Sleeper Train from Budapest to Bucharest

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
6
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
3
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
4
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
57 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
314th/457
Top 70%
continent
Europe
country
Hungary / Romania
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$60 (typically $50 - $70)
Time of year visited
September
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Adventure Border crossing Train journey
All Tags
Big city Local villages Mountains
Wow Factor
Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100.
⭐⭐

Summary

One of the best things about making your way through Eastern Europe is being able to do so on the extensive train network rather than relying on flying or buses, and one of the longest routes is the Budapest-Bucharest.
I’ve listed some tips / things to be aware of for the trip below but, in summary, whilst its not the most comfortable of sleeps because of the number of stops, I’d say it’s overall worth it based on the scenery you see in Transylvania (in particular crossing the Transylvanian Alps), the savings on hotel costs for the night and the lessened environmental impact from flying.  But more than anything else, it’s just quite good fun.

Highlights

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#1 Seeing the breathtaking scenery as you pass through the Transylvanian Alps

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#2 Train Stations - love them. Especially big Eastern European Grand ones. Way better than airports!

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#3 Just the general old-school adventure of travelling this way

Travel Tips

You’ve actually got 4 options for the train between Bucharest and Budapest. #1 A non sleeper train leaving 0645 and taking the route through the south / east of Romania; #2, #3 and #4 are sleeper trains leaving 1510, 1851 and 2310 and which go through the centre (Transylvania) of Romania and the most impressive mountains.

 

The route takes 17 hours but expect it to be late – mine was around an hour late.

 

The highlights from a view perspective are once you enter Romania and in particular the section towards the end between Brasov and Ploiesti, which is where the train passes the Transylvanian Alps.  So, from a choice of trains perspective, it makes sense to get one of the evening trains as you’ll maximise the time the most impressive section in Romania.

 

They don’t seem to advertise for it, but you can easily get off at the various stations in Transylvania.  Brasov being the obvious one, and only 2 hours or so from the final stop of Bucharest.  Whether you only pay to Brasov or simply just jump off, you’d need to check but 100% you can get off.  In fact, the route has 16 stops each of which has people coming and going.

 

Keleti Station – the train in Budapest leaves from the Keleti train station which has a bunch of sandwich and fruit stops to stock up on for the journey.

 

You can buy tickets at the train station (easiest) or can do online but it was quite fiddly.

 

Cabin – I decided to be a princess and go for a private cabin (€150), but all the cabins looked to be roughly the same at 4 ft by 6 feet. Some things to be aware of for the journey:

  • There will be one plug socket which is for the electric razor but seems to work fine
  • Anyone over 6ft 1 or 2ish / 185cm may struggle to stretch out fully and the duvets can be a bit short
  • Chances are you won’t have that good a night’s sleep because the train stops quite a lot and there are no blinds for the windows (so bring eye mask and ear plugs)
  • Bring extra toilet paper because the stuff they provide in the bathroom is more serviette style and seems to run out very quickly!
  • There is no food provided on the train so bring some
  • You can lock the door from the inside but not from the outside (i.e. if you go to the bathroom you’ll leave the door unlocked unless you have someone else in the cabin)

 

When you get to Budapest – enjoy, its one of the best city break experiences in all of Europe.  In particular, be sure to visit the Szechenyi Thermal Baths.  See the travel entry 3 Days in Budapest – Baths, Architecture and Ruin Bars for recommendations.

 

When you get to Bucharest – you only really need a day in Romania’s capital.  What you want is to head into Transylvania to Drive through Transylvania’s Fortified Saxon villages and exploring Bran Castle and to drive the Driving the Transfagarasan Highway of the Transylvanian Alps.

 

Experiences Nearby

Wow Factor Score Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100. LowHigh
  • Elite, unmissable
  • World-class, downsides
  • Meets the Wow Factor
  • Worth it
  • Meh
  • Gash

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences - from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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