Help with Getting around Eastern Europe!
 

Hi!
we are traveling from Croatia to Hungary(Budapest) to Czech Republic(Prague) and then to Germany(berlin) and possibly the Netherlands(Amsterdam) after that. I am struggling to find the absolute best way to travel between each destination. I have heard so many people say that Eurorail is more expensive than paying for an individual ticket but from what I have seen nothing online is backing that claim up. What is the best and cheapest way to travel these countries? Time constraints are not an issue for us :)
thank you in advance for any help you can offer!!
Natalie and Charlotte

First of all - you are talking about western and central europe - eastern europe is Russia/Ukraine, etc.

The cheapest means depends on your itinerary. You need to lay out how many trains you will be taking and then compare the advance purchase discount fares (if you still have time to get them) versus the cost of a pass. And you have to compare the fares from each country's local train system - not prices through Eurail - which adds fees on top of the highest ticket prices.

1) Use the German Railways online timetable at http://www.bahn.de/en as your all-purpose planner for trains all across Europe.

2) In Eastern Europe it's easy to buy tickets at the station, and not expensive. I paid €26 for a Zagreb to Vienna ticket the day before travel.

3) Having said all that, if you can pre-plan and commit to a specific date and train, you can find online bargains with the train operator website where the journey starts.

- Budapest to Prague from €19 at www.mav-start.hu

- Prague to Berlin from €29 at www.cd.cz/eshop

- Berlin to Amsterdam from €29 at www.bahn.de/en

Booking generally opens 60 days ahead in eastern Europe, 90 days ahead in western Europe.

We just went to the coast of Slovenia from our home in Budapest... I was surprised how hard this trip was by public transport. Here is what I did.

Train from Budapest to Zagreb (we loved Zagreb)... 6 1/2 hours... Lots of stops... One per day, no reservation required or offered.

Train from Zagreb to Ljubljana ... About 3 hours... Again, no reservations required... A few per day.

Bus from Ljubljana to the coast (another 3 hours).... A few per day, bought 30 minutes before departure.

Cost was about 35 dollars for phase 1, a bit more than 10 dollars for the next two legs.

As for central vs Eastern Europe, I say central... My Czech and Hungarian friends mock my Central European correctness... They say, "hey... There was east and west... And we are very clearly east."

I have never heard someone here say Central Europe... And my bible is lonely planet's "eastern Europe"

Much as I love trains, I would look at flying the Zagreb to Budapest leg. I took that train back in 2004 - no AC, sweltering day, cool, blue Lake Balaton out the window and took all day. Miserable.

It is a miserable train ride... So bad I wrote a blog about it...

http://centraleuropebeyondprague.com...est-to-zagreb/

But, flights between these cities are spotty... We had no option.