Jo_Levy

We are 60 and 64 and have done a bit of traveling.
We would like to go to Berlin to Warsaw, Poland, to Krakow, Poland, to Budapest, Hungary to Vienna, Austria, to Praque, Czech Republic. We have 3 weeks. Any suggestions on the train. Should we buy the eurrail pass or buy individually? Any good books we should look at? Thanks, Jo

PalenQ

With that much train travel the Eastern European Railpass, valid on trains in Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria IMO is a no-brainer and I would also encourage first class for the extra comfort - wider seats - easily to keep luggage near you as there are often IME many empty seats in first class - and since the pass lets you hop on trains in those countries at will - just show up in first class IME you will always find empty seats - not so in 2nd class.

Some great web sites for Eastern European train travel -
http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id6.html; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com. Passes not sold in European, buy before you leave. See if there is a senior rate on that pass for folks 60 and over.

PalenQ

The pass is a flexipass - good for X number of days of unlimited travel over a month period - use a day today and one in five days, etc to move between bases. Current prices are $314 p.p. for five days/1 mo in first class and $216 p.p. in 2nd class.

That makes $64/day (47 euros) for 5 days in first class and $44/day 32 euros) in 2nd class for fully flexible hop on at will travel.

And extra days can be added on but only at time of issue - extra days are just $38/day in 1st and $32/day in 2nd class - there can be a maximum of 10 days total.

You can only get real local fares from the national railways web sites of each country but I do not think you can beat the per day pass prices if you travel say 5 days or more on the train. And again there may be some discounted online fares that have lots of restrictions - for fully flexible travel the pass cannot be beat I suspect (but not sure - do the research!)

PalenQ

If doing overnight trains that connect many cities in that part of Europe then with a pass you use only 1 day on the pass due to the 7pm rule - board an overnight train after 7pm and the next day is your unlimited travel day - thus when you arrive in say Krakow your pass would be valid the whole next day - use it to go to Auschwitz or even the short rail trip to the Wielicka Salt Mines just south of Krakow.

Man_in_seat_61

You can book Berlin to Warsaw from just 29 euros at the German Railways website www.bahn.de (English button top right, booking opens 92 days ahead)

Warsaw-Krakow can easily be booked at the station, or try www.intercity.com.pl

The best way from Krakow to Budapest is the direct overnight train, costing something like 65 euros for the ticket plus 28 euros for a bed in a 2-bed sleeper. You can buy at the station or arrange through reliable ticketimg agency www.polrail.com

Budapest-Vienna can easily be bought at the station, typically for around 25 euros, no reservation required.

Vienna to Prague starts at 19 euros pre-booked at www.oebb.at.

PalenQ

Yes if you can get all those pre-booked fares and want to set your trains in concrete months in advance and often cannot change nor refund those discounted restricted tickets - IF you can get them all then you may save a little over the Eastern Europe pass - remember the pass gives you total flexibility to hop on any train anytime - and if you end up paying full fare for some links you cannot get the super deals Man in 61 seat hypes then for those links you will pay full fare - look at the 68 euros Man says for train fare Krakow to Budapest - that is about $100 right there for just one train - lowest fare possible. IMO for your type of travels get the railpass and forget all about pre-booking on several different sites and just hop any train anytime once there. Do not judge, like Man in Seat 61 constantly does, a railpass vs often hard to get discounted tickets in terms of price only. Heck you could spend hours just trying to book those tickets - again the pass is only 32 euros a day for fully flexible tickets - a bargain for what it offers.