bob_brown

Before we left for Prague, I had plans to travel from Prague to Munich by train. Before leaving, I received valuable advice from a couple of people, particularly Ingo, about the ALX train from Prague to Munich.

ALX is a private line that has had historical rights to the Vogtland area of Europe. The company serves the Allgäu region of Bavaria and the Prague route. The company is the Vogtland Gmbh and it is part of the Bundesbahn confederation, but the trains do NOT bear a DB insignia.

The train I took leaves at 9:16 from the main Prague station with a stop at Smichov station on the west bank of the Vlatava before continuing slowly onward to Munich.

The train was as Ingo described. It was crowded to the point that even first class had standing room only, no food or beverage service was availabe at any time during the whole 6 plus hour trip, and seating conditions were generally tight .

The old coaches were NOT air cooled, but fortunately we had a cloudy day. On a hot summer day, they would be intolerable.

The biggest problem for me was that I failed to notice on the web sites that the train had no snack bar or any kind of a restaurant car. There was not even a guy (or girl) selling anything passing through the train.

Thanks to Ingo, I took the precaution of buying seat reservations. Therefore my wife and I had seats all the way to Munich.

The delays en route about which I had been warned did not fully materialize. We were only a few minutes late arriving in Munich.

Once we reached the German border, we went through a passport check, but it was not very rigorous. After becoming a German train, it moved faster and probably made up some of the time that was lost in the Czech Republic.

One I ride it again? Not if I can help it.

Dukey

Thanks for this report but my question is, why did you do it in the first place? better scenery?

logos999

Don't you think this is a little exaggerated. People (including me ;-) ) have been riding these trains for decades. This one is just like they were until quite recently. Take the Amtrak from Toronto to NYC and the comfort will be comparable. Seat reservations are a good thing to have, since there aren't that many connections per day. There is a ventilation at the ceiling above the seats facing the isle, that you can open. Don't confuse it with the black switch, that turns the heat on and off. .

bob_brown

Logos: Were you on the train with me? Nothing I said is untrue. Have you actually ridden that train? Do you know the conditions first hand? Or do you just want to carp and nit pick? (I suspect the latter to be the case.)

Fact: I initially said that there was standing room only, even in first class.

I know, I saw it, I was there. I saw people standing in the corridor and at the end of the cars next to where I was sitting.

Fact: I said that there was no food or drink available. I was there, I looked for it, asked people on the train, and was told there was none.
Have you ridden on very many European trains for a journey of over 6 hours that had no food or drink for sale? I have not in the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Austria, or Switzerland.

Fact: I said that the train was not air conditioned in any way. We rode with the windows open.

Had there been AC someone would have had their compartment cooler than mine.

Fact: The train took more than 6 and one half hours to travel 240 miles. That is an average speed of < 40 mph.
Is that fast? Yes it beats walking or a bicycle.

Fact: I have described my experiences. Do you question my truthfulness? If so, then we have a whole different issue to consider, one that gets into questioning personal integrity, intelligence, and veracity. Do you want to go there? If so, then have at it, but be prepared for an equally sharp retort.

I assure you that I have lost only a little of my intelligence from peak years nor is my ability to compose English greatly diminished even though sometimes I make silly mistakes when I don't proofread sufficiently. That is not the case with this response.

logos999

Been there, took the train, it was o.k.
Just like ANY train not so long ago. Just make a seat reservation and open the stupid ventilation (=fan)/window.

That's simply what I said.

lvk

Thanks for the report, bob brown. Just last night DH & I were discussing whether we should drive or take the train from Munich to Prague (and back) in December. This definitely will help in our decision process.

bob_brown

For lvk:

I investigated renting a car in Prague because I already had a contract with Auto Europe for picking up a rental car in Munich and returning it in Interlaken.

Adding the Prague - Munich leg of the whole trip was a staggering $700 USD because it meant a whole new contract with a totally different price basis.

For Munich pickup and Interlaken drop off, the drop fee was $100 US.
Had I switched to Prague the original daily price was no longer valid, mandatory insurance was involved, and the drop fee escalated sharply.

If you are traveling in May or early fall, I don't think the weather would be all that hot. As I said, we had a cloudy day and keeping the window open about 60% maintained us in tolerable conditions. Had the temperature outside been 95 degrees F outside, I don't think we would have been very comfortable.

I do advise seat reservations and your own provisions. We had over a liter of water, so hydration was not a problem.

Fortunately I had my sound suppression earphones, my player, and some favorite music.

The trip was not that bad because we had seats. Had we not, then it would not have been too pleasant.

lvk

Thanks for that, also, bob. We are starting to investigate renting a car - the first time we would have to do this in 18 years of traveling to Europe. (We have always just used MIL's extra vehicle, but she no longer has one. )

Does AutoEurope force you to take the insurance because you driving in CZ? or is the extra cost just for picking up there? We'll be picking up and dropping off at MUC.

We'll be there at Xmas, so no worries about the AC.