Budapest to Milan

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Please give advice! What would be the best, most scenic route, to go from Budapest to eventually get to Milan from where our return flight is? We have 2 days fro this trip Budapest to Milan, 22 to 24 June, travelling 2 adults plus 1 youth together

What would be the best, most scenic route, to go from Budapest to eventually get to Milan from where our return flight is?

Generally two days in enough to travel by land from Budapest to Milan via any possible route, so you have a variety of choices. Let's take a closer look at some major ones:
a) relatively cheap way to travel will be taking daytime train from Budapest to Ljubljana via Croatia (standard one-way fare is 39 euro), then spend a night in Ljubljana and continue to Italy in the morning via Jesenice-Bled-Nova Gorica (famous Transalpina rail line or Bohinj railway). While from Gorizia it's easy and not very expensive to reach Milan with train change in Venice
b) travel via Vienna-Villach-Venice, here in order to travel cheaper would be good to buy tickets in advance, that way you can get tickets Budapest-Vienna for as low as 13 euro, while Vienna-Venice from 29 euro. Venice to Milan tickets start from 9 euro. All the above tickets fares a discounted one, so require in advance purchase & limited in number per departure
c) travel via Vienna-Salzburg-Innsbruck-Verona (famous Brenner pass). With this route you'll spend the most time in the scenic mountain regions, however it might not be the cheapest one. Again Budapest-Vienna tickets you can get for as low as 13 euro, Vienna-Innsbruck tickets start from 19 euro and Innsbruck to Verona as well from 19 euro, Verona to Milan tickets start from 9 euro. But since all of the above tickets a limited in number per departure and thus require in advance purchase, you might not get cheapest one for all the legs

On our country pages (Hungary, Croatia/Slovenia, Austria & Italy) links for all the network maps and official websites for ticket purchase. So we encourage to take a look at all the above options, decide which route might interest you and then we can already help you out with the exact schedules and see whether discounted tickets (if necessary) are still available for your dates

p.s. if requirement to go by land is not a must for you, then obviously cheapest way to reach Milan from Budapest is to fly using low-cost airlines (RyanAir or WizzAir). For your dates direct flights start from only 30 euro

THANK YOU so much!!! YOUR HELP IS ABSOLUTELY GREAT AND SO APPRECIATED!! I think the first option sound sthe best - to Ljubljana and then overnight and further as you said. We can take the train ANY TIME - the cheapest option would be great. Travelling from Budapest on 22 June, sleeping in Ljubljana on 22 June, spending day in Ljubljana, travelling late afternoon, evening Ljubljana to Milan. Or JUST AS YOU SUGGEST! We have no fixed plans, only need to be in Milan on 25 June, so thought is safer to be there already on 24 June, sleep 24 in Milan, and be ready for our flight on 25 June from Milan.Would you be so kind as to see for the trains? 2 Adults, 1 youth(22)THANK YOU!

Ok, so Budapest-Deli station dep.13:25 (train #204), arr. to Zagreb 19:45, dep. Zagreb with train #498 at 21:20 (so you can actually make a small walk in Zagreb as well) and arr. to Ljubljana 23:36. Ljubljana is a small city with city center in walking distance form the main station, so arrival after 23 shouldn't be a problem. One through ticket Budapest-Zagreb-Ljubljana is 39 euro per passengers, you can buy it in Budapest anytime, no discount for ordinary youth passengers.
Then Ljubljana-Jesenice-Nova Gorica by train, few connections per day here, but in order to make it to Milan not very late better to dep.Ljubljana 9:45, with change in Jesenice 10:53-11:15 you'll arrive to Nova Gorica 13:06. Slovenian town Nova Gorica & Italian town Gorizia historically is one town (check google maps), so you can either walk from Slovenian side to Italian or take local bus (#1, goes from Slovenian train station to Italian one). From Gorizia train station you can depart 14:20 (arr. to Milan 19:25), 15:40 (arr. to Milan 20:25), 16:20 (arr. 21:25) etc. But since it will be 23.06 maybe it will make sense to stop for a night in Venice and continue to Milan next day (Goriza-Venice standard fare ticket is 11,4 to 13,65 euro depending on connection, Venice to Milan from 9 euro, if purchased in advance). Or you can spend the day elsewhere - in Ljubljana, Bled, Trieste, Verona etc.
Besides scenic rail route of Transalpina (Jesenice-Nova Gorica) you can as well travel by train from Ljubljana to Koper or Sezana and from there than take a bus to Trieste, while Trieste to Venice is 12,1 euro and two hours by regional train. Anyway, would suggest to take a look at TrenItalia website and see everything yourself, might help to determine the exact itinerary/place to spend extra day

Thank you!! You have been of GREAT HELP!!! You are absolutely amazing. Thank you!!

I have great difficulty in booking these train Budapest to Milan. Can you help me to actually book and buy the tickets?

I have great difficulty in booking these train Budapest to Milan. Can you help me to actually book and buy the tickets?

There is no need to book tickets for Budapest-Zagreb-Ljubljana leg or trains within Slovenia (like Ljubljana-Jesenice-Nova Gorica), first of all because price of tickets is always the same, so it doesn't matter when you buy. Second, all those trains doesn't require seat reservation, which means that they can't be sold out. So you can simply buy all the tickets before departure and don't worry. Same thing applies to trains from Gorizia to Venice and majority of trains form Trieste to Venice.
The only part of your route for which you might want to purchase tickets in advance is Venice-Milan, here with in advance purchase via TrenItalia website you can get tickets for high-speed trains for as low as 9 euro (full fare is 37,5 euro), however for Venice to Milan you can as well use slower regional trains which cost only 18,35 euro (full fare). As result you can actually travel Budapest-Croatia-Slovenia-Milan without buying any tickets in advance