Train Budapest to Rotterdam?

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RobinS

Veteran
Location
Norwich
We are currently cycling the EV6 eastwards but have realised we won't have time to cycle home as originally planned. Does anyone know if you can tip up at Budapest station and buy a train ticket including bikes at a sensible price, to Rotterdam via Munich perhaps? Have tried looking online but it is complicated and difficult on just a phone!
 
Location
España
We are currently cycling the EV6 eastwards but have realised we won't have time to cycle home as originally planned. Does anyone know if you can tip up at Budapest station and buy a train ticket including bikes at a sensible price, to Rotterdam via Munich perhaps? Have tried looking online but it is complicated and difficult on just a phone!

I've no idea how easy to just tip up given the different rules about bikes on different trains in different countries.

since you're terminating in Rotterdam, I'd suggest looking here https://www.nsinternational.nl/ it's the Dutch international train service. They can book you through the whole way with a bike. I've used them before and found them to be extremely helpful. When I used them, I had to make a phonecall because of the bike, but now I see they have an online chat and twitter function which might work too.
Phone 00 31 30 2300023
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ns_int
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
Shouldn't be difficult with a phone. I book all my train and plane tickets this way. Be careful if your on an open WiFi network, use a VPN. Its a fair old journey though. This looks reasonable:
https://www.thetrainline.com/en/train-times/budapest-to-rotterdam-centraal
I've used Trainline quite a bit in the UK, works well. You need to book ahead for the best price.
I'm sure you can turn up and buy at the station on the day but you'll see a big increase on the above.
 
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singingcyclist

New Member
We are currently cycling the EV6 eastwards but have realised we won't have time to cycle home as originally planned. Does anyone know if you can tip up at Budapest station and buy a train ticket including bikes at a sensible price, to Rotterdam via Munich perhaps? Have tried looking online but it is complicated and difficult on just a phone!

Hiya Robin, newbie here. Don't know if you're still cycling and/or solved this problem yet. I used Loco2.com recently to research similar train ride.

Good luck!

UPDATE: Just checked and Budapest to Rotterdam was dodgy. But Vienna to Rotterdam turned up many results
 
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Brains

Legendary Member
Location
Greenwich
If you are still cycling, get to Vienna by whatever means possible and then you have a number of options to get to Rotterdam via Frankfurt, just remember bikes are not permitted on the ICE trains.

The other option is the old East European options via Bratislava, Prague, Dresden, Berlin. Probably cheaper, probably more interesting, will involve several changes but be slower. I'd allow 2 full days at least with a night stop over somewhere

I seem to remember there is (was?) a Berlin/Amsterdam sleeper train. It could be a good experience. I've no idea if there are others
 

Saskia

Well-Known Member
As of 2018 or so, a limited number of bikes are allowed on some ICE trains. There's no night sleeper (anymore?) from Berlin to Amsterdam.

Traveling from Budapest to Rotterdam will take 16-21 hours and involve 4-6 changes. Vienna to Rotterdam is slightly better.

There are very few night trains through Germany and Austria anymore. The route is called NightJet and abbreviated NJ. If you can't get an NJ train, you almost alway end up spending 4 hours or so in a train station between 1 or 2 am and around 4. In that case it might be better to plan an overnight somewhere as Brains suggests.

If you buy your tickets from Deutsche Bahn (which is where I'm getting my information) you'll spend around 250-270 Euro per person for Budapest to Rotterdam, slightly less (depending on the connection) from Vienna. Not including the tickets for the bike. "Spar"-Tickets can be considerably cheaper, but then you're required to use the connection you've booked (at least for the ICE and EC/IC trains, with regional trains you have more flexibility).

The problem is finding out whether there's space for bicycles on an ICE or IC/EC. The only way I know to do this is to go to the station and ask. If you just show up on the platform with a ticket, the conductor decides whether there's enough space for you.

Good luck!
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
I shouldn't bother. The OP hasn't been on since he posted and is well on his way by now I'd have thought and relaxing back in Norwich.
 
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OP
OP
RobinS

RobinS

Veteran
Location
Norwich
We are now home and a full writeup of he trip will appear soon, however regarding the train question, we cycled as far as Bratislava, and there we easily got a reasonably priced rail ticket to Prague (it was actually the Budapest to Prague train, via Bratislava). We cycled the rest of the way home.
The main problem with long haul train travel is that most carriers do not allow bicycles on night trains, so train all the way home would have consisted of multiple one day hops.
 
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