hkchemsir

Hello All,

My wife and I will visit Krakow again and will travel Night train from Krakow to Budapest. After searching from the internet, I find that the price for a 2 beds sleeping coach cost about euro 110 x2 = 220 euro. Also, it also shows that if you can book early inside the Poland railway station, the price can be reduced to euro 49 for each.

Please tell me whether it is easy to buy such tickets ? How many days before the departure date can guarantee to buy such tickets?

Please advices. Thanks in advance.

Gavin

Man_in_seat_61

The 49 euro fares are limited-availability fares, and as with cheap air fares you can never 'guarantee' that price just by buying a certain number of days ahead.

This summer, they may not be offering any availability of these fares, that's certainly the case on Krakow-Prague, it may also apply to Krakow-Budapest.

You can arrange tickets through www.polrail.com, at whatever the cheapest fare is when booking opens.

Sher

I did this trip but in October and we did get a reduced rate. It was a very good price, as I remember, just cannot remember exactly how much.
We were lucky enough to walk into the train station in Krakow to purchase but be prepared the English speaking ticket seller we spoke to just barely communicated in English.
The car was small but very nice. the bed comfortable and it has a sink and very little luggage room. I was ok as I was by myself.

I believe that you have to take the first car on this train as that is the one with the two bed compartments.

That being said, I did not find the trip very restful. The train is noisy and jerks a lot when it stops.

I bought my ticket the day before I traveled.

PalenQ

Ah yeh overnight trains - so utilitarian and can save money over a night in a hotel as well as daytime travel time. But the kicker is that some folks - light sleepers - may arrive wasted from a night of little or no sleep - as Sher says there is always noise on night trains - especially in Poland and Hungary where older tracks are much more noisy than the much newer and more quiet high-speed lines in western Europe.

And night trains stop for interminable amounts of time in lots of stations and station loud speakers, etc can add to the noise. And trains at times lurching to a quick halt with loud squealing brakes.

Newer more modern hotel trains like those in Spain and Germany are much much nicer and quieter but trains on the Krakow - Budapest run promise to be older rolling stock and thus more noisy.

But if you can sleep thru anything like I have done on zillions of overnight trains then they are great - even faster than flying as you do not lose any daytime travel time - even for the shortest flights air travel can take a half a day or more coming and going to the airport, etc.

Having a private compartment makes it much more tolerable for many folks but those private compartments can cost a ton of money - unless you get one of the limited in number deep discounted tickets Man in Seat 61 and Sher talk about.

A couchette compartment is much cheaper usually but you are in with 5 other strangers of both genders so you sleep in your street clothes and you are subject to random noises from the ubiquitous loud snorers, folks clumsily opening the door during the night to go to the loo, etc.

But I've taken zillions of couchette trips simply because of the great cost difference and often have met really nice fellow travelers - having some monumental conversations with Europeans but also have had some real louts - like the one French guy who stunk so so much that the conductor finally spirited him out of there to some other place. Night trains are a crap shoot in many ways but I love them! Everyone is kind of an adventure.

For lots of great info on overnight trains in general I always spotlight these IMO superb sites: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com - Man in Seat 61 who posts above his commercial site.

PalenQ

This summer, they may not be offering any availability of these fares, that's certainly the case on Krakow-Prague, it may also apply to Krakow-Budapest.>

Sher got her/his discount just before the train but in October - in summer there may not be any or they may have been booked weeks earlier - the early bird gets the worm - check the Pol Rail site Man in Seat 61 gives - the Polish National Railways official site it seems.

Sher

PalenQ. Before we bought our tickets, a man staying at our hotel told us not to take the train but the bus.
He said it was better. But we were determined!
I cannot complain about the compartment, but it was sooo noisy. Never again.
And I really don't consider myself a light sleeper. It just may have been that it was a first time experience and I was a little nervous.

PalenQ

And I really don't consider myself a light sleeper. It just may have been that it was a first time experience and I was a little nervous.>

If this was your first overnight train in Europe then you may just have picked one of those routes with older more noisy rolling stock that runs over old tracks that are also more noisy, etc.

In western Europe I'm sure you'd find say the German ICE trains much much more quiet though there is always a modicum of noise.

But it is no fun arriving bright and early in some city wasted from a night of no sleep - I've never had that problem but many may.