How to travel from München / Munich to Budapest by train

Final Destination: Budapest-Keleti

Train also calls at: Wien, Gyor and Budapest-Kelenfold**

Note that these trains do not call at Munchen Ost station.

This is a pleasant, but not exceptionally beautiful journey, so this is a route when taking the alternative overnight train means you won't lose out on seeing spectacular views.

Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 3 months ahead of the travel date - but this period of time is shorter when looking up journeys in August to October.

A choice of tickets

Four types of tickets are available:
Two types of discounted tickets, which will be cheaper the further ahead you book - Sparpreis Europa and Super Sparpreis Europa
Two types of non-discounted ticket - Flexpreis Europa and Flexpreis Plus Europa.

A key difference between these types of tickets is refunds:

• Super Sparpreis tickets are cheapest, but they can't be refunded at all.
• Sparpreis tickets can be refunded for a fee, but the refund will be in the form of travel vouchers to be used for alternative / future journeys.
• Flexpreis Europa and Flexpreis Plus Europa tickets can be refunded at no additional charge.

The other key difference is that both types of Sparpreis tickets are only valid on the specific departures selected when booking, but both types of Flexpreis tickets live up to their name, as they can be used on any departure on your travel date.

Note that none of the tickets can be exchanged to a different departure.
There's no need for this to be available for Flexpreis Europa tickets, as they aren't train departure specific.
If you book a Sparpreis Europa ticket and want to travel by a different departure you can refund it and then use the travel voucher towards the cost of the new booking.
Super Sparpreis Europa tickets can't be exchanged or refunded.

The Sparpreis, Flexpreis and Flexpreis Plus tickets also include 'City tickets', which can be used on public transport between locations in Munchen city centre and Munchen Hbf.

Seat reservations

Seat reservations are optional on Railjet trains - take note if you will be using a rail pass.
They cost €4.90 when travelling in 2nd Class and €5.90 when travelling in 1st class.
Specific seats can be selected from seating plans - you don't have to accept the seat(s) that you will be automatically offered.

They are included within the cost of booking 1st class Flexpreis tickets and both 1st and 2nd class Flexpreis Plus tickets.

When booking Super Sparpreis, Sparpreis and 2nd class Flexpreis tickets, you have the option of purchasing seat reservations later.
It can be worth re-looking up a journey a week or two ahead of travel, because the DB website will indicate how busy a departure will be.

Reservations are highly recommended for this journey, particularly if you'll be travelling 2nd class* or with a rail pass - it's worth it to ensure that you have an assigned seat for the entire trip.

Booking on the DB website

You can find these direct trains more easily by making a proactive selection of 'Direct Trains Only'.

To see all the combinations of trains and journey options, some of which may be cheaper, take off the 'fastest connections' default.

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so if you can be flexible with your departure time use the 'best prices' tool - at the top right on the list of journey options.

This train is now usually scheduled to depart from München Ost at 23:54 and arrive in Budapest Keleti at 09:19.
Note that because this train now commences its journey in Stuttgart it doesn't now depart from the main station in München, the hauptbahnhof.
Though the hauptbahnhof is linked to München Ost by frequent local (S-Bahn trains) that also call at multiple stations in the city centre.

This train has fairly convenient departure and arrival times, so it can be a good alternative to travelling from Munich to Budapest on the alternative daytime trains,
You also won't be missing out on experiencing a fabulously scenic journey if you take this night train.

However, the Hungarian sleeping and couchette coaches used on these trains aren't as modern as some other night trains - note that Nightjet trains aren't used on this route.

Final Destination: Budapest

This train also calls at: Munchen Ost, Gyor and Budapest-Kelenfold

The train will call at Budapest-Kelenfold around 10 mins before arriving at Budapest-Keleti.

If the end point of your journey in Budapest is by a station on Metro Line 4, or has an easy connection from Line 4, then leave the train from Munchen at Kelenfold station and transfer to the Metro there.

Not only will your journey be quicker overall, the Metro transfer at Kelenfold is much easier, than at Keleti station in Budapest, particularly if you have luggage.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

Booking on the MAV website

What can occur when using the MAV website is that the search results can be shown for the day after you chose on the calendar, with the message being that trains aren't available on the date selected.
But the trick is to click on the grey 'earlier' departures button and then you should see the night train, indicated by the crescent moon symbol.

Booking on the DB website

When making a booking on the English language version of the DB website, it can matter to select München Ost as the specific 'from' station.
If the generic 'München/Munich' is used as the from station, the DB website can assume that the traveller will want to start their journey at the city's main station, München Hbf; and in this scenario the website will offer an indirect journey with an early morning connection in Salzburg.
But because of the umlaut over the u in München, when using the English language version of DB it isn't possible to select München Ost as the from station.
So the work around is to look up a journey from chen Ost, which should then give an opportunity to select München Ost from the dropdown menu of options.

Another quirk of booking on the DB website can occur when three people are travelling together and want to book a sleeping cabin with three beds.
DB can ignore this request and default to only offering berths in the couchettes

'Kalaman Imre' is the name given to this train, which uses coaches provided by Hungarian Railways (MAV).

The train conveys:
- Compartment Seats
- Couchettes ; 4 berths AND 6 berths
Sleeping cars with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins (there are no deluxe sleeping cars with showers in the cabins available on this route).

Click the train button above for more info including the rail pass reservation fees:

Using rail passes:

Rail pass users must reserve before boarding this train.

However, these rail pass reservations can NO longer be booked online the DB website.

If you want to reserve seats, berths in couchettes or beds in the sleeping cabins before you arrive in Germany, the best option is to pay a booking fee and use the Eurail or InterRail reservation services.

Or you can avoid the booking fees by arranging the reservations when you arrive in Germany, by purchasing them at a Reisezentrum travel desk, which you will find in any hauptbahnhof.
Though it's best to do this at the first hauptbahnhof (city centre station) that you will arrive at, the later you leave booking your accommodation, the more likely it is that your preferences will be sold out.