London to Budapest by train

littlerock

We are planning a trip to Budapest in October and want to go overland by train. It seems to be possible to go from London to Paris (on Eurostar)/ then Paris to Munich (by TGV) /then Munich to Budapest (overnight 2 bed sleeper on Kalman Imre night train).

Our problem is booking on line. The French rail site SNCF is quite good and appears to let you book straight through but insists you buy a first class ticket if you want a sleeper. The "Man in Seat 61" recommends avoiding French railways when booking as only a second class ticket is nowadays needed for the sleeper: he says French Railways insist you buy a first class ticket as they have not managed to upgrade their booking system to cover this recent change.

I have looked at both the German and the Hungarian railway sites and am struggling with specifying that I want to book a 2 bed sleeper for joint occupation. This seems to be because you normally buy the bed and then men and women are allocated into different compartments according to their sex.

So my OH (who has a different surname) keeps getting assigned to a couchette and not in my 2 bed sleeper.

Is there a web site anyone can recommend who handles all this or failing that a good travel agent?

Voyager2002

Have you tried the site that Seat 61 recommends, Capitaine Train?

Or the German railways (Die Bahn), who have an office in London and are good at telephone sales?

eDicky

How about a budget flight to Cologne and catch the Austrian Railways night train to Vienna, connecting train to Budapest.

http://www.oebb.at/en/

Voyager2002

eDicky wrote: »

How about a budget flight to Cologne and catch the Austrian Railways night train to Vienna, connecting train to Budapest.

http://www.oebb.at/en/

The flight would ruin the rail experience: however they could easily take Eurostar to Brussels and then train on to Koln with plenty of time to catch the night train to Vienna.

littlerock

Capitain Train is a French website and Seat61 recommends not using French site to book sleepers as they make you buy a first class ticket before doing so. And thanks for suggestions re flying but we really want to do the whole thing by train and London/Paris/Munich/Budapest seems best route. (We have been to Vienna in the past so do not plan on visiting on this trip.)

eDicky

littlerock wrote: »

Capitain Train is a French website and Seat61 recommends not using French site to book sleepers as they make you buy a first class ticket before doing so. And thanks for suggestions re flying but we really want to do the whole thing by train and London/Paris/Munich/Budapest seems best route. (We have been to Vienna in the past so do not plan on visiting on this trip.)

Ok. I can see your Munich-Budapest night train EN 463 on my OBB (Austrian rail) app but it also seems to say that 2nd class is only for seats, so no solution on that yet...

Another possibility might be the 'Dutch Flyer' boat train from London Liverpool St to Amsterdam (by day or night on the Harwich - Hook van Holland ferry), then the excellent City Night Line sleeper train Amsterdam to Munich, and onward by day train(s).

Actually the connection time from the Cologne-Vienna night train EN 421 to the onward train to Budapest is only twenty minutes, so you would hardly be in Vienna. Amsterdam to Cologne is under three hours by train.

joerugby

You could try London - Brussels - Cologne - Dresden - (sleeper) - Budapest

Timings seem reasonable. Have a look on https://loco2.com

littlerock

Man in seat 61 recommends as an alternative: London- Brussels- Cologne (sleeper) - Vienna - Budapest. That would mean daytime travel between Vienna and Budapest which is an attractive option so now considering that plus your suggestions. Am reconsidering a short stop in Vienna but Dresden is also an option and then book a later train to Budapest.

Booking online gets more complicated however with these options and involves at least two booking sites (why can't they make it more streamlined?). So I was thinking about booking via railbookers. However looking at their web site it only features package holidays and I cannot find anywhere on it to request a rail journey booking service. (I am happy to pay the commission.)

Have I missed some option on the railbookers site or do they only offer all in package holidays?

eDicky

I've no experience of Railbookers etc, but I often use SNCB (Belgian Rail) for booking, try your luck:

https://www.b-europe.com/Travel

Voyager2002

littlerock wrote: »

Man in seat 61 recommends as an alternative: London- Brussels- Cologne (sleeper) - Vienna - Budapest. That would mean daytime travel between Vienna and Budapest which is an attractive option so now considering that plus your suggestions. Am reconsidering a short stop in Vienna but Dresden is also an option and then book a later train to Budapest.

Booking online gets more complicated however with these options and involves at least two booking sites (why can't they make it more streamlined?). So I was thinking about booking via railbookers. However looking at their web site it only features package holidays and I cannot find anywhere on it to request a rail journey booking service. (I am happy to pay the commission.)

Have I missed some option on the railbookers site or do they only offer all in package holidays?

Surely you can book most of that journey through Deutsche Bahn,
https://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/home/contact/contact-in-the-uk.shtml

Eurostar has its own site (good for the journey to Brussels and to anywhere in Belgium) while the rest of the journey to Koln would not require a reservation. Similarly, a daytime train from Wien to Budapest would also not have to be booked.

Blue264

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Have you tried the site that Seat 61 recommends, Capitaine Train?

Or the German railways (Die Bahn), who have an office in London and are good at telephone sales?

Another vote for DB Rail. I've used them hundreds of times at work and they're excellent.

https://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

Check out the routes on their site, then call for a quote once you have the route, train times and train numbers noted down.

Failing that. you can book London - Brussels - Munich with Eurostar, and use a second provider for the rest.