Prague to Vienna by night any help?

1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Hello, I changed my mind instead of going from Prague to Salzburg by night, I will travel from Prague to Vienn by night, has anybody any experience for this trip? Thanks

There is an everyday overnight train Berlin-Prague-Vienna departing Praha-Holesovice 23:18 or Praha hl.n. 00:04, arriving to Vienna West at 6:22am. The problem is that Czech Railways doesn't sell discounted tickets for this overnight train, so you would either have to buy full fare ticket (app. 42 EUR + sleeper reservation) or play a small tricks:
a) since the train is coming from Berlin, while German Railways does sell discounted tickets for this train. So you can actually purchase ticket Dresden-Vienna (seats from 29 EUR, couchette from 39 EUR, sleeper from 59 EUR), but board the train in Prague.
b) travel via Bratislava. Such way will require one stop and change of trains, but you can actually purchase discounted ticket Praha-Bratislava online in advance (from 21 EUR for 3 bed sleeper, what is really good offer). Bratislava-Vienna route takes only one hour, bus tickets start from 7 EUR, train tickets from 11 EUR. As result you will travel Prague-Bratislava-Vienna for as low as 28 EUR (involving night in a sleeper car) with only a bit longer time on the road.

Ooh, thank you so much, you took a burden from my shoulders with this valuable answer. I will take your advice step by step. This was such a helpful answer that I cannot imagine I could get a better one. You made my day. Cheers!

Hi,
I was thinking to buy tickets from German Railways, but I have heard that the Czech Railways cannot read (scan) german tickets, is that right? In this case I have to take tickets from Prague to Bratislava and from there to go by bus or by train to Vienna. Do you have idea about any problem with foreign issued tickets for Czech Railways?

I was thinking to buy tickets from German Railways, but I have heard that the Czech Railways cannot read (scan) german tickets, is that right?

Hmmm... sounds a bit strange. If German Railways sell you ticket for certain route, as in your case Dresden-Vienna via Czech Republic, then they obviously guarantee you the actual service throughout the whole route the ticket is valid for. So there is simply no reason whatsoever why Czech conductor might question your ticket.
Anyway, we never heard about any problems of such kind. Maybe you can give a link where it was discussed/you heard it from?
As a rule, the problems with self-printed ticket might arise only if you print it in low quality, so scanner simply can't read the bar code on it, but such situation doesn't have anything in common with German railways issued tickets within Czech republic, because it is a general thing and applies to any self-printed tickets.

In this case I have to take tickets from Prague to Bratislava and from there to go by bus or by train to Vienna.

Yes, if you want to catch discounted, in your case discount is called SparNight, ticket then you need to buy ticket in advance from Czech Railways eShop (https://www.cd.cz/eshop/international/search_int.aspx?tt=2). Input Praha-Holešovice-Bratislava-Vinohrady (R411, 22:32-6:43), same train departs from Praha main station at 00:04 and arrives to Bratislava main station at 5:40am, so you can actually get on it later and get off earlier, depends on which stations you prefer in Praha and Bratislava.

And remember, that in both case, either with German discounted tickets or Czech discounted tickets it is better to purchase them good in advance, since they are limited and might be sold out for your date if you would want to buy them like couple days before departure.

I might be wrong, I didn't have enough time to search again the www.tripadvisor.com forum looking for that specific information. Anyway, I probably made a confusion with something else: "buying tickets from CD if the journey commence in Austria". An online ticket issued by CD can't be read by the scanners of Austria Railways OBB train staff. Changing my mind many times regarding my start point: Vienna, Salzburg, or Praha, I was confused by so many info and most likely, I have mixed them in my mind. Of course, someone can say, well, where is Germany Railways involved in this trip. The answer is Munich, because, someone can use Munich to or from in order to get cheaper tickets to or from Salzburg, like you have mention Dresden for cheaper tickets from Praha to Vienna.