mattian

My wife and I are interested in the overnight train from Krakow to Prague on July 6th in a two person sleeper. Booking from the US, I understand that I must use Polrail to book in advance, and no earlier than 60 days prior to travel which is coming up shortly. Is this accurate? Do American seniors qualify for discounted fares? Does the price quoted from Polrail include both the tickets and seat reservations?

To book the train from Vienna to Budapest for July 13th I perused the oebb.at site but struggled in attempting to get pricing and finding the most direct train. Is this the correct rail service to use?

Any help would be appreciated.

thursdaysd

Have you consulted seat61.com?

Leely2

For Krakow to Prague overnight you don't need to use Polrail, but it was the only way I found to book in advance and pay with a credit card. If you wait to buy your tickets in Krakow, you run the risk of the train you want being sold out. A friend and I did this trip last summer. Yes, your tickets and seat reservations are included when you book with Polrail, or at least they were for us. Sorry, I am not sure about senior fares. You can email the Polrail guy, ask him questions, and he will answer--he's quite helpful.

adrienne

Vienna to Budapest - you have the correct site. The price for direct trains is E39 or E41 for second class.

If you had looked at the Polrail site you would have seen the notation that the price includes the ticket and reservation.

Again, the Polrail site includes information on senior discounts. You should take a look at the site - there's lots of good information there.

Are there any discounts for senior citizens?

For domestic travel by the rail carrier PKP InterCity, there a 50% discount on the ticket (but not any reservation fee) for holders of the IC Senior Card (Karta Seniora). Anyone over age 60 can buy the card (non-Poles included) for 150PLN. The ID is valid for one year from the date of purchase (or the starting date you specify).

For domestic travel by the rail carrier Przewozy Regionalne, there a 50% discount for holders of the PR Senior Citizen ID (Karta Seniora). Anyone over age 60 can buy the card (non-Poles included) for 75PLN. The ID is valid for one year from the date of purchase (or the starting date you specify).

Note: These are two separate documents issued by two separate companies, so if you wish to travel by trains of IC and PR, you must buy both cards!

mattian

Thank you for your responses. I did consult man in seat 61 again after being reminded by you of the site, thursdaysd. Leely2 andAdrienne, you are right about the Polrail site covering seat and reservations. Too much research must be causing brains laps.

Question...Do you think I can hold off on purchasing the Vienna to Budapest leg until the day of travel without unreasonable risk of being sold out?

adrienne

There are plenty of trains each day so I guess you could wait until the day you're traveling. But why not buy the tickets as soon as you get to Vienna rather than waiting until you're ready to leave Vienna?

mattian

OK, so I ordered the Krakow - Prague overnight train through Polrail and they will send the tickets to my hotel. I plan to arrive in Vienna by shuttle or car from Cesky Krumlov and did not plan to go to the station before the day of departure.