22 June 2010. Train times valid
from 13 June to 11 December 2010.
London to Budapest
by train...
Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest...
The train
journey from London to Budapest is safe, easy & affordable
and takes just 24
hours, by Eurostar to Paris and high-speed TGV
from Paris to Munich, then overnight sleeper to
Budapest. Or there are connections via Paris and
Munich, or via Brussels, Cologne & Vienna.
Timetables, prices and how to buy tickets for all three
options are explained below in a step-by-step guide.
Option 1: London to Budapest
by Eurostar to Paris, TGV to Munich & the Munich-Budapest
sleeper...
This is probably the easiest & cheapest way to reach
Budapest, with daily trains, a convenient mid-morning
departure from London and a breakfast-time arrival in
Budapest the next day, with all that sightseeing ahead of
you. If you'd prefer a departure from London later in
the day, see option 2.
Day 1: Travel from
Paris to Munich by 200 mph TGV on the new TGV-Est high-speed
line, leaving Paris Gare de l'Est at 15:24 and
arriving Munich Hauptbahnhof at 21:38. Cafe-bar
available.
Important:
From 28 August to 9 October the 15:24 Paris-Munich TGV
will not run (in fact, it's retimed to run an
hour and a half later, but won't then make the sleeper
connection to Budapest). During this period,
you'll need to leave London earlier, on the 08:55
Eurostar (08:26 Sundays) arriving Paris 12:17 (11:47
Sundays), then take the 13:09 TGV from Paris Est,
changing at Mannheim or Stuttgart (where you have to
change depends on the date!) to arrive Munich at
19:33.
Day 1:
Travel from Munich to Budapest overnight on the
EuroNight sleeper train 'Kalman Imre', leaving Munich
Hauptbahnhof at 23:40 and arriving Budapest Keleti
station at 08:49 next morning (day 2). The Kalman Imre
has a modern air-conditioned Hungarian sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3 bed compartments with
washbasin), a modern couchette car (4 & 6 berth compartments) and
ordinary seats (not recommended).
Train times
Budapest ► London
Day 1: Travel
from Budapest to Munich overnight on the EuroNight
sleeper train 'Kalman Imre', leaving Budapest Keleti at
21:05
and arriving in Munich at 06:15 next morning.
The Kalman Imre has a modern air-conditioned Hungarian sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3 bed
compartments with washbasin), couchettes (4 & 6 berth
compartments) and seats (not recommended).
Day 2: Travel from
Munich to Stuttgart by high-speed
ICE, leaving
Munich Hauptbahnhof at 09:40 and arriving Stuttgart
at 12:01.
Day 2: Travel from
Stuttgart to Paris by high-speed TGV, leaving
Stuttgart at 12:55 and arriving Paris Gare de l'Est
at 16:37.
Important: From 28 August to 9 October
you'll need to leave Stuttgart at 12:51 for Mannheim
and change there onto the TGV for Paris, arriving
Paris 16:50.
Day 2: Travel
from Paris to London by
Eurostar,
leaving Paris Gare du Nord at 18:13 on Mondays to
Fridays, 19:13 on Saturdays or
17:43 on Sundays, arriving London St Pancras
at 19:34 Mondays-Fridays, 20:34 Saturdays or 18:59 on
Sundays.
On board the
TGV from Paris to Munich...
The train speeds through undulating open green
countryside for much of the way, past pretty French
villages of the Champagne region. After a brief
stop at Strasbourg you cross the border into Germany. A cafe-bar is available serving
drinks & snacks, or feel free to bring your own.
Sit back with a glass of red and enjoy the ride....
New
designer interiors... The new TGV trains from
Paris to Munich feature chic new interiors by designer
Christian Lacroix.
Left: 1st class.
Right: 2nd class.
On board the Kalman Imre sleeper train
from Munich to
Budapest...
Cosy & inviting, a hotel
on rails, this is the modern air-conditioned Hungarian
sleeping-car of the 'Kalman Imre' waiting to leave
Munich Hauptbahnhof on its overnight journey to
Budapest, across Germany, Austria & Hungary...
The sleeping-car has 1, 2 & 3 berth compartments with
washbasin, toilets at the end of the corridor.
You're looking through the windows into the corridor,
most of the compartment doors are open, waiting for
guests to board. The lettering above the windows
reads 'hαlσkocsi - schlafwagen - voiture-lits -
sleeping-car'. Under the windows, the logo 'Utasellato'
is the Hungarian railways sleeping-car & dining car
service. The train also has more economical
couchettes with 4 & 6 berth compartments, but if your
budget will stretch just a bit, the sleeping-car is
the best way to travel.
Photo courtesy of Istvαn
Halαsz.
How much
does it cost?
Each train is
ticketed separately, so add up the price for each leg of
the journey.
Limited
availability, book in advance to get these fares.
Full fare £81 one-way, £142 return.
3.
Munich to Budapest
on
the Kalman Imre:
In a
seat:
In a
couchette
In the
sleeping-car
6-berth
4-berth
3-berth
2-berth
single
Savings
fare
one-way:
£24
£33
£41
£58
£66
£108
Savings
fare
return:
£48
£66
£82
£116
£132
£216
Full fare
one-way:
£79
£91
£96
£101
£116
£175
Full fare
return:
£158
£182
£192
£202
£232
£349
Savings fare =
Special cheap fare, book in advance, limited availability,
no refunds, no changes to travel plans.
Normal fare = fully flexible, refundable, buy any time.
How to buy tickets online...
The best & cheapest way to buy tickets is online, because
there's no booking fee and all the special offers are there
for you to see.
It involves three stages on two websites, so it's best to
engage brain, jot down exactly what specific trains you want
to book on what dates, and do a dry run on both
sites to check prices and availability before booking
for real. Here's how to buy tickets online:
Bookings open 90 days before
departure, you
can't buy tickets before reservations open.
Step 1,
go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
and using the train times on this page as a guide, book the
train from Paris to Munich & back. Add it to your
basket.
Step 2,
still on
www.raileurope.co.uk,
click 'continue shopping' and book the Eurostar from London
to Paris & back. By all means take an earlier Eurostar
outward or a later one returning if it has cheaper seats
available.
Add it to your basket.
Step 3, go to
www.bahn.de and buy a
sleeper or couchette ticket from Munich to Budapest on the
direct overnight sleeper train, looking for the cheap
'Savings' fares. Your simply book online and print out
your own ticket in .PDF format using your PC printer.
Easy! I recommend registering when it asks you before
completing the purchase, so you can easily retrieve any
bookings.
How to buy tickets
by email...
If you'd prefer to have someone book it for you,
just click here and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
trains you
need to book for any of the options on this page. Fill
it in & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost.
If you're okay with the price you can give them your credit card details and
they will send you
the tickets. European Rail is an experienced agency
equipped with the German Railways reservation & ticketing
system, so they have access to all the cheap fares for travel via
Germany. They charge a £35 booking fee which includes
postage to any UK address, or they can send to any address
worldwide if you pay the courier fee. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
How to buy tickets by phone...
I
f you prefer to buy tickets by
phone, call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open
09:00-20:00 Mon-Fri, 09:00-13:00 Sat & Sun, no booking fee), or www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00 Mon-Fri,
09:00-13:00 Saturdays, £35 booking fee). Click
here for a list of
agencies and other useful information on how to buy
European train tickets.
Option 2: London to Budapest by
Eurostar, the Paris-Munich
sleeper & RailJet...
This is a good & affordable option, with a
departure from London later in the day if that's
important. It runs daily
for most of the year but only 4 times a week in winter. Stop off
for a while In Paris if you like!
Travel from Paris to Munich
overnight by the City Night Line sleeper train
'Cassiopeia', leaving
Paris Gare de l'Est at 20:20 and arriving in Munich at
07:16 next morning. This train runs daily for most
of the year, but only 4 times a week in winter. It
runs on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays until 18 March 2010, then daily for the summer until
8 November 2010, then on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays &
Sundays again until March 2011.
It has sleeping-cars (1, 2 & 3 bed compartments,
standard with washbasin or deluxe with shower),
4 & 6-berth couchettes & ordinary seats, see the photos & information
below or
click for more pictures & information about this City Night
Line sleeper train.
Travel from Munich to Budapest by air-conditioned
Austrian RailJet train, leaving
Munich at 09:27 and
arriving in
Budapest Keleti station at 16:49. A bar-bistro car
is available, so treat yourself to lunch. Watch
out for great views of the Salzburg citadel on the right
as you cross the River Salzach at Salzburg.
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
Map of Budapest showing Keleti station.
Train times Budapest ► London
Travel from Budapest to Munich by
air-conditioned 'RailJet' train, leaving Budapest at 13:10
and arriving in Munich at 20:34. A bar-bistro car is
available, so treat yourself to lunch!
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
Travel from Munich to Paris by
the City Night Line sleeper train 'Cassiopeia', leaving
Munich at 22:43 and arriving at Paris Gare de l'Est
09:23 next morning. This train runs daily for most
of the year, but only runs 4 times a week in winter.
It runs on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays until
17 March 2010, then daily until 7 November 2010, then on
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays again until
March 2011. The trains has ordinary seats, couchettes (6-berth
& 4-berth) and
sleeping-cars (1, 2 or 3-bed rooms, deluxe with shower or standard
with washbasin).
More
pictures & information about this City Night Line
sleeper train.
Walk from the Gare de l'Est to the Gare du Nord.
Travel
from Paris to London by
Eurostar, leaving Paris Nord at
11:13 and arriving London St Pancras at 12:29.
Introducing
the City Night Line Paris - Munich sleeper train...
The Paris-Munich overnight train is one of the German Railway's excellent
City Night Line sleeper trains. Called the
'Cassiopeia', it has modern 'Comfortline' sleeping-cars
(1, 2 & 3-berth deluxe rooms with private shower and
toilet, 1, 2 &
3-berth standard rooms with washbasin. There is a shower at
the end of the corridor for passengers in standard rooms,
and all rooms have power-points for laptop computers),
modern air-conditioned couchettes
(choose between a berth in a 4- or 6-berth compartment),
and ordinary seats (not recommended).
Inclusive fares are charged covering travel plus
sleeping accommodation. The sleeping-car fare includes
a light breakfast.
More
pictures and information about this train.
Travel tip: For a good meal in a classic
Parisian brasserie before boarding the sleeper train in
Paris, catch the earlier 14:04 Eurostar & dine at the
Brasserie Terminus Nord directly across the road
from the Gare du Nord. For a cooked breakfast in
Munich or evening meal before boarding the Paris-bound
sleeper on your return, try the typically Bavarian
Mongdratzerl restaurant, located in the hauptbahnhof
itself.
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable & civilised option, standard
with washbasin or deluxe with shower & toilet.
4-berth couchettes:
Ideal for families, much more space per person than
6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes:
A very economical option, far better than a seat for
just a few euros more...
Above: The
'Comfortline' sleeping-car of the Paris to Munich
sleeper train boarding at Paris Gare de l'Est...
RailJet is
Austria's brand-new high-speed train, linking Munich,
Salzburg, Vienna
& Budapest. It will soon also link Zurich, Innsbruck &
Vienna. Designed to run at up to 230km/h (143 mph) on
sections of upgraded track, it currently reaches 200km/h on part of
the route, but in other parts snakes around beautiful
scenery at a more sedate pace. Look out for great
views of Salzburg citadel & castle on the right as you cross
the river Salzach approaching Salzburg. RailJet has
three classes, Economy (2nd class), First (1st class), and
Premium (25 euro supplement over normal first class).
It has a bistro car providing drinks, snacks and hot dishes,
which are served on proper china at your seat in first and
premium classes. TV screens in each car tell you the
train's speed, show a map indicating your location, and post a list of next station stops
and times. A great way to travel - simply order one of
the regional beers from the bistro, sit back and enjoy the
scenery... More
pictures & information about this RailJet train.
"The RailJet has landed..."
Train RJ 63, the morning RailJet from Munich has arrived spot
on time at Budapest's historic Keleti station, built
1881-1884...
Premium class costs
25 euro more than normal 1st class...
Economy class on
RailJet, comfortable open saloons with large picture
windows. Some seats are arranged around tables,
some are unidirectional.
Above: First class on RailJet to Budapest:
Cheers!
This is
probably the easiest way to book. Booking this way
involves two websites, so do a 'dry run'
first on both sites to check prices and availability before
booking for real.
Step 1,
go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
, and book the sleeper from Paris
to Munich.
Tickets can be sent to any UK address or can be collected at
the station. Only UK credit cards are accepted.
It's best to book the Paris-Munich sleeper
train first and double-check arrival an departure times before
booking the Eurostar connection, in case times vary from the
ones shown above. Also, for some reason it won't book
4-berth couchettes. If you've a child aged 4- 5 or
12-14 please read this note.
Step 2, after booking
the Paris-Munich sleeper train, add it to your basket & click 'continue shopping'.
Now book
the Eurostar from London to Paris and back. Use the recommended Eurostar times above as a guide,
but by
all means book an earlier Eurostar outward or a later
Eurostar on the way back if these have cheaper seats
available or if you'd like to stop off in Paris.
Step 3, now go to the German
Railways website
www.bahn.de, use the journey planner to bring
up the connecting Munich-Budapest RailJet train shown in the train
times above, and buy the ticket, looking for any cheap fares.
You then simply print out your own Online Ticket. I
recommend registering when it asks you before completing the
purchase, so you can easily retrieve any bookings.
Top tip:
If you want to stop off in Vienna for (say) a day, when
booking the Munich to Budapest train at bahn.de simply look
for the 'Via (1)' box and enter 'Vienna', then enter '24:00'
in the 'hh:m stopover' box. It'll then book you a 24
hour stopover in Vienna, but still let you buy a cheap 39
euro fare from Munich to Budapest (if it's available,
obviously). You can even spend a few hours in Salzburg
on the way as well, by entering 'Salzburg' in the via box
and (say) '04:00' in the stopover box, then clicking 'add
another stopover' and entering 'Vienna' & '24:00'. All
still for 39 euro!
Sometimes
www.raileurope.co.uk
has the cheapest fares for the
Paris-Munich sleeper, sometimes
www.bahn.de
is cheaper, so it's worth checking both sites.
Bahn.de can book all accommodation, including 4-berth
couchettes, though for some reason never offers solo
travellers berths in 3-bed sleepers (but raileurope.co.uk
will!). If you book using the bahn.de site,
children under 6 go free, children under 14 can get the
child rate.
However, if you book the Paris-Munich sleeper using
www.bahn.de you'll need to book the
Eurostar separately at
www.eurostar.com, so do a 'dry run'
first on both sites to check prices and availability before
booking for real.
Step 1,
go to
www.bahn.de, the German Railways website, and book the
direct overnight sleeper train from Paris to
Munich & back. The search results will show cheap 'savings' fares
(if available) and
fully-flexible fares for each type of seat, couchette &
sleeper. You pay by credit card and print out your own
tickets. Easy! The prices shown on
www.bahn.de are in euro, and are the total cost for all
passengers selected, not per person. I recommend
registering when it asks you before completing the purchase,
so you can easily make the next booking and retrieve all bookings
later. Always book the
sleeper train first and check its exact arrival & departure
times before
booking the Eurostar connection, as times can vary.
Allow at least 90 minutes on the outward journey and 1 hour
on the return to make the connection in Paris.
Step 2, still on
www.bahn.de,
now use the journey planner to bring
up the connecting Munich-Budapest RailJet train shown in the train
times above, and buy the ticket. It will show if any
cheap special fares are available. You simply print
out your own Online Ticket.
Top tip:
If you want to stop off in Vienna for (say) a day, when
booking the Munich to Budapest train at bahn.de simply look
for the 'Via (1)' box and enter 'Vienna', then enter '24:00'
in the 'hh:m stopover' box. It'll then book you a 24
hour stopover in Vienna, but still let you buy a cheap 39
euro fare from Munich to Budapest (if it's available,
obviously). You can even spend a few hours in Salzburg
on the way as well, by entering 'Salzburg' in the via box
and (say) '04:00' in the stopover box, then clicking 'add
another stopover' and entering 'Vienna' & '24:00'. All
still for 39 euro!
Step
3, go to
www.eurostar.com to book your connecting Eurostar
tickets between London and Paris, using the Eurostar times
above as a guide. By all means book an earlier
Eurostar outwards, or a later Eurostar on the way back, if
this has cheaper seats available of if you'd like to stop
off in Paris for a while. Eurostar tickets can be sent to any UK
address, self-printed or collected up at the station.
How to buy tickets
by email...
If you'd prefer to have someone book it for you, just
click here and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
trains you
need to book for any of the options on this page. Fill
it in & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost.
If you're okay with the price you can give them your credit card details and
they will send you
the tickets. European Rail is an experienced agency
equipped with the German Railways reservation & ticketing
system, so they have access to all the cheap fares for travel via
Germany. They charge a £35 booking fee which includes
postage to any UK address, or they can send to any address
worldwide if you pay the courier fee. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
How to buy tickets by phone...
If
you'd prefer to book by phone, just call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday,
09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday, no
booking fee, 2% credit card charge, no charge for debit
cards), or a booking agency such
as
European Rail
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00 Mon-Fri,
09:00-13:00 Saturdays, £35 booking fee).
Option 3: London-Budapest via the Cologne-Vienna
sleeper...
This runs daily, and also avoids any walk between stations if
that's important to you.
Train times London
► Budapest
Travel
from London to Brussels by
Eurostar,
leaving London St Pancras at 12:57 (11:57 on
Sundays), arriving in
Brussels Midi at 16:03
(15:03 on Sundays).
Travel from Brussels to Cologne by high-speed
Thalys
train, leaving Brussels
Midi at 16:28 and arriving in
Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 18:15. You've time for
a meal in Cologne.
Travel
from Cologne to Vienna by daily EuroNight sleeper
train, leaving
Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 20:05 and arriving in Vienna
Westbahnhof at 09:04. This Austrian Railways
sleeper train has
sleeping-cars (1 & 2 berth compartments, plus two
1, 2 or 3 berth 'deluxe' sleepers with shower & toilet), 4 &
6-berth couchettes and seats.
The sleeper & couchette fares include a light
breakfast with tea or coffee in the morning. The train travels along the famous Rhine Valley
between
Koblenz and Frankfurt, so if you are in a sleeper and
your compartment happens to be on the left-hand side
of the train, switch off the lights and watch the
Rhine pass by, mountains and castles lit by moonlight,
while sipping a glass of Riesling.
Wonderful!
Click for
more pictures & information about this EuroNight train.
Travel from Vienna to Budapest by air-conditioned
Railjet
train,
leaving Vienna
at 09:50 and arriving Budapest Keleti station at 12:49.
Watch out for the crossing of the Danube just before
arrival in Budapest.
Map of Budapest showing Keleti station.
Train times
Budapest
► London
Travel
from Budapest to Vienna by
air-conditioned
Railjet
train, leaving Budapest Keleti
station at 15:10 and arriving Vienna Westbahnhof at
18:08.
Travel from
Vienna to Cologne by daily EuroNight sleeper train, leaving Vienna
Westbahnhof at 19:54 and arriving at Cologne at 08:42 next morning.
This modern Austrian sleeper train has a sleeping-car (1
& 2 berth sleepers with washbasin plus two 1, 2 or 3
berth deluxe sleepers with private shower & toilet), couchettes
(4-berth & 6-berth) & ordinary seats.
The sleeper & couchette fares include a light
breakfast with tea or coffee in the morning. The
train runs along the Rhine Valley in the morning, past
castles and the legendary Lorelei Rock.
More pictures & information about this EuroNight train.
Travel from Cologne to Brussels by high speed
Thalys
train, leaving Cologne at 10:45 and arriving
Brussels Midi
12:32.
Travel
from Brussels to London by
Eurostar.
On Mondays-Fridays,
leave Brussels
Midi at 14:29 and arrive London St Pancras at
15:26. On Saturdays & Sundays, leave Brussels
Midi at 13:59 and arrive London St Pancras at
15:03.
Introducing the Austrian Railways EuroNight train from Cologne to
Vienna...
This was originally a German Railways' City Night Line train, but
on 13 December 2009 it became an
Austrian Railways (ΦBB) 'EuroNight' sleeper train,
with sleeping-car, couchettes & seats. The
sleeping-car has compact 1 & 2 bed
compartments with washbasin, plus two deluxe
compartments with 1, 2 or 3 beds
plus private shower & toilet. The
sleeper berths come fully made up with sheets and
duvets, and all sleeper passengers get mineral
water in the evening and a light breakfast served
in their compartment next morning. Towels & toiletries are
provided, including shampoo and shower gel in the
deluxe sleepers. In the more economical
couchettes, you can book a couchette in a cheaper
6-berth compartment or a less-crowded 4-berth
compartment. Each couchette is provided with
sheet, blanket and pillow, and couchette passengers get
a small bottle of mineral water and a light
breakfast in the morning with tea or coffee. When waiting for
the northbound sleeper train at Vienna
Westbahnhof, if you have a sleeper ticket (as
opposed to couchette or seat ticket), you can use
the first class ΦBB Club Lounge, with
complimentary drinks.
More pictures & information about this EuroNight train.
1 or 2 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable option. Standard
sleepers have a washbasin, deluxe sleepers a private shower & toilet.
4 & 6-berth couchettes:
The economy option, ideal for families. Couchettes are basic padded
bunks with rug & pillow. This is a 6-berth
couchette.
Above: The
Austrian sleeping-car or 'schlafwagen'.
Sleeper & couchette
passengers receive a complimentary light breakfast
with tea or coffee in the morning.
Savings fares for children are the same as adult
Savings fares, but child full fare 50-60% of adult
normal fare
Child
under 6 without own berth:
Child under 6 sharing a berth travels free...
3. Vienna to Budapest
by EuroCity train
£35 one-way, £70 return 2nd class
£53
one-way, £106 return 1st class
If you book this
journey at
www.oebb.at,
the flexible fare is 34 euro (£30) one-way or 68 euro
(£59) return, but a special fare 19 euro (£17) one-way
or 38 euro (£34) return is often available (no refunds, no changes).
Savings fare =
Special cheap fare, book in advance, limited availability,
no refunds, no changes to travel plans.
Normal fare =
fully flexible, refundable, buy any time.
The easiest way to book train tickets from London to
Budapest
is at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
because all the trains can be booked as a single
transaction on one UK-based website. If you don't live
in the UK, or want to book 4-berth couchettes (which
for some reason raileurope.co.uk can't do) book using
www.eurostar.com &
www.oebb.at
instead, see the next section. Bookings open 90 days
before departure, you can't book before reservations open.
Before starting to book, I recommend noting down each
specific train you want to book using the train times
recommended above, and the date of departure.
Obviously, remember that your date of travel from Cologne
back to Brussels will be the day after your departure
from Vienna!
Step 1, go to
www.raileurope.co.uk,
but resist the temptation to enter 'London' & 'Budapest' as this won't find you the cheapest fares.
Instead, first enter 'Cologne' & 'Vienna' and your dates
of travel, look for the direct overnight train from Cologne
to Vienna, book the type of seat, couchette or sleeper you
want, do the same for the return journey, add these tickets
to your basket and click 'continue shopping'. Thanks
to the vagaries of the French reservation system,
www.raileurope.co.uk
won't book 4-berth couchettes only 6-berth ones, so if you
want 4-berth couchettes simply
book using
www.oebb.at instead, see the next section.
Step 2, still at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
now book the train from Brussels to Cologne & back, using
the train times above as your guide. Add this ticket
to your basket and click 'continue shopping'.
Step 3, still at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
now book the Eurostar from London to Brussels & back, using
the train times above as a guide. By all means take an
earlier Eurostar outwards, or a later one back, if it has
cheaper seats available or if you'd like to stop off in
Brussels. Add this ticket to your basket and click
'continue shopping'.
Step 4, still at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
now buy a ticket from Vienna to Budapest and back. Add
to your basket and proceed to the payment stage.
Tickets can be sent to any UK address (£1.95 fee) and
normally arrive within a couple of days.
There's a 2% credit card fee, so use a debit card if you
can. Only UK credit cards are accepted.
Booking tip: You can save a fiver or so each way
by buying the Vienna-Budapest ticket at www.oebb.at,
the Austrian Railways website, printing out your ticket in
.PDF format. As well as flexible tickets, there is
often a 19 euro (£17) special fare available (no refunds, no
changes to travel plans at this price). Simply select
'English' top right, then click 'Online-tickets' top left,
then click 'international tickets' and
make your booking.
Booking tip: It's worth comparing prices for the Cologne-Vienna
EuroNight train at both
www.raileurope.co.uk
&
www.oebb.at (see the section below)
as they can differ. It's also worth checking prices
from London to Cologne & back at
www.eurostar.com, as sometimes this is cheaper than
www.raileurope.co.uk.
Cologne is shown as 'Koln' on the Eurostar site.
Booking tip: You can also try the German
Railways website
www.bahn.de for booking your London-Cologne tickets, as they
offer 'London Spezial' fares from London to Cologne from
just 49 euros each way. However, you'll only
find these fares on journeys which involve the two or three
German ICE trains between Brussels & Cologne, not on
those involving Thalys. In the outward direction that
means leaving London much earlier (around 08:27/08:57) and
spending some time in Cologne, in the return direction it
means spending the morning in Cologne and leaving Cologne at
14:43 arriving London at 19:03.
This method involves two websites, so do a dry run on both
sites to check prices and availability before booking for
real. Anyone from any country can use
www.eurostar.com &
www.oebb.at,
not just UK residents.
Bookings open 90 days before departure, you can't book
before reservations open. Before starting to book, I
recommend noting down each specific train you want to book
using the train times recommended above, and the date of
departure. Obviously, remember that your date of
travel from Cologne back to Brussels will be the day
after your departure from Vienna to Cologne!
Step 1,
go to either
www.eurostar.com or
www.raileurope.co.uk
and book a ticket from London to Cologne
(shown as Koln on the Eurostar website) using the
train times on this page as a guide. It's
a good idea to try both websites, as one can be cheaper than the other. Tickets
can be posted to any UK address or collected at St Pancras
on departure.
Booking tip: If you don't see any sensibly-priced
London-Cologne through fares, try using
www.raileurope.co.uk
to book in two stages, first London-Brussels & back, then
Brussels-Cologne & back, as this can be cheaper.
Booking tip: You can also try the German
Railways website
www.bahn.de for booking your London-Cologne tickets, as they
offer 'London Spezial' fares from London to Cologne from
just 49 euros each way. However, you'll only
find these fares on journeys which involve the two or three
German ICE trains between Brussels & Cologne, not on
those involving Thalys. In the outward direction that
means leaving London much earlier (around 08:27/08:57) and
spending some time in Cologne, in the return direction it
means spending the morning in Cologne and leaving Cologne at
14:43 arriving London at 19:03.
Step 2,
go to the German Railways website,
www.bahn.de, and use the journey planner to book the direct
EuroNight (EN) train from Cologne to Vienna and back.
You print out your own ticket.
Alternatively, you can also book this train using the Austrian railways website
www.oebb.at.
Click 'Englisch' at top right. Now click
'Online-Ticket' top left. Now look for the bottom left
'EURO-Night' square and click it. On the enquiry form,
enter departure station as 'Cologne' and arrival station as
'Vienna', your age and dates of travel. Click 'search
for offers'.
On the results page, you'll see a long list of possible
fares. Ignore the 'flexible' open tickets at the top.
Instead, look down the list of fares shown as 'valid on a
specific train' until you see one for 'Ticket to Wien
Westbahnhof TRAIN EN 421 from 20:05 to 09:04, for the type
of seat, couchette or sleeper that you want. Select
it, don't bother reading about their 'thrift tip'. You pay by credit card and print out your own
tickets. Easy! The prices shown on
www.oebb.at
are in euros, and are the total cost for all passengers
selected, not per person.
Step 3, you can easily buy a Vienna-Budapest ticket at the station
when you get to Vienna, as no advance reservation is
necessary, you just buy a ticket and hop on. Or to
save time at the ticket office you can
buy a ticket online at www.oebb.at,
the Austrian Railways website, printing out your ticket in
.PDF format. There are sometimes cheap 19 euros
tickets available. Alternatively, you can buy
Vienna-Budapest tickets at
www.raileurope.co.uk
from £27.50 one-way, £55 return, tickets sent to any UK
address.
If you'd prefer to have someone book it for you, just
click here and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
trains you
need to book for any of the options on this page. Fill
it in & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost.
If you're okay with the price you can give them your credit card details and
they will send you
the tickets. European Rail is an experienced agency
equipped with the German Railways reservation & ticketing
system, so they have access to all the cheap fares for travel via
Germany. They charge a £35 booking fee which includes
postage to any UK address, or they can send to any address
worldwide if you pay the courier fee. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
How to buy
tickets by phone...
The best agency to call
to book this trip is probably
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday,
09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday, no
booking fee, 2% credit card charge, no charge for debit
cards). Alternatively, call www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00 Mon-Fri,
09:00-13:00 Saturdays, £35 booking fee, but may have more time to
help).
Click
here for more information on how to buy European train
tickets.
If you want a holiday to Hungary
by train not plane, but want someone else to organise all the
train tickets & hotels for you, two specialist companies can
do just that. Railbookers offer tailor-made individual
holidays with departure on any date you like, whereas Great
Rail Journeys offer escorted tours with specific departure
dates.
Railbookers can
tailor-make a flight-free holiday to Budapest for you, with
train travel & hotels, for however long you like, leaving on
any date you like. Why not combine a visit to Budapest
with Prague and Vienna, 6 nights from around £689 per person.
See their Hungary page for details...
GRJ offers
a 13-day tour to Vienna, Budapest & Prague from £1,750, with 1st class train
travel and 5* or 4* hotels.
Great Rail Journeys also offer
holidays by train to other European countries. Check
the tour details online, then call 01904 527120 to
book or use their
online
booking form.
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
Summer 2010 edition (June to December 2010)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at
www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
Paying
for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's a tiny
fraction of what you're spending on your whole trip. You will
see so much more, and know so much more about what you're looking at,
if you have a decent guidebook. For independent travel, the best
guide is either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. Both are
excellent. The Lonely Planet range offers an in-depth guide for
Hungary or a guide covering all the countries in Eastern Europe. You
won't regret buying one..!
My own book, an essential
handbook for train travel to Europe based on this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", was published in June 2008, and
is available from Amazon.co.uk with shipping worldwide.
It's easy to book hotels online to go with your train tickets,
but there are almost too many hotel booking websites to choose
from. So try
www.hotelscombined.com (just use the search box below).
This is not a hotel booking site, but a free search tool
which searches all the main hotel booking sites for you
(Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms, Opodo, Venere and many
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates on the net. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide.
Also try the
Budapest hotels page at
www.venere.com. The price you see is the price you
pay, and you just pay the hotel when you get there.
After you've booked, you can change or cancel your reservation
in line with the hotel's own change and cancellation policy.
Backpacker
hostels...
www.hostelbookers.com: If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget about backpacker hostels. Hostelbookers
offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in
Budapest and most other European
cities at rock-bottom prices.
Travel insurance & health card
Get travel insurance..
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance.
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a pre-paid euro currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency MasterCard, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' MasterCard.
Find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, see
If you live in the USA or Canada, see
