So I'm looking at rail prices for Eastern Europe online and I'm seeing something puzzling. I've been told that it's really not worth it to get an Eastern Europe rail pass, as it's generally pretty cheap to get around by train. I'm looking in various guidebooks (2008 ed) and there's a pretty great disparity between what I see online and what the guidebook says. For instance, Prague to Krakow in early June is about $93 on raileurope.com while the guidebook lists it at $45. While the latter figure probably doesn't include the reservation, is it cheaper to buy the tickets over there? Or am I missing something here?
-------- "Not all those who wander are lost." ~ J. R. R. Tolkien
Posts: 10 | Location: North Conway, NH | Registered: 02 April 2008
Having checked the occasional price on raileurope, I am fully convinced that they are a ripoff. Buy your tickets at the station.
Guidebooks are typically off by a few dollars, euros, kroners or whatever, as inflation happens, but as long as you have the current edition, it should be a decent estimate to start with.
Try to find prices on the national railways websites of the countries you're going to. These will be accurate prices. For example, prices for trains and busses within the Czech Republic and Slovakia can be found at www.vlak-bus.cz (I don't think they have prices for international trains though) The Polish website is www.pkp.pl I think
Yeah. Raileurope is an evil scheme. Buy the tickets from the respective national rail companies sites or just get them at the station.
There are also great cheap buses emerging in the east. Some even include meal service and full bar service with cocktails for $10 for an overnight trip. (bexx-me bus) check out cheapbus.wikispaces
_________________ "Ich bin ein Weltbürger, überall zu Hause und fremd überall" -Felix Nussbaum
Posts: 577 | Location: Milwaukee, USA | Registered: 02 May 2006
I was in the region last summer and must say that buying tickets at the train station is a pretty hassle-free and easy way to go about it. I never felt like I was paying too much. The one thing I would recommend is to find out the hours of the ticket office when you get off the train - buy your tickets at that time if you can. I was inconvenienced a couple of times due to weird hours and the like.
Agreed with last poster. Tickets at the station are the way to go.
In Romania, it gets weird, because you can't buy tickets on some long distance trains until an hour before the train arrives. Apparently the seat reservation system needs a little work. Oh, and if you're on a late night long distance train, and you aren't the first few stops, the odds are that no matter what ticket you've been given, all the cabin will be filled with sleeping people, often more than should be in there. That leave the hallways, so try and avoid that situation, if you can. This is only romania, so far. In Hungary its much better organised.
A friend of mine had an east european rail pass, and found it more trouble than it was worth. We both paid about the same for travel. He had to convert his vouchers, I just paid.
He paid for transport he didn't take, by the way. I didn't.
Posts: 2236 | Location: spain | Registered: 19 November 2004
Originally posted by Tortuga_traveller: In Romania, it gets weird...Oh, and if you're on a late night long distance train, and you aren't the first few stops, the odds are that no matter what ticket you've been given, all the cabin will be filled with sleeping people, often more than should be in there. That leave the hallways, so try and avoid that situation, if you can.
Yeah, best to be avoided--if that's even possible. However, I've been in this situation before (always on the other end), and people have never once hesitated to wake me up and kick me out of the seat. So, I advise anyone who finds a person sleeping in their seat, to do the same--as long as they don't look too scary.
Buy your tickets at the station. Not only is it more practical, it's more fun and part of the experience. 'Day of' worked a lot, but not always, so be careful. If it's a busy route or time, think about buying the day before.
Posts: 150 | Location: Boston, USA | Registered: 30 October 2005
Yeah, best to be avoided--if that's even possible. However, I've been in this situation before (always on the other end), and people have never once hesitated to wake me up and kick me out of the seat. So, I advise anyone who finds a person sleeping in their seat, to do the same--as long as they don't look too scary.
Agreed, I have been on the kicking end of this. Still was a really uncomfortable ride, but at least we weren't in the hallways.
quote:
Why dont you just get a couchette for the night.
Have you ever tried to buy a couchette in a small town station? I have, on a couple of occasions, and have yet to be successful. In Greece, they let us upgrade on the train (eventually, after midnight), but our experience in Romania was that the couchette cars were locked, so even if you had bought a couchette ticket in advance somehow, you would be screwed and not have gotten a seat at all.
In Romania, it gets weird, because you can't buy tickets on some long distance trains until an hour before the train arrives. Apparently the seat reservation system needs a little work. Oh, and if you're on a late night long distance train, and you aren't the first few stops, the odds are that no matter what ticket you've been given, all the cabin will be filled with sleeping people, often more than should be in there. That leave the hallways, so try and avoid that situation, if you can. This is only romania, so far. In Hungary its much better organised.
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this is true ONL if you buy at the train station. If you buy at the railway agency in town they will give you seats in international trains (cause those are the one you talk abt) even 2 weeks in advance
Originally posted by Cristina Dima: this is true ONLY if you buy at the train station. If you buy at the railway agency in town they will give you seats in international trains
Good point. Some cities have more than one place to buy tickets. So, if the main station is not that convenient, ask the locals about other ticket booths. You may save yourself some time, and maybe gain some added benefits as Christina explains.
In Kiev, I bought tickets at a large government ticket office in the city. This was much easier and less stressful than going to the actual station which is always a madhouse.
Posts: 150 | Location: Boston, USA | Registered: 30 October 2005
one note though...there is ONLY one agency in each city and it's closed on Sun (trust me, i've kind of "burned" myself on this one...). In general they are right smack in the city center while the railway stations...are not. But you can ask around and don't worry abt English, there will be someone speaking the language
excellent advice in this thread, the absolute BEST DEAL you can get is using the countries local website for the trains. Even in the western europe.
Here is an example on my July 5th journey from Valencia to Madrid is $71 on raileurope.com, although, using renfe.com (spains local site) i get a web deal for 17 Euros which is about $25.
And my train from Berlin to Prague on July 21st... Well it is 108 USD on raileurope.com and 29 EUR on bahn.de
Posts: 51 | Location: SPAIN | Registered: 25 February 2008
Snap I brought a eurail pass for the Benelux countries last year would have saved money just buying them at the station. Learned my lesson brought a ticket from Berlin to Krakow off the net for 29 Euros cheap as.
Posts: 10 | Location: New Zealand | Registered: 16 May 2008
Originally posted by SMM: Snap I brought a eurail pass for the Benelux countries last year would have saved money just buying them at the station. Learned my lesson brought a ticket from Berlin to Krakow off the net for 29 Euros cheap as.
In western Europe a railpass can be well worth your money. Trains in the Netherlands are more expensive than in Belgium and Luxembourg (especially if you're under 26), so if you have some long stretches there, an Interrail or Eurail is probably your best option. Again, you should always ask yourself if you will be traveling enough for a railpass to be good value.
Posts: 24 | Location: Limburg/Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands | Registered: 24 July 2005
