Prague to Cesky K. Bus/train?
 

Hi,

We are coming up very soon on our trip to Czech and Swiss... On one of the days we have to travel to Cesky K... We are staying 2 nights there... Can anyone tell me the best/easiest way to get there? Bus/Train etc. and from where? We will have our luggage and 5 year old as well.

Please let me know. Thanks!

We did pretty much the same thing last year. Prague to CK to Passau (Germany) to Danube Valley/Melk, to Sopron, to Budapest. After researching trains, private car shuttles, & buses - we decided to rent a car. Pick up in Prague & drop off in Budapest incurred only a 150E drop-off fee and gave us a LOT more flexibility than taking a train, shuttle, or bus. Private shuttle, bus, train to & from CK was very time consuming. One poster on Fodors took a private driver in CK (don't remember if it was to or from CK) - and the driver got lost & arrived about 3 hrs late.

Stu Dudley

We also drove a rental car from Prague to CK (though we were using the car for other parts of the trip), but it was an easy and beautiful drive. There are a few open air parking lots in CK - we had no problem finding a place to park the car there.

A company called 'Student Agency' run a good bus service from Prague to Cesky - I travelled with them last year and they were decent and inexpensive.

I recently wrote a blog post on Eastern EU travel if you would find this helpful - Its a guide to the different cities and the modes of transport to each. After travelling there last year I thought it would help ease confusion for others in the future!
http://www.womanseeksworld.com/a-gui...astern-europe/

Thanks StuDudley and jgg... Since we are not using car on any of other legs, this may not be an option for us as I would then only need to rent the car for one day. Actually, thinking about it, if I did that, do you know would that be very expensive?

Womanseeksworld.. Thanks so much for your reply... Your link is very helpful to identify the Prague coach station that we would need to get to in order to catch the bus if we decided to go that way...

Any other ideas? Thanks!

>>if I did that, do you know would that be very expensive?<<

Yep. But after CK, where are you heading??? We stayed 2 nights in CK also and took a day-trip by car to Trebon - which we enjoyed very much. On the way from Prague to CK, we stopped at Konopiste Castle, which we also enjoyed.

Stu Dudley

Don't five year olds LOVE trains? The train journey is a delight, particularly from Cesky Budejovice to Cesky Krumlov.
http://jizdnirady.idnes.cz/vlaky/spojeni/ (in the bottom right hand corner you can change it to English. Don't forget Czechs use the British date system day/month/year so today is 08.06.2011.
The train is a LOT cheaper than renting a car and as a group you get a special price - a skupina jizdenka - a group ticket. (You only actually need to be 2 people to get the special price).
While in Krumlov I would recommend a boat trip down the river. It is a very tame paddle suitable for families with no experience and everyone gets a life vest. Have a look at:
http://www.jeremytaylor.eu/cesky_krumlov_photos.htm
for more information and details of boat hire.

It's easy to take the train from Prauge to Cesky Krumlov, you change in Ceske Budejovice but that's no great drama. More the issue is that when you get to Cesky Krumlov that most hotels, and the city center, are a bit of a hike from there..

So, if I were you, I would take the bus from Prague to Ceske Krumlov which will take about 3 hours (compared to 4 on the train) - not require a change, and you will end up much nearer the city center.

I know we have a different perspective on train travel compared to bus travel, but in the Czech Republic buses are often a much better option.

H

Just a comment on womanseeksworld blog - some info on trains availability is wrong, some spelling is wrong AND you cannot go from Florenc station to Cesky Krumlov on Student Agency buses - the bus station is called Na Knizeci.
So just picking few item swhich I am familiar with, I don't hold much hope for the blog's accuracy!

We took the train and enjoyed the trip a great deal. We did take a local on the last leg and it was a long ride as it seemed to stop about every km .... but we got to see the locale and "take it in".... see my post from a few years back, do a search with the words "dark beer" for lots more info.

There are also plenty of taxis at the train station that can take you the last 2 km into town so you don't need to look for your hotel.

It just isn't that convenient to take the train because you have to transfer and then aren't in town at CK. But you can do it, of course, as long as you don't mind taking up your day that way.

Thanks for all the replies... We settled on Student Agency bus and got our reservation done online... The only thing that I am not sure of right now is which bus station do we need to go to?

Thanks again for all the replies...

If you bought your ticket on line, then it must say which bus station......Na Knizeci (near metro Andel) is the station. Student Agency does not run this route from any other station in Prague. Hence my comment re womanseeksworld - what she says is wrong.
Na Knizeci.