Is there a reason to prefer the bus to the train in the Czech Republic?

Question

I'm traveling to Brno for a conference, and am making last-minute travel plans. The recommendation is to fly into Vienna and take ground transportation from there, as Brno's own airport is very small. Someone at the office here in the US suggested that there's a bus between the two cities, but, of course there's also the train, and the conference info page suggests that they're about the same price. A couple of decades ago I took the train from Dresden to Prague, and that was fine.

In my mind, trains are pretty much always better than buses, but I don't know how things stand in the Czech Republic. Would there be any particular advantage to the bus?

Answer 1

There are no objections to taking the train from Vienna airport to Brno. However, in your precise case, the bus has two advantages.

1. The bus is direct. You get in the bus at the airport and get out off the bus in Brno. No need to change. With the train you have to change at least once, sometimes even twice or three times. You have to carry your luggage through the stations, there is a risk of getting lost or of missing a connection.

2. The bus is cheaper. A single ticket is 17 euros from Vienna airport to Brno. The single train fares are more than 30 euros.

For train fares and schedules, you can refer to the website of the national railway company. For information on buses, you can refer to the airport's website.

Answer 2

There can be a few reasons, generically, why the bus can be better than the train:

• sometimes, the bus is faster! For example, from Buenos Aires to Rosario (Argentina), the bus is faster than the horrendously slow train.
  • sometimes the bus is cheaper! (Although you've mentioned in this case it's not). In the previous example, the bus is also cheaper than the train (no idea why anyone takes that train except for perhaps the next reason....)
• sometimes, the schedule is better. Trains and buses aren't always a regular thing - they may leave hours apart, or twice a week, for example. Check out the schedule, it might be more convenient to arrive when the bus arrives.
• some buses have wifi, in my experience - more often than trains do. So if you're after that, it could be useful.
• buses quite often run from the airport, meaning you don't have to worry about getting from an airport to the city's train station.

For getting to Brno, Wikivoyage notes that there are several options, and indeed you could even fly into Prague and get there in under 3 hours by train, while there are also frequent buses from the Prague airport itself, which might be more convenient for you. Have a read of the page, you may see an option which is more preferable to you.