Jana174

I am leaving for Central Europe in 10 days and I can't decide whether to buy a 1st class europass, a 2nd class or no pass at all. Help me! My concerns: safety, minimum comfort for 2 night trips. Do you guys think I could do 2nd class and sleep? Is it worth to buy tickets one by one, or maybe pay 1st class suplement only when I need to? The night trips will be Budapest-Krakow-Prague. Thanks a lot!

rex

You should look at ww.railsaver.com and also factor in the Prague Excursion pass on http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/pa...rsion_pass.htm - - if the only "exploration" of the Czech Republic you plan is to go to Prague and then move on to the next country.

I don't know if railsaver.com will automatically propose the Prague excursion pass or not.

Best wishes,

Rex

rex

Bringing your message back up "to the top" since it is your first message here ever.

Jana174

Also: is there any way to find schedules of trains online instead of doing searchs point by point? I used to love those old-fashioned, pre-internet paper guides with very small print and all the trains departing and arriving everywhere... I was hopeful I could find something similar online for downloads, but it seems there is nothing on.

MaureenB

Try Euraide.com for help in buying the Prague pass and other fares. You can call them toll-free in Florida and speak with someone, too.

flanneruk

The only source that has all major European train times listed in one place is the Thomas Cook Railway Guide, which is certainly in most good public libraries in Europe and in better UK book shops.

Otherwise, it's hit and miss with individual railway companies - and a bit of self-confidence in foreign languages might help. Most old-fashioned railways still sell their full national timetable, usually with major international connections, at many newspaper kiosks and all station kiosks.

If you go to the PKP site (http://www.pkp.pl/english/index.php)and follow the link to timetables, you'll ses a link for Station Timetables. Pressing this takes you to a page in Polish. Input the Polish name of the city you're thinking of and you'll get a full, hour-by-hour list of departures and timed arrivals. Alternatively, pressing the intercity link at the timetable page will get you to a list of trains. Press on a train, and you get a list of stations.

Doubtless you can do something similar on the MAV site (www.mav.hu). This seems to be only in Hungarian, so you'll need to do a bit of guessing, unless some kind Magyar comes to our aid

GregPCM

Jana,

Yes, there is a way to find train schedules online, go to http://www.railfaneurope.net/. This is the Website for all the National railways of Europe. I like the Swiss site the best, SBB.ch, for train schedules all over Europe. Just put in the two cities you are traveling between and you can get all the information you want. For additional information on night train travel I like "The Man in Seat 61" Website (http://www.seat61.com/). Lots of good infomation there and the type is pretty small as well. Have fun planning.

Greg