Train from Vienna to Prague

How much is a train from Vienna to Prague? Does anyone know of a car service with approximately the same cost for two adults and two kids? Thanks, Elizabeth

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The train takes 4 hours, I believe it would be cheaper to go by train vs. anything else.

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And it costs approx 32 Euros, more if you get the high-speed %26#39;Pendolino%26#39; service. Buy tickets at station before departure (except for the Pendolino, which needs to be reserved in advance, but you can do that the day before).

Goodness knows what a car service would cost, but the train is certainly quicker and much more comfortable.

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It was 49E last week for the high speed Supercity train plus 7E for the reservation which is required on that train. Don%26#39;t know if there is a reduction for kids.

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Maybe it is 32€ from Prague to Vienna on a ordinary non-tilting train applying Czech fare rules. It was often reported that tickets bought abroad in Eastern Europe are cheaper than the ones sold in Austria.

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It should cost approximately the same wherever you buy the ticket if you buy it on the day - I have never noticed a difference Brno-Vienna and vice versa, but EUR 49 sounds about right for the Pendolino - you save 30 minutes, but not worth it IMO.

You can actually buy these tickets on-line on the Czech Railways site, but only from 1st July onwards, and only from the Czech Republic to Austria (not the other way around) - it only costs 487 Crowns (20 Euros), including reservation. eshop.cd.cz/international/search_cd-obb.aspx

You need to speak Czech, but worth learning if you want to save money :)

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We just took that train this week and paid 49E for 2nd class seats plus 7E for the reservation. The high speed trains require the reservation, some of the others do not. We had reserved seats on trains to Prague and then back to Vienna two days later,and were very happy to have them, because the train was almost completely full in both directions.

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Come to think of it - 49 Euros does seem quite high, as going the other way on the Pendolino high-speed train it costs the normal fare plus 200 Crowns (which includes the reservation), making c. 43 Euros all in.

And there%26#39;s no harm in reserving a seat the other way in Prague - it only costs 30 Crowns (EUR 1.20). You can actually make this reservation up to 30 minutes before the train is due to depart and simply %26#39;bump%26#39; the person occupying your seat off. Only a small percentage of people will have made reservations, anyway.

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We paid 33E plus 7E for the obligatory reservation from Prague-Vienna (departure 8:23), 49E plus 7E for the obligatory reservation from Vienna-Prague (departure 15:33). It%26#39;s been suggested to me that if I had booked the round trip from Prague that I would have paid less, live and learn.

Those were the two train times that worked best for us, it wasn%26#39;t really a matter of saving a 1/2 hour of time or traveling on a more comfortable train. Although if the other trains are anything like what we took to Kutna Hora from Prague, I%26#39;m darn glad that I was on a Supercity train, the train to Kutna Hora was crowded and hot, 4 1/2 hours on one would have killed me.

Neither train was full but it was also during the week and not quite in the middle of tourist season yet so that may make a difference.

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The local train to Kutna Hora (which looks something lioke this www.vagonweb.cz/fotogalerie/CD/CD_B250.php , although you could have got a more comfortable fast train which only takes an hour) is nothing like the airconditioned Eurocity trains, which look something like this: www.vagonweb.cz/fotogalerie/CD/CD_Bmz.php

But there are variations for different countries - the German one looks like this, for example: www.vagonweb.cz/fotogalerie/DB/DB_Avmz.php

Which if anything is more comfortable than the %26#39;Supercity%26#39; trains, I find. Also you don%26#39;t need to pay for a reservation, even though it says that you do - I have never reserved and I have been on that train probably more than one hundred times over the years.

So there is no need to worry about that!

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That%26#39;s good to know GCEK because the train from Kutna Hora to Prague was pretty miserable on a hot day, it was one of the ones that runs every couple of hours and goes direct with a bench of four seats on either side of the compartment, I was glad to at least be sitting with people I knew.

Are you saying that an obligatory reservation was NOT needed on the Supercity trains or just the other trains? Because the agent in Prague just charged us for it without mentioning it and the agent in Vienna insisted we had to have it. And the signs over the seats all said obligatory reservations on this train.