Budapest - Nuremberg via a few places

[Merseysider]

Hi folks.

After repeatedly putting off a trip to Eastern Europe, I've finally taken the plunge and booked flights I arrive at Budapest on Sat 21st Jan and leave Nuremberg on Sun 29th. Early afternoon in both cases.

I'm hoping to additionally visit Bratislava, Vienna and Prague en route, with at least one full day in each, and preferably travel by rail between these cities wherever practical. I've had a quick look at seat61 but I'm not sure if all of the information is current, or whether there are any better alternatives than purchasing individual tickets for each leg.

I know Prague to Nuremberg is half the price and half the time by coach compared to rail, but unless the journey is completely uncomfortable/unspectacular I don't mind leaving at 5am or whatever for the train. (Is a €29 DB Spezial the best rail fare here?)

Additionally, if anyone has been to any of these cities lately, I'd like to know what you found interesting, and I'd appreciate any input as to which places are definitely worth spending more than one day in. Ideally I'd have more time on my hands but I've only got the week off.

(Oh and if anybody knows a thing or two about economics, are the exchange rates likely to improve after Christmas? )

Thanks in advance

 

[Gordon]

Hi folks.

I'm hoping to additionally visit Bratislava, Vienna and Prague en route, with at least one full day in each, and preferably travel by rail between these cities wherever practical. I'm not sure if all of the information is current, or whether there are any better alternatives than purchasing individual tickets for each leg.

Rail travel between all your planned cities is completely practical.

I can't see why on a continuous itinerary there would be any better alternative that individual tickets.

I suspect Praha and Wien would benefit from more than one day's visit, but rather depends on how interested you are in seeing tourist sites and/or the public transport operations in each city


.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

You should be able to get a good price for some of these legs if you fix your date and time and book on the national web site (MAV, CD etc).
Some sites can't sell tickets beyond the December timetable change yet, but they will soon be available.
Some of the legs won't have saver fares - eg Bratislava-Vienna, and maybe Budapest-Bratislava, as they are too short.
But Vienna-Prague should work, for €19 and up.
Prague-Nuremburg is about €16, less than half the full fare.
You can book them both as e-tickets on the CD site: https://www.cd.cz/eshop/

They are all very interesting cities.
If I did that trip I'd be looking up the opera/concert schedules!

 

[dutchflyer]

There is a local unlimited, no quota single fare of just 17,50 for Bp-BL, on direct EC trains ev 2 hrs. Unspectacular journey, mostly flat lands. Only sights on ''Dunav-bend/Esztergom., near Szob, is midly nice.
You can even save a few pence by breaking and buying 3 tickets- local train from NYUGati to Szob=last HU station (enjoy newest MAV FLIRT trainsets), 1,80 special local return Szob-Sturovo, and then 7,66 or so for the ZSR toward BL.
Between BL and Wien indeed again BUSes are faster, much cheaper (5 eur single-pay driver, or even for 1 eur if lucky prebooked), ev 30 mins between BUSstations-Regiojet and Slovaklines. Trains run hourly from BL-Main (=hlavna)-was there just last week, cheapest is a 4 day return incl. local Wien trams/bus/metro-14 or 15 eur.
Train Praha-Nürnberg is slower and not very spectaculair-best to book by CD. IF you also plan to travel more around Bayern that day (only from 9.00!) buy just single Praha-Plzen (again, sadly, bus is both faster and cheaper-again that regiojet) and -can also prebuy in special office in Praha- the Böhmen/Bayern ticket for about 29 eur-only local trains, includes all of these (Alex/Läenderbahn).
Easiest to -as has been said so many times, bahn.de or bahn.com for timings. Use local railways sites first for tickets originating from there-but dont despair or think thats the only way-most are just over the counter fixed low price anyway.
Oh-best deal-wait till 65+, hope+Pray that UK is still EU and then enjoy FREE train travel (also bus/tram) in HU-but NOT for any INTernational trip-so break near border, and get yourself a customercard (bring foto) for ZSR and then enjoy free travel (even any >62) in Slovakia-train specific tickets still must be gotten.
65+ from EU can get from any local DP office in Praha also a cust-card for 20 CzK (again bring foto) and get free local (bus/tram/metro, NO trains!) for Praha.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Vienna has 3 flak towers from WWII, together with their control towers. The control, tower in central Vienna has been turned into an Aquarium. The Riesenrad in Vienna is quite nice also. M2 & M3 in Budapest are a nuclear bunker, as are M1, M2 & M3 in Prague. Nuremburg has some interesting underground tours. There's not much to Bratislava

 

[blackfive460]

In Budapest, have a ride on the Children's Railway.
See http://www.gyermekvasut.hu/ which is in Hungarian but Google will translate it for you.

In Prague, go up the Petrin Tower which Hitler wanted removed as it spoilt his view from the castle. It's an excellent viewpoint and you get to it via the funicular railway which starts near the tram stop Újezd.
If you get a 24 hour or longer transport ticket, it's also valid on the funicular.

 

[30907]

For Prague, on top of the tourist sights and the amazingly varied trams, with a central zone day ticket you can sample a class 75x diesel for a few stops out of Masarykovo terminus, and the "Prague Semmering" line 122 (from Hlavni by then, no longer from an obscure platform in Smichov goods yard!).

Bratislava-Wien is EUR10 single but dead flat and boring. There are hydrofoils on the Danube, but whether they run in January is another matter.

For Prague-Nurnberg, the quickest train route is on the CD/Alex operation via Furth im Wald (use the 0512/0912 to take advantage of a CD buffet car.
The First Minute Europe fare mentioned in Oscar's post is I think only available via Cheb, but that's more scenic I believe.
Reputedly the most scenic route (there's at least one forum member who's done it) is via Plzen-Zelezna Ruda/Bayerisch Eisenstein (class 754 diesel from Klatovy up the hill)-Plattling. If time allows, and you want the flexibility, you would get good value out of the B-B ticket mentioned by dutchflyer.

Note that in CZ it is common for engineering works to happen at short notice - wont cause significant delay and the RRBs are well organised, but it might spoil a scenic journey for you!

And seat61's info is usually pretty uptodate

 

[D6700]

For a simple point to point journey from Prague to Nuremberg, by forcing the Ceske Drahy (CD) booking site to avoid buses (deselect them in "more options"), the advance fare is just 304 CZK (about £10) via Plzen and Cheb or 414 CZK via Usti nad Labem and Cheb. By coincidence, I booked the reverse journey via Plzen using the CD site earlier this week!

Using the CD website, there are some absolutely cracking advance fares between Austria and the Czech Republic, mainly using Railjets between Vienna and Prague. Additionally, you can often save a couple of quid by splitting the booking at Brno. This would also enable a break of journey to explore this fine city. Domestic advance tickets in the Czech Republic are not normally train specific, but international ones are, so splitting at Brno gives flexibility on departure forward from Brno to Prague.

 

[70014IronDuke]

......
Additionally, you can often save a couple of quid by splitting the booking at Brno. This would also enable a break of journey to explore this fine city. ....

the first thing I thought of when I was reading the original post was: he's missing out Brno!

I agree it is a very fine city - although I'm most impressed with the people I've met there than the mere visuals. And, it is winter when our OP is visiting ...

For a simple point to point journey from Prague to Nuremberg, by forcing the Ceske Drahy (CD) booking site to avoid buses (deselect them in "more options"), the advance fare is just 304 CZK (about £10) via Plzen ...

Ah, Plzen .... if you are in Plzen, try to take a few hours off travelling, and visit the Plzen Brewery. It is 7 minutes walk from the station, and the guided tour (€5, i think) is an education in social history, as well as brewing. The city square is also astonishing, and, unlike Prague .... there's hardly a tourist in sight, even in August! (OK, this was six-seven years ago).

And, visiting the brewery on a miserable, cold-wet day in January could be a respite from the weather.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

In Budapest, have a ride on the Children's Railway.
See http://www.gyermekvasut.hu/ which is in Hungarian but Google will translate it for you.
. ...

Of course, it all depends what the OP wants out of his trip, but IMO the "Children's Railway" is not all that of a big deal. It's a nice thing to do in summer, if you have 3-4 days in Budapest, but in reality it's only a narrow-gauge jaunt through the hills and takes a half-day out of the OP's itinery. I would argue there are far more interesting things to experience in Budapest if only staying (at a guess) 1.5 days, or even 2.5 days. (BTW, the loco drivers are not 12-year old kids, in case anyone thinks otherwise.)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Additionally, if anyone has been to any of these cities lately, I'd like to know what you found interesting, and I'd appreciate any input as to which places are definitely worth spending more than one day in. Ideally I'd have more time on my hands but I've only got the week off.
.

As I wrote above, it all depends on what you want, but even a dullard could easily spend four days in each of Budapest, Vienna and Prague and feel he could have stayed longer. Bratislava is smaller, or rather, the obviously nice "touristy" part is much smaller - at the same time the Slovaks appreciate visitors who take time to be interested in their history and culture. 99% of outsiders are unaware, for example, that the "Prague Spring" was led by a Slovak - Alexander Dubcek. So, if you sought out and met the right people, four days in Bratislava could be more rewarding than four in Prague - you could spend four evenings tasting wines made from vineyards within the city limits - but it all depends on your interests.

Superficially, however, Bratislava is definitely not "up there" with Wien, Bud or Praha, and given your limited time, I wouldn't give it more than a night's stay.

 

[reb0118]

I concur with Brno/Brün, Plzen/Pilsen as worthwhile places to visit. The line through Böhmische /Bayerische Eisenstein was very scenic and depending on the weather (snow?) would be well worth it.

If you've only got one day/night somewhere it might be advantageous to break at a smaller town/city rather than a major metropolis. Save the big cities for a more in depth long w/e? Just a thought.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

[Ianigsy]

Back in July I did Munich-Nuremberg-Vienna-Wroclaw (changing at Katowice). The journey from Nuremberg to Vienna by ICE was comfortable and civilised (although a little panicky when the double set pulled into Nuremberg Hbf with the front set, i.e. the one that continues into Austria, in reverse formation!) and there are some good views along the Danube. You also have the option of Railjet between Linz and Budapest.

Surprised nobody's mentioned the DB Museum in Nuremberg, which has some interesting items although not always laid out for photography, and a DB baseball cap for about 3 euro makes for a good souvenir! Budapest also has the Franz Josef metro line (second oldest after the Metropolitan Line) with rather quaint stations and a little museum at the old Gizela ter station (admission one metro ticket!).

When I was in Vienna there were leaflets advertising a leisure ticket to Bratislava (Bratis-lover?) which I think included public transport in the city centre- Bratislava these days is effectively the end of the Viennese suburban network and you'll see it as such on route maps. Not sure whether I still have the leaflet as I was keeping it for a friend who visited Bratislava as a day trip from Vienna in his backpacking days during the Communist era.

On the morning Vienna-Gdynia (via Warsaw) express, it was encouraging to see that at Breclav (I think) on the section in the Czech Republic, the morning Budapest-Prague express called on the opposite platform face for connections. It seems as if somebody still appreciates the importance of keeping connectivity between the four capitals this way!

 

[70014IronDuke]

Warning to OP - if you have not been to the region before (and by the way, best not to tell Viennese they are living in Eastern Europe, even if Salzburgers think that's perfectly true ) - you must beware what Eastern Europe means in terms of daylight! At this time of the year, the sun will set at around 16.30 (estimate) but the days can be very grey and overcast - meaning near darkness from before 16.00 - so what you think of as a 'day' can be rather short.

Second warning: you ask about exchange rates - difficult one, but I think the Czech crown is likely to rise in the next few months.

I don't think it's worth buying Czech Crowns or Hungarian forint in the UK (you get hit by bad exchange rates/handling fees) but be aware that the exchange facilities are equally horrid at Budapest airport. I was there about six weeks ago, and the spread around the mid rate was simply appalling. The sign on the booth said "No Commission" - you bet, they robbed you clean just on the exchange rate. I have no problem with them taking 1-2% - they have to make a living - but they were offering something like 23% down on the mid rate.

If you need cash at the airport, just change £10 to avoid too much of a loss, and find a competitive booth or bank in town.

 

[Merseysider]

Thanks very much for all replies! Apologies for not acknowledging them sooner, I've just got back from Canada. Advice duly noted and perhaps I'll get round to writing a trip report... thanks again

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Allow the best part of a day for the really excellent railway museum at Nuremberg - it is a very nice city in any case , with some excellent eating opportunities.

Check also to see if the vintage trams are running - they were last year , and the tram museum is also worth a gander.