My husband and I will be traveling through Eastern Europe for several months (August-Nov of 2008). We will be visiting Poland (Warsaw, Krakow, Zakopane), Hungary (Eger, Budapest), Austria (Vienna, Salzburg, Melk, Krems), the Czech Republic (Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Karlovy Vary), Slovenia, and Croatia.
We are planning to travel by train in most of these countries, with exception of Croatia and parts of Slovenia, where it seems that bus travel is the best option. Most of the advice we%26#39;ve received thus far is point-to-point train tickets are a better deal than the European East eurail pass for extensive train travel in these countries. It is a little hard to figure out whether this is accurate when searching online because while websites for national train systems (eg. elvira.hu) show lower prices for in-country travel than general vendors like railpass.com, the national websites don%26#39;t show fares for international trips online.
Assuming point-to-point is the way to go, what%26#39;s the cheapest way to do the international train trips (eg. Vienna to Prague)? Is it generally cheaper to purchase country segments separately (one train to an Austrian/Czech border town and then a separate train from the border to Prague), or is about the same to travel on one train the whole way?
Since we are not planning our route/travel in advance, we can%26#39;t buy train tickets months in advance. Does it save much money to buy train tickets online versus at the station (eg. buying tickets at a internet cafe a couple of days before versus at the station the same day)?
Also, we are wondering if we generally need to make reservations for trains in these countries. Based on the searches we%26#39;ve done so far, it seems like many of the quicker trains on a route require reservations but not all trains (eg. Krakow to Budapest: trains that take 8-9 hours require reservations; trains that take 12 or more hours don%26#39;t). Is that consistent with your experiences?
We are not planning to book accommodations ahead of time and have heard that in some cities people will wait around the train stations and offer private lodging. Have you seen this occur frequently in this region? Is it safe? Given that we aren%26#39;t making lodging reservations in advance, any suggestions on better ways to find pensions/private rooms/cheap hotels in this region (especially for more expensive places like Prague and Vienna)?
Thanks in advance for your help!
KJ
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I%26#39;m not sure if this is of help.
2 weeks ago I did a Prague-Bratislava-Budapest trip.
Bought a train ticket from Prague to Bratislava in Prague. That was fine.
I could also buy the train ticket from Bratislava to Budapest in Prague but I did not because buying it in Prague was a lot more expensive than the ticket from Prague to Bratislava. So I ended up buying it in Bratislava.
Oh yeah, for this journey, booking the ticket online was not possible. The website does not offer online booking.
There are website offering apartments in Prague, Budapest, etc. Sometimes staying in an apartment is cheaper than staying in a hotel.
And I would say having a place to stay in advance would be much safer than accepting an offer from anyone waiting around the train stations.
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Buy all tickets point-to-point. Nobody buys them online because it is not really possible, and stay clear of Raileurope like the plague. There is no need to get off at %26#39;border%26#39; stations to purchase the onward leg as the difference is so minimal it is not worth the hassle. For example Prague - Vienna just stay on the train.
Pretty much all tickets can be bought just before departure without any danger of not having a seat, the only exception maybe being the Pendolino between Prague and Vienna, but thast is not worth the extra outlay for the small amount of time saved, and don%26#39;t worry too much about the %26#39;reservation compulsory%26#39; label - it isn%26#39;t necessary in practise. I have never reserved a seat in 15 years of travelling around central and eastern Europe.
It is an absolute doddle travelling by train in this part of the world, and it is very cheap, but you have to be prepared for getting some trains that stop everywhere and take forever (e.g. Prague to Cesky Krumlov) - consider the bus for that leg.
I would be interested in seeing your itinerary - you have some quite far-flung places there! e.g. Zakopane is beautiful, but it is difficult to get from there to anywhere else. And don%26#39;t miss out on places that may not be so-much on the tourist trail, which are equally worth seeing - I am evangelical about Brno, for example, or Kutna Hora as an alternative to Cesky Krumlov, and since you are in Zakopane, you will have to go the the %26#39;other side%26#39; to Slovakia to Poprad, Levoca, Bardejov, etc, etc - as you will have %26#39;several months%26#39; time is on your side. If you do it that way you will avoid paying vast inflated amounts for accommodation and you will see some of the real country.
Hope this helps!
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