Prague, Krakow, budapest
 

I am planning a trip in May. Are the number of days Ok in each city?
Prague: 4 nights
night train to Krakow
Krakow: 4 nights
night train Budapest
Budapest: 4 nights

My travel agent has suggested the Eastern Rail Pass. I read that point to point was cheaper. And how do I reserve for a sleeper cabin in 1st class? Do I it from here or when I am in Prague?
Thanks.

Ordinarily I would say wait and get tickets in europe. But in each case there is only one night train without changes - and they may sell out. so I think you're better off getting sleeper reservations in advance - esp since there are often very few First Class sleepers.

Flaca1, we visited Krakow, Prague, and Budapest in May. Our itinerary had us starting in Krakow for three nights, flying Malev Air to Budapest ($85 for my one-way fare), and taking a day train from Budapest to Prague. (Note that we arrived in Krakow via Easyjet from Berlin) and we continued on after Prague to Viena via train.

To handle the train travel portion, we used and were extremely satisfied with Budget Europe Travel, whose telephone number is provided on their website:
http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/

The guy who helped me was named Byron, and he really helped to educate me about exactly what I needed to do, and then he sent the combination of tickets and railpasses that worked out to be the best combination for us. Really a great service.

If you're interested in checking out the current price for flying Malev Air Krakow to Budapest (they don't fly to Prague), I can post their website link.

We initially considered overnight train but decided against it when we read about the necessity of being awakened to produce our passports when crossing borders. Malev Air would require only a one-hour flight, at a very economical cost.

Oh, and if it were me taking your trip, I'd take one night off each of your destination cities and add them for Vienna! Loved Vienna! That's exactly what we did on our trip, and the only place I regretted not having an extra night was Vienna. I would have liked another night in that wonderful city.

They are all brilliant cities, though. Absolutely gorgeous and fun.

Thanks,
Vienna was not included because I have been there twice.
I am looking at sidetrips from these 3 destinations. But, we are not planning of renting a car as of yet. Still reading this site and researching....
Any advise is surely appreciated!

We did these sleeper car/night trains in September. We didn't book ahead and didn't have a problem.

However, Prague train station isn't user friendly, and is apparently pickpocket central although we weren't bothered.

In Krakow the conductor directed us onto a train...going to Prague. He corrected his mistake with five minutes to spare.

Prague to Krakow we were only awakened once, but Krakow to Budapest, 3 or 4 times. I lost count.

I would suggest at least checking out flights. whichbudget.com is a good one too (Malev Air isn't budget, but still has great fares sometimes).

An Eastern Rail Pass won't save you money, and most still require you to reserve sleeper cars anyway. I'd check out the link provided by Mary_Fran if you decide to train it.

Number of days look good. I might consider taking one day from Poland and give it to Budapest.

Why not just fly?

I'm in the midst of the same itn:

KRK-PRG-BUD-prg-WAW with Czech Airlines.

$340 total. I'm pretty sure the train will cost more.


Reporting from Prague.

The rail pass we purchased was the "European East 5 Day 2nd Class Adult FlexiPass." It cost $172 for each of us, plus a $7.50 service charge by Budget Europe travel. That gives you 5 travel days (not necessarily consecutive).

I enjoyed the train travel, but we used budget airfares between Munich to Copenhagen to Berlin to Krakow to Budapest, for a total cost of $434, and the time-saving and convenience was terrific. Lots of fun and challenges planning for that trip!