Itinerary Prague to ?

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We are trying to decide what places to visit in addition to Prague - Vienna, Budapest and/or Krakow - maybe 2 out of these 3 and returning to Prague. There will be 2-4 of us traveling together and it seems like there are trains to and from all of the above. Is there a route that anyone would recommend as being easier/less travel time than another? It also looks to me like train tickets are purchased from each country's rail site and there are sometimes discounted tickets available. How different is first class from second class? Thanks for any help.

It terms of logistics probably doing something like Prague-Vienna-Budapest-Prague (or reverse order) would be the simplest. Krakow not only geographically more distant (=travel time), but also journey there would increase the sum you'll spend on train tickets. However if you do decide to include Krakow, then still it's not a big problem to incorporate it into an itinerary (e.g. Prague-Budapest-Krakow-Prague)

Tickets (let's stick to plan without Krakow for now):
Prague-Vienna: multiple daytime trains (taking 4:45), and via Czech Railways eShop it's possible to get tickets for as low as 19 euro per passenger. Also available overnight option
Vienna-Budapest: again multiple trains (taking +/- 3 hours), discounted tickets (start from 19 euro) can be bought via Austrian Railways website (we have a step by step guide on how to purchase austrian train tickets - http://europetrainsguide.com/Advice/How-to-Buy-Train-Tickets/Austria-OeBB.html)
Budapest-Prague: less train than in previous cases, but still quite a few per day (+ overnight one), discounted tickets (start from 19 euro) can be bought via Hungarian Railways website (step by step guide - http://europetrainsguide.com/Advice/How-to-Buy-Train-Tickets/Hungary-MAV.html )
But remember that discounted tickets in all the cases are limited in number per departure, thus require in advance purchase, plus there are some limitations in terms of exchangeability & refund, thus make sure you are ok with such tickets purchase conditions

Regarding First vs. Second class... hmm... in the case of you potential trips the difference isn't essential (however there are even discounted 1st class tickets available), so, imho, no need to overpay. While in case you decide to use overnight train, you'll probably will want to be all in the same compartment and it's 2nd class anyways (either 2 bed sleeper or 4 berth couchette)   

Thanks for your reply and links to the different ticket websites. I appreciate the information. We've now added Berlin as a possibility, so if you have the link handy for those tickets, please do post.

We've now added Berlin as a possibility, so if you have the link handy for those tickets, please do post.

For Prague-Berlin or Prague-Berlin-Prague tickets you can use mentioned in the previous post Czech Railways eShop. Also for Berlin might be a good idea to check out bus connections (like EuroLines or Student Agency), sometimes bus tickets Czech Republic-Germany are much cheaper than even discounted rail tickets