I know where to go ... but how to get there?

December 8, 2008 10:15 AM

Seeking advice on Eastern European travel over the holidays.

So, I started planning late. I'm a US citizen currently residing in Romania, and would like to travel about Eastern Europe over the holidays. The potential itinerary I'm currently looking at is going from Romania to Budapest, then up to Bratislava, to either Vienna or Krakow, and back.

Ideally I'd like to purchase a multi-destination ticket (or tickets for each hop) in advance. I'm looking for advice on transport (either bus or train), functioning websites for booking travel, advice on how booked travel options will be between 18 December and 4 January, and suggestions for hostels.

posted by the luke parker fiasco to travel & transportation (3 comments total)

The Man in Seat 61 has got you covered, travel-wise at least. I last travelled around Eastern Europe in 2000, and found that it was fine just buying tickets a few days in advance (generally, when we arrived in a city, the first thing we did was buy our onward ticket, usually for four or five days later). Trains in Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic were all really nice.

We went from Romania > Budapest > Bratislava > the Tatras Mountains > Krakow (via a bus to Zakopane) > Prague and just booked as we went.

Look into night sleepers - they save a night's worth of hostel costs, they're super fun and they feel a bit James Bond-esque.

My hostel recommendations are likely all severely out of date, but I'd recommend The Yellow Submarine in Budapest and Strawberry Hostel in Krakow (though on a preliminary perusal they're getting crap reviews these days, so maybe seek more recent opinions).

If you're dead set on getting it all in advance, an Eastern Europe zone Interrail pass may be the best option for you, but generally you can just go point to point and pay as you go.
posted by Happy Dave at 10:43 AM on December 8, 2008

I'm a girl who just hitchhiked from Satu Mare to Budapest to Krakow a couple of months ago, so let me tell you: don't worry about advance booking. (I've travelled to all of those places by more conventional means as well - maxitaxi, bus, train.)

Except possibly for sleeping berths (which I don't know about because I never booked them), you won't have any trouble walking up to the ticket counter and just buying a ticket the day of travel. I've found, a lot of times, that this is actually cheaper . . . there seem to be a lot of specials and weird deals available only at the counter. (I took a train from Budapest to Frankfurt for nine Euros last summer, the online fare was many times more than this.)

The Thorn Tree Travel Forum (run by Lonely Planet) is a good place for hostel info that's up to date.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 11:36 AM on December 8, 2008

Deutsche Bahn will mail you tickets if you order online or over the phone, even if your trip doesn't start in or pass through Germany.

Plan out your itinerary on the DB website, noting down train numbers and stuff. You can specify huge amounts - stopovers, whether you only want fast trains, whether you need to be able to bring a bicycle. It's awesome. If you create a profile (free, easy) you can save itineraries.

Then call the UK Deutsche Bahn line (here's the UK DB site with the number on the front page; use SkypeOut or something to save money) and get as many of the tickets as you can; you may be able to get all of them. It's just like ordering a plane ticket; just specify specific train numbers, classes, etc, then pay with a credit card or something. I booked a ticket from Berlin to Torun over the internet and received my tickets in California through the mail about a week later. You'll also be speaking with a real person, who'd be able to tell you about other options if trains you want are full.

There's also an AMAZING tool from DB called the Personal Timetable, which prints/e-mails you a nice PDF of all the possible connections between any two stations anywhere within a certain time band- handy if you don't want to have to cross-reference all the time. For your trip, be sure to have a copy of the schedule for each of the legs of your trip so you can adapt your schedule if it gets hairy.
posted by mdonley at 1:20 PM on December 8, 2008