Hungary → Austria · 214 km apart
Budapest to Vienna
Take the Train — 2h 20m, from €9, ~22 a day
Hourly railjets link Wien Hauptbahnhof and Budapest Keleti in about 2h20, and advance fares start at €9 with RegioJet, €13 with MÁV and €19.90 with ÖBB — cheap enough that this works as a day trip. FlixBus is only half an hour slower with 30 departures a day at similar money, so it is a genuine alternative rather than a compromise. The cities are 215 km apart; flying is pointless.
Every way to make the trip
RegioJet is usually the cheapest of the three operators on the same corridor.
More departures than the train and often a euro or two cheaper.
Times are the fastest scheduled service for each mode; flights are gate to gate, before airport time. Fares are typical advance-booking ranges, not quotes. Checked 5 September 2026. Distance is straight-line — rail and road are longer.
Prefer to drive?
Compare car hire at either end. Returning the car in the other city usually adds a one-way fee, and across a border it can run to several hundred euros — check it before you book.
Check live fares
A regional travel eSIM covers you across the whole trip — no roaming bill and no hunting for a local SIM at each border. Install it before you fly.
Both ends of the trip
Travelling the other way? The comparison is the same — Vienna to Budapest runs on the same services, and both directions are covered above.