I'll be traveling in and between the Czech Republic, Budapest, and Poland over a three week period in August, and i'm wondering what my options are for train travel. Can I get a Eurorail for traveling in these areas? Or must I pay for each trip individually?

I am a little out of my territory here, but there is rail pass available from Rail Europe that covers Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

The price for 5 days in one month for $220 in 2nd class.

That means you would have to average $44.00 per day.

A trip within the Czech Republic will cost you at the rate of 240 kc for 200 kilometers. At the exchange rate today, that converts to about $14.80.

You would have to use the pass for longer trips for it to pay off.

The Czech web site does not give international fares.

The Rail Europe price is $79.00 plus whatever it charges to send tickets.

At 410 K, that is 19.3 cents per k.
The internal Czech rate is about 8 cents K.

For the Cesky Krumlov trip, Rail Europe wants $34.00. That is more than twice what you should pay!!

That price is consistent with Rail Europe's ripoffs.

To give a further example, you can travel from Paris to Geneva for $118, or you can buy from the SNCF site for €53 which converts to $83.00.

No reason to bother with a pass for Eastern Europe. Just buy your tickets as you go. I usually buy my ticket out the day I arrive. If you're worried about the language, just write down the details.

I left out a key sentence.
The RE price Prague to Vienna is $79.

I think I agree with the more experienced voice.

Just buy once you are there. Don't fool with Rail Europe.

My possible rail trips in august will be:

frankfurt to prague (if i have to fly into frankfurt for cheaper)
prague to budapest
budapest to krakow
krakow to warsaw

or any combination of these trips.

in addition, we will have a few day trips in between and from these locations...

i'm thinking that paying individually could be very pricey?

Eastern Europe Railpass, like Bob, described would be the only pass that covered the countries in the OP post.

I'll be in Prague, Budapest, Krakow, and Warsaw. I have around 3 weeks. What is the minimum amount of time I should dedicate to each city? Should I distribute the time evenly? I'm planning some day trips as well, and possibly a few stops on the countryside...

I didn't mean to post the previous message on this blog, but since it's here, if any has an answer...feel free to respond. thank you

Hi W,

>i'm thinking that paying individually could be very pricey?

Two posters told you, in great detail, that a railpass will be more expensive than Point to Point tickets.

I looked at www.railsaver.com for you whole trip from Frankfurt to Warsaw.

They also say to buy point to point tickets.

Have you looked up your cities under "Destinations"?

It looks like i'll be buying point to point train tickets for trips between these cities, does anyone have any better/cheaper ideas?

> does anyone have any better/cheaper ideas?

You could hitch-hike. That would be cheaper.

Warsaw to Krakow would be €25.
Krakow to Wroclaw is €11.50
Wroclaw to Zgorzelec (Goerlitz) is €5.50.
I suspect train travel in Poland is cheaper than hitch-hiking!