Out of nowhere, the trip Krakow-Budapest pop-up in our schedule in April.
Question one: we were thinking of 3 nights in Krakow and 4 nights in Budapest. Is that enough? We can extend or reduce the number of days if needed (till we book the tickets). Any suggestion for activities for children (8 & 14)?

Q2: Which method of transportation would you recommend to travel from Krakow to Budapest.

Train: there are two direct trains; one leave at noon and the other is overnight. The cost - $462 for all of us (2 adults, 2 children). On the website, it says that they do not assign your seat, even for the first class sleeping carriage.

Plane: Malev had cancel his route Krakow-Budapest, so the only direct airline operates is LOT. The price is outrageous! Close to $1000!

Private transfer: I found this company http://www.infohub.com/vacation_packages/17726.html which can take us to Budapest in 7 hours for 440 Euro. Anybody used them?

Please comment!

Anyone?
I just read that 3 night in Krakow is not enough...

We are not planing to go to Auschwitz... for many reasons.

Salt mines - is it worth the trip?

I don't know which train website you're using, but bookings for overnight sleeping berths always have an assigned berth - no railways sell tickets for sleeping cars without assigning berths. The usual sleeping compartments have three bunks, but can be configured to have one, two or three berths (the unused bunks are folded away).

Hi Matroskin; You could consider a bus. It's called eurolines.com But they only book a few days in advance. So you would book the first day in Krakow. The schedule in January shows leaving Krakow at 3pm and arriving in Budapest at 10pm. The cost is 55pln or about 18 US dollars PP. It's possible they will have more daily routes in April. We used this bus line between Latvia and Estonia and were very satisfied. ENJOY Iris

Thanks Iris!
I'll try the bus, especially since it is considerably cheaper than other options. And I assume it will take me right in the center of the city.

GeoffHamer: I used eurorail website and when you finish all your reservation, it says "there is no seat assignment". Do you have a different site you recommend?

Yes to the Salt Mines, the kids will like it. Check cracowlife dot com or a similar site, I do think there's a nearby amusement park. Three nights in Krakow is probably enough if you're moving along smartly.

Have you tried whichbudget dot come for flights? Ryan recently cancelled their flights there so I think EasyJet is the only one now. There's an inexpensive train to the city center and the train station is 10 minute walk from the center. (WizzAir goes into Katowice and they have a 1-hr bus ride into Krakow.) But I wouldn't mind taking the private car to Budapest because I could stop along the way as well as get commentary from the driver.

It's gonna be a great trip.

Thank, Fidel!
We will be flying from London to Krakow and then from Budapest to London!
I have not decided regarding either car or bus... cost - bus, convenience - private transfer.

I suspect that if the website says there is "no seat assignment", that means that they cannot book that train. It probably needs to be booked in Poland or via a Polish travel agency.
I've been to Krakow only once, and booked the sleeper to Praha on the day of travel from a travel agency in the city centre.
The Man in Seat 61 (www.seat61.com/Poland.htm) suggests www.polrail.com for booking Polish trains.

Thank you!

One more thing: if we arrive in Krakow on 8th of April aound 11.00 and will have 3 nights.

Then take a transfer to Budapest in the middle of the day; arrive in aound 10 pm..

Then 4 nights at Budapest Our plane leaves at 7 p.m on the 15th of April.

Did I plan enough time?
Since we are flexible with days (+ or - 2 days), I want to make sure we see most of the sights

Thanks again for your help!