Booking trains through central europe

November 20, 2008 5:24 AM

Rail through central europe: should we book in advance and how?

Early December some friends and I are going to go through central Europe by rail. We are starting in Krakow, then going to Prague, then Bratislava, Budapest, and finally Vienna. I have looked at the most common rail passes and none seem to cover my journey. I'm also stuck on how to book the sleeper from some of these places, particularly from Krakow to Prague. I can find the train, 200, but no instructions on booking. Should I cave and deal with a travel agent? Is it too risky to wait until we get to Krakow and book a sleeper only 3 days in advance?

posted by melissam to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

Sleeper trains need to be reserved well in advance, unfortunately. We found that out the hard way during our recent trip to Europe.

However, if you are not a citizen of the European Union, a very cheap way to travel by rail is available to you - the Eurail Pass. This can save you hundreds of Euros, and really is an excellent deal.

I am not sure about the Czech and/or Polish rail system, but France, Germany, and the other countries we visited all had an online rail site where we could reserve trains in advance.

Good luck!
posted by Nixie Pixel at 5:53 AM on November 20, 2008

The Man in Seat 61 will answer your questions.

It's an amazing resource, covers rail and sea routes throughout Europe, and how to get cheap tickets. Lots on sleepers too.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:13 AM on November 20, 2008

Woohoo, so one part is done: Krakow to Prague. For future Mefi travelers, polrail.com has a custom quote service that did it for me and I'll be able to pick up the tickets at the station in Krakow if everything goes according to plan. So I still have Prague-Bratislava, Bratislava- Budapest, and Budapest-Vienna to go.
posted by melissam at 7:08 AM on November 20, 2008

In my experience, rail travel throughout Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech republic can be done quite easily and cheaply with no advance planning. We simply walked up to the ticket counters and bought tickets for each of our trips a few hours in advance, sometimes. Even though we didn't speak the local language.

So you can plan in advance, obviously, but for those countries at least it shouldn't be a problem if you don't.

However, I should perhaps hedge a little in that we were not getting sleeper cars, but just ordinary ones.
posted by vernondalhart at 8:18 AM on November 20, 2008

I've never planned in advance and I've never had a single problem finding a space. And I've travelled to all the places you mention multiple times. In December, it's even less of a problem.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 10:22 AM on November 20, 2008

I would think hard before buying a Eurail pass for central Europe. It will probably be cheaper buying point to point tickets. Sometimes with Eurail you'll need to buy seat reservations as well, which lessens the "bargain" even more. I second seat61.com, it's a great website.

I bought a Prague-Krakow sleeper through Deutsche Bahn's UK office, so it depends where you are how you should book. I could have booked through Rail Europe but it was a lot more expensive.

Consider coaches, too, if you have time. I am getting a coach between Bratislava and Prague for ~£7.

I have looked into Budapest > Bratislava and Bratislava > Vienna and I believe the easiest way is to buy them for the station.
posted by Jacqulyn at 12:35 PM on November 20, 2008