[Simon117]

Hi guys, so I spur-of-the-moment decided on a post-uni finals trip. My travelling so far is mainly limited to a couple of charity hitchhikes to Morocco and Croatia, where the great thing is the not-planning. So in that spirit I just sorta booked a flight to Warsaw and one back from Budapest. But then I realised I should probably think this whole planning stuff thing, especially when I remembered it was Euro 2012 in Poland this Summer, and I only have given myself a week...and I'm a little lost (I figure travelling during the Summer I need to book stuff like hostels in advance).

Since I only have a week, I kinda figured a night train to somewhere in Slovakia (initially I was thinking the High Tatras, but transport links seem really ****ty and I don't think I'm going to have too much time in this place so I can't really go off hiking. So now I'm thinking maybe a bit of quick sight-seeing in Bratislava?) And then another night train from there to Budapest.

So I was on bahn.de looking at trains, and the night trains seem to exist, which is nice. But a couple of potential issues; there's no prices available, does anyone know what sort of prices I can expect? Also a lot of trains it indicated I need a "compulsory reservation", does this mean booking ahead? And how far ahead? Does anyone know any websites where I can buy the train tickets or will I have to wait till I'm in the city?

I really didn't think this through, but that's part of the fun right This definitely isn't going to be some perfectly planned maximising my time perfectly thing, but to be honest that's not what I'm after anyway

Any help very much appreciated!

[James82]

According to Google maps you can walk it in just under 6 days, but that assumes you don't stop. :P

[Simon117]

We'll call that Plan B :P

I did just realise that Bratislava-Budapest is only like a 3 hour train though, which is nice. And there is a night train Warsaw-Bratislava, so yeah does anyone know about booking tickets for that? I could get them a couple of days in advance from Warsaw train station, unless I can get them online somewhere?

[Moa]

Warsaw sucks, go for Cracow

[Simon117]

(Original post by Moa)
Warsaw sucks, go for Cracow

I've actually been to Krakow before, but yeah it was a great place to visit Anyone any idea on the train situation? Will I be fine just rocking up at the station?

[James82]

(Original post by Simon117)
I've actually been to Krakow before, but yeah it was a great place to visit Anyone any idea on the train situation? Will I be fine just rocking up at the station?

Yep, most European countries don't have the complex system of ticket pricing that we do, fares are the same whenever you book, but I would try and book the overnight one in advance as you want to make sure you have a seat/bed.

I tried www.raileurope.co.uk, but it doesn't come up with anything from Warsaw to Bratislava, I managed to find trains from Warsaw to Krakow and then overnight ones from Krakow to Bratislava. I'm guessing that's the route it would take, and there was no price difference in booking for today or a couple of months' time.

[marcusfox]

(Original post by Simon117)
Hi guys, so I spur-of-the-moment decided on a post-uni finals trip. My travelling so far is mainly limited to a couple of charity hitchhikes to Morocco and Croatia, where the great thing is the not-planning. So in that spirit I just sorta booked a flight to Warsaw and one back from Budapest. But then I realised I should probably think this whole planning stuff thing, especially when I remembered it was Euro 2012 in Poland this Summer, and I only have given myself a week...and I'm a little lost (I figure travelling during the Summer I need to book stuff like hostels in advance).

Since I only have a week, I kinda figured a night train to somewhere in Slovakia (initially I was thinking the High Tatras, but transport links seem really ****ty and I don't think I'm going to have too much time in this place so I can't really go off hiking. So now I'm thinking maybe a bit of quick sight-seeing in Bratislava?) And then another night train from there to Budapest.

So I was on bahn.de looking at trains, and the night trains seem to exist, which is nice. But a couple of potential issues; there's no prices available, does anyone know what sort of prices I can expect? Also a lot of trains it indicated I need a "compulsory reservation", does this mean booking ahead? And how far ahead? Does anyone know any websites where I can buy the train tickets or will I have to wait till I'm in the city?

I really didn't think this through, but that's part of the fun right This definitely isn't going to be some perfectly planned maximising my time perfectly thing, but to be honest that's not what I'm after anyway

Any help very much appreciated!

I have a lot of experience travelling on trains in Poland.

They are cheap. Slower trains are cheaper. You will rarely be able to book tickets like you would in the UK, for example if you want to travel from Brighton to Middlesborough, you could buy one ticket and change trains at London and Darlington. Don't expect to do that in Poland, each train you travel on you will need a separate ticket as the train companies in Poland are not interchangeable.

Some of the more common ones

EIC - Euro Intercity - faster trains and more expensive. Usually requires a seat reservation

IR - Interregio - Slower and cheaper

TLK - Generally the slowest and cheapest.

Trains in Poland are generally cheap, I can't give exact prices, but I travelled between Warsaw and Poznan in February one way for 40zl (5zl = £1) on IR service - a little less than the London-Leeds distance.

If you buy a ticket, you will usually need to specify the train you travel on. If you miss the train or change your travel plans, this ticket is not good for the next service and will have to be re-issued. You can get a refund if you do it before the train has departed, although you may need a little Polish language to do this.

Departure timetables and boards (ODJAZDY) are in yellow, arrival timetables and boards (PRZYJADZY) are in white.

Buy the tickets at the station, at main stations there is usually a cashier who can speak English. If you struggle, just write details on piece of paper. They usually take credit cards, but not always.

E.g. 11:00 TLK Warsaw-Poznan 2kl - Ticket on the 11am TLK departure from Warsaw to Poznan, second class service.

There are also international trains, and you can buy tickets for these from the cashier (KASA BILETOWE)

Warszawa Centralna is the station you want for departures - [although many trains also stop at W. West (Zachodnia) and W. East (Wschodnia)]- I was there before it was redeveloped and it was (and still is) a bit of a maze. Due to the upcoming football tournaments it has had a lot of work done and the direction signs and platform departure signs are now in English. Look for signs to Main Hall (HALA GLOWNE) for the main ticket desks although there are others elsewhere

You can get the Polish timetable (includes the DB timetables) app. SITKol Nawigator on your phone. On your phone, go to http://naw.sitkol.pl. To set the language into English, load the application, scroll to Ustawienia (Settings) and select Jezyk - Polski. Then change to English. Main Polish stations are listed there, but you can add smaller ones and stations outside Poland.

[marcusfox]

I also saw some offer on a noticeboard, something along the lines of - 50zl for outward ticket, all weekend travel in Czech Republic (and return to Poland, but you don't have to) if you catch a direct train to there after 1800 on Friday, but you'll probably need a decent amount of Polish to understand the notice and get the offer sorted out.