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| Budapest Keleti Central Station |
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| First Class Cabin on the Ceske Drahy |
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| Ceske Drahy at Budapest Keleti Central Station |
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| 4 seater |
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| 2 Seater |
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| Restaurant Cart |
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| Bar Seats |
Prague to Budapest starts at €21 in 2nd class or €37 in 1st class pre-booked online direct with Czech Railways, no refunds or changes, limited availability at each price level. Be sure to check online if you are certain of your travel dates.
First Class/Business Class can use the Mav Start Business Lounge prior to boarding your train.
First Class/Business Class can use the Mav Start Business Lounge prior to boarding your train.
On the day, the unlimited-availability full-flex fare is around €67 in 2nd class or €99 in 1st class.
Prague to Bratislava starts at €15 in 2nd class or €28 in 1st class pre-booked online with Czech Railways, no refunds or changes, limited availability. On the day, the unlimited-availability full-flex fare is around €29 in 2nd class or €44 in 1st class.
Fares from Budapest.
Budapest to Prague starts at €19 in 2nd class or €35 in 1st class pre-booked online direct with Hungarian Railways, no refunds or changes, limited availability at each price level.
Bought on the day, the unlimited-availability full-flex fare is around €67 in 2nd class or €99 in 1st class, but there's an unlimited-availability special offer 4-day round trip price of €49 in 2nd class which you can use even for a one-way trip.
To get these fares you must buy tickets as explained in the next section...
So far, no third party retailer has connected to the Czech or Hungarian Railways ticketing systems, so resellers such as Rail Europe cannot access these cheap fares, only more expensive full-flex fares sourced through other national operators via the inter-operator TCV system.
So you should book direct with the Hungarian or Czech Railways as explained below to get these cheap prices, with the added advantage of print-at-home or collect-at-station tickets with no postage or booking fees.
How to buy tickets.
Do you need to pre-book? Not if you don't want to and are happy paying the full-flex price, as full-flex tickets have unlimited availability on this route so can never sell out. You can always just buy a ticket at the station at the maximum full-flex rate and hop on the next train, sitting in any empty unreserved seat. But it's much cheaper to pre-book as there are cheap advance-purchase fares if you book ahead on a no-refunds, no-changes-to-travel-plans basis.
When does booking open? Booking usually opens 90 days before departure, although this shrinks to much less than 90 days for dates immediately after the mid-June and mid-December timetable changes. You can't book before booking opens!
To buy tickets starting in Prague...
...use the Czech Railways (CD) website www.cd.cz
The cheap advance-purchase fares with no refunds and no changes are called First Minute. Incidentally, only one name & passport number is needed to support one print-at-home ticket, even if that ticket covers several people.
...do NOT buy tickets starting in Prague at the Hungarian Railways (MAV) website, as tickets have to be collected from a MAV ticket machine only located at Hungarian stations.
To buy tickets starting in Budapest...
Check online Hungarian Railways (MAV) site www.mavcsoport.hu, see my tips for using it. Click EN top right for English. You collect tickets from the yellow self-service machines at Budapest Keleti or other main Hungarian station, just by entering your booking reference on the touch screen.
Tip for 1st class Budapest to Bratislava: If you ask for a 1st class ticket from Budapest to Bratislava you won't see any prices or tickets at all. So ask for a one way 1st class ticket from Budapest to Brno instead and you'll see cheap 1st class advance-purchase fares, limited availability, no refunds, no changes, just buy one of those. Brno is the first major stop beyond Bratislava, you simply get off in Bratislava when the train stops there as they all do. This is perfectly legitimate.
Where to buy your train tickets at Budapest Keleti Palyaudavar Railway Station.
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| Domestic Train Tickets Sales Counter |
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| Head up for the platform |
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| International Train Tickets Sales Office Entrance |
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| Printed Train schedule available |
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| International Train Tickets Sales Office Back Door |
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| International Train Tickets Sales Office |
The train ticket sales office is split into 2 area: Domestic and International.
The domestic sales counter is in the basement, while the international sales counter is on the ground level beside the train tracks within Keleti Palyaudvar Station. They speak English and have printed timetables if you require it. All major credit cards are accepted.
The domestic sales counter is in the basement, while the international sales counter is on the ground level beside the train tracks within Keleti Palyaudvar Station. They speak English and have printed timetables if you require it. All major credit cards are accepted.
Pictures by MSW
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