by the cost of air for the separate intra-Europe connections.

Haven't read the thread, so apologies if this has already been suggested:

Why not take the hydrofoil up the Danube to Vienna? As I recall, it was about a 3-4 hour ride, and very, very pleasant -- scenic views, lots of interesting river traffic, castles on the shore, and the traverse of a lock midway. It departs from the center of Budapest and arrives in the center of Vienna. By the time you're done with taxis, airport check-in and sitting around waiting for your flight, the travel time would be about the same.

I would never even consider flying the BUD-VIE leg - with all the hassle of getting to/from the airports, checkin times, security, etc + packed into a small plane VS downtown-to-downtown, walk around, have a nice lunch/dinner (on the money you saved on the tix). Door-to-door about the same time, too.

VIE-PRG I cannot comment on, it's been over 10 yrs the last time I took that train, then it was 4 hrs, I guess shorter these days.

Flying PRG-BUD can be a good choice.

My wife and I just returned from spending a week in Madrid, Spain, a week in Kyiv, Ukraine, and two weeks in Budapest, Hungary. While in Kyiv (Ukrainians prefer the Ukrainian spelling rather than the Russian "Kiev") and Budapest we stayed in Apartments... The Impressa Hotel/Apartments in Kyiv and the Marriott Millennium Court Executive Apartments in Budapest.

We have been blessed in life and have traveled extensively, so have a lot of travel experiences to compare. I'll say that our stays in Kyiv and Budapest were very satisfying and were near the top of the ranking of places we've traveled to and enjoyed.

When I decompress and finish handling return business I'll write a bit about what makes those two locations stand out with us!



*

Budapest & Prague
 

We were very happy with our stay at the boutique art'otel Budapest. It’s on the bank of the Danube and only a 10-minute walk from both the Buda Castle and the downtown pedestrian shopping area. And there is tram stop about half a block from the front door.

The web-site features photos of mostly a young clientele but we took a couple walking tours with Absolute Tours (http://www.absolutetours.com/) and didn’t feel out of place. We also got a much better feel for the city than we would have on a coach tour.

In Prague, we would also recommend the walking tours we did with Prague Walks (http://www.praguewalks.com/)

If you have the time, schedule an over-night side trip out of Prague to Český Krumlov. The entire central city is a UNESCO World Heritage site with more than 300 historical buildings, some dating back to the 12th century. Day trips are available but spending a night there will be a much better experience.

Everywhere you turn, you see another historic building but the main attraction in Český Krumlov is the Gothic Castle built on the rock cliffs rising over the Vltava. The first thought that comes to mind when looking at the Castle is “This is what Walt Disney was looking at when he conceived the castle at Disneyland.”

Budapest is a very nice city--good food, good museums, churches, nice parks (Margit Island, the Buda hills), etc. Lots of culture (opera, etc.) depending on the season.

The nicest hotel is the Four Seasons but the Hilton (Castle District) has a nice view of the Danube and Pest and the IC, the Marriott, and the Sofitel all have nice views of the Danube and Buda (castle hill). Most of the other chain hotels are also quite good (the Le Meridien, the Kempinski, the Hilton West End but with no view although the first two are close to the river and the sights) and there are plenty of Mercures, Novotels, Best Westerns, etc. in the mid range. Avoid the Holliday Inn since it is in the far western suburbs. The other recommendations for small independant places are also fine.

Transport is easy (busses, trams, three metros) and you can buy individual tickets (as mentioned, you need a new one every time you change), day passes, three days passes, week passes. Taxis are also reasonable (City especially but Fo is good, too) and Zona Taxi from the airport is a good deal--with two or more people it is cheaper than the mini-bus. I would avoid public transport from the airport (meaning the city bus to the metro to another bus) unless you are really adventurous and have very little luggage. The biggest problem is taxis from the train stations, since they are often scam artists, but it's harder to get around this.

Like any big city in Europe, you have to be careful of pick pockets, etc. but in general, it is MUCH safer than a comparably sized city in the US (Philadelphia, Houston).

We're off next week for 2 weeks plus, first a few days in Budapest (fm DFW via JFK), then 3 days in Vienna (as much as anything else, to find some of the "locations" from -The Third Man_, my all time favorite movie), then by train to Olomouc, in Moravia (2 days, a bit of ancestor hunting in a village nearby), then by rail - the "Main Line" from Krakow? - for a week in Prague, back home via ATL.

I'll chew on the suggestions here, and feel comfortable with simple 2nd class rail (with alittle help from concierges, since we're on big hotel award stays in Buda, Wien and Praha).

Regular "Western European" travelers, this is a our first real trip to Central Europe (if Germany's West, but then it was still West Germany when we visited), although I was in Vienna long ago, briefly.

Railjet is Austria's train - unlike the German Bahn, they offer 3 classes - regular, first class, and Premium class. I just booked Premium Class tickets on their website and the PDF ticket is all in German except "Premium Class" for the Klasse, ha ha.

Raileurope is a travel agent selling rail passes, if I recall correctly.

With UA, you can fly SFO > FRA > BUD and then PRA > FRA > SFO. It's easiest to book this on the phone with UA because they'll use LH partner for the Europe flights, and you can't book LH flights on UA's website. It's annoying as it costs $25/ticket extra, but when we did SFO > FRA > MUC, the FRA > MUC portion cost another $60 whereas LH site was more expensive.

Not sure about DL, as I'm a UA flyer.

Anyway you could use Railjet to go Budapest to Vienna, which means travelling from and to the central train station in both cities, and avoiding the airports. From Vienna to Prague, you can check skyscanner.net for low-cost Europe airline availability, or even use Railjet as well which may not be as expensive as one would fear.

There are some posts about Railjet in the Europe Rail Travel forum. But the railjet website:

http://www.oebb.at/pv/en/All_about_T...ljet/index.jsp

I had some struggles figuring out how to buy Premium Class Railjet ticket so complained about it on FT, then was lucky about it.

As for the riverboat (hydrofoil), I googled riverboat Danube Budapest Vienna, to get a general idea of schedule/tickets. It sounds like a lot of fun, but like a plane, there are baggage limitations. Prices are similar to Railjet, but with luggage it sounded a bit unfun. So any boat transport for us will not be with luggage :D This website isn't *the* official site, but it is a good start:

http://www.budapesthotels.com/touristguide/mahart.asp

Happy travels, and hope that your son is enjoying his own time in Budapest. 20 years from now he'll really realize how great that experience is, and hopefully he'll encourage his future children to do something similar!

Michael

Here is some timetable & pricing info for the hydrofoil BUD-VIE

http://www.mahartpassnave.hu/webset3...@38@@870541363

I am in the process of planning three days in Budapest prior to a river cruise down to Amsterdam.

Hopefully the weather at the end of October is decent as I plan to do a lot of walking tours.

From the guide books borrowed at the local library, those three days will be quite full.