Stopover between Prague and Krakow?
 

In my travel planning for this coming Fall, I've been reconsidering my plans to take the night train between Prague and Krakow. Other posters say they are uncomfortable and noisy. Don't want to arrive tired and frazzled. Can anyone recommend an interesting city on the rail line midway between these two cities where we could logically stop off for an afternoon and night? Thanks.

You have a couple of choices. I would suggest the train route that goes through Brno, a beautiful old city with lots of history. I don't know the precise schedules, but Brno makes a nice stop that is roughly halfway. Good luck.

Good recc, but after doing some map cruising, how about Wroclaw, Poland? That looks about half way, but don't know if it's on the direct rail line.

On the direct line (if there is one, you have to change in Katowice, PL) is Olomouc CZ. Very nice city. Wroclaw is a bit out of the way IMO and Brno is not very nice as far as I recall.

I agree with Wroclaw, Brno and Olomouc, and add another Baroque city, Ostrava, which adds a coal mining museum to the Baroque buildings.

If you leave Ostrava at 0949 you can reach Osiecim (Ausschwitz) at 1137, drop your bags in the station left luggage office, and see the camps until closing time about five. Then trains leave Oswiecim at 1638 and 1740 and take 100 minutes to Krakow Plaszow, with trams to central Krakow. An evening of Klezmer music or jazz offers a course of recovery.

You need not arrive frazzled if you extend your night on the train this. Prague Hlavni (beware pickpockets) board about 2100, leave 2116, wake for frontier controls but stay in bed 0250, arrive Warsaw Central 0650, change, leave 0715, wash in the toilet (bathroom) and breakfast in the restaurant car, Krakow Glowny (beware pickpockets) 0955. The extra fare Katowice, Warsaw, Krakow is 42 euros, and is worth while to arrive fresh. When you step onto the platform at Krakow Glowny you can use a coin to take a luggage trolley, go by lift up to the station roof, there take any taxi that has a phone number painted on the side, stop at an ATM (cash machine) for money, and so come to your hotel. In the central stations of Prague and Krakow you should have passport, credit cards, and most money inside your biggest piece of luggage, and carry only a little money and your railway ticket.

If there is noise outside your sleeper door you should ask the conductor to have it stopped: I have not had that problem. There is a note on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm/. Please write if I can help further.

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Our son did a semester abroad program in Olomouc a few years ago and we visited while he was there. It's a wonderful place!

We had to eliminate Olomouc from our plans from the trip we took this past May, but we received a wonderful packet of info from their tourist bureau.

We had in mind to stay at http://www.motylek.com/olomouc/zamek/default.asp - - though it would be a 5-10 mile cab ride OUT of Olomouc to get there; perhaps it would not be the choice for you, arriving/departing by train.

Best wishes,

Rex

I would also recommend Olomouc -- in fact, I did that exact same thing myself last year. YOu can get into Olomouc from Prague around 1 pm (earlier if you want, probably), and then I left the next morning for Krakow around 10 maybe. That gave me the afternoon and evening for sightseeing in Olomouc, which I enjoyed very much.

I highly recommend the Hotel Gemo in Olomouc. It was wonderful and a very short, cheap cab ride to/from the train station. It was one of the nicest 4* hotels I've ever stayed in (ok, I don't stay in a lot) and was really cheap for that level (it's now about 80-100 euro for a deouble), as is usual in Czech outer areas. I had a suite practically with beautiful art deco furniture, wonderful modern bathroom. It is also right near the Old Town square and walkable to everything. I wouldn't stay 5-10 mi outside of town as Rex was going to do. It was really nice to stroll around town from the hotel before/after dinner and they have a nice small bar, also. They do have what looked like a good restaurant, but I preferred to walk around elsewhere.

www.hotel-gemo.cz
My only tip is this hotel is on a major street with a tram line and taxi stand, and so I would definitely request a room on the back side of the hotel as it can be noisy in front (and bright, a light shone in my window due to streetlights). I had a room right in the center of the hotel front on the second floor (1st European), which was not a good location but the hotel itself was wonderful.

To rdfarr.
Its a long 9 to 10 hr train trip.
Why prolong it by stoping off for a afternoon or a night somewhere along the way.
This will only add to the stress and expense of the trip.
Just get it over with.
If you dont do well on night trains
think of taking the day train ,its only
one change and you can go the hotel and rest as soon as you get to Prague.
From personal experience avoid
Krakow-Wroclaw line .Some days it might take a whole day.

Good luck

Lots of great info here. Thanks.
My reasons for avoiding an overnight trip was three-fold: firstly, my travel companion can't sleep on planes/trains; second, we would miss a lot of county scenery during the night; third, by only going to towns that Western tourist have "found," and resultingly changed to some extent, we might be missing the more authentic people and culture of Eastern Europe that we really want to see.

I did it for those reasons, also, rdfarr -- it didn't increase my stress at all, it made my vacation more enjoyable to see the countryside and also a more typical Czech city outside Prague. It was very enjoyable, not a pain, and added to my vacation. Taking an approx. 3 hr train ride from Prague to Olomouc and then a 6 hr one the next day to Krakow was better to me than taking one long 10 hr train ride. Seeing and staying in Moravia was not just something to suck up and "get over".

I think some of these posts are talking about the reverse train ride, as there was no change in train in Katowice, POland on the route I took. As I recall, there is a direct run from Prague to Olomouc and the train from Olomouc to Krakow did have an easy transfer at Prerov. At Preprov, you pick up the really nice EC (? I think that's the label) train from Vienna to Krakow.

In Olomouc, we stayed at the U Domu. http://www.udomu.360-panorama.net/e_top.htm

Lovely, quiet location and very small...certainly not a 4* hotel.

MaryZ: Hotel sounds like a good hotel recc. Is it anywhere near the train station? Personally, I don't stay at 4 and 5-star hotels since that doesn't represent the local people and culture I've come to see. If I wanted fancy American-like accomodations, I'd just stay in the States.

Olomouc isn't a very big place, so nothing is very far away. We took a tram from the train station to a stop just a 1/2 block from the Hotel U Domu. This hotel may not be 4*, but the location is 5*!

I have found the posts here very informative. As my wife and I will be in Prague from May 13 to May 16, 2004. I was planning on renting a car and travel to Krakow with a stop in Olomouc.
But now I wonder if a train ride would be just as good but not necessarily cheaper.