huntley

We depart next Thursday on an 18-day trip to Central Europe sandwiched between Berlin at one end, and Slovenia and Italy at the other.
We plan to take trains for our entire route: Berlin-Prague-Vienna-Budapest-Llubljana or Bled-Venice-Florence.

I have done a lot of reading here and elsewhere, and have found the information here enormously useful. Thanks, everyone. But I still have several questions on this train trip, and while I am normaly unflappable, my anxiety level is has risen just a wee bit.
1. Where can I get dependable train schedule information?
2. Can I buy tickets directly from the European railway companies (as opposed to the much-pricier railreuope.com) for any of these segments?
3. Are reservations reqd for any of these segments?
3a. Does the Budapest-Venice train pass thru Bled as well, in addition to Ljubljana?
4. Can I buy all these segment tickets in Berlin? Would the prices be the same whether bought in Berlin or Prague?
5. Which is the most scenic of these segments?
6. Do any of these trains have vegetarian menus?
7. bahn.de registration: I tried to register at the site, but I am beign flagged for an apparently erroneous telephone #. What is the exact prefix to use for tel #s in the US, from a bahn.de perspective?

My thanks in advance for your help.

bob_brown

I am not sure I can answer all of your questions, but I will do what I can.
You realize, of course, that you are asking for quite a bit of information.

First, about setting up an account with Die Bahn. I found it simple. I put in my telephone number as such:
001 70x 54x xxxx (x = a normal digit)

001 is the dialing prefix for international and 1 is the US country code. You use 00 for transborder calls in Europe.

Otherwise, provide the regular street and city info.

Here is a web site that will give you access to ALL national rail system schedule web sites and then some:

http://www.railfaneurope.net/frameset.html

Once you reach this page, click on "LINKS" . A series of icons will appear in the form of the national flag for each nation. Along the left margin you will see row identification labels such as timetable and network map.

You can select what you wish from this table of icons.

I suggest that you consult the Austrian website for the schedules from Budapest to Llubljana to Venice.

The German site should be sufficient for everything else. I like to use the Austrian site for Hungary and the Balkans. If the German site and the Austrian site agree, then you can be confident that you have correct information - or as nearly correct as you can easily get.

As far as I know if you go to the Reiseburo office at the main train station in Berlin, you should be able to purchase all of your tickets at once.

I once did that and bought a very extensive array of tickets.

The best way to get the first hand answer to your question about the train from Budapest is to consult the Austrian site. The Hungarian site, Elvira, is not easy to deal with in my experience and the ÖBB site is usually reliable.

It has English captions, but occasionally some knowledge of German is helpful.

The no-change connection from Budapest to Venice does not pass through Bled. You might want to check all the train connections from Budapest to Venice. Some of the connections require multiple changes. Perhaps you can figure out a way to pass through Bled if that is a priority.

In consulting a rail web site, I am assuming you know how to drill down to the level where you get the full list of stops en-route. You find the EC train number and click on that. The German and the Austrian sites will give a complete list of all stops en-route.

I have no idea about the menus. I don't know of any source for that information other than someone who has ridden and eaten on the trains.

The train from Berlin to Prague to Budapest has a notation that reservations are recommended. The train from Budapest to Venice calls for mandatory reservations.

I would make a seat reservation for all trains, period. They don't cost that much, so I fail to see a problem with purchasing a seat reservation to assure yourself of a place to sit. I would get one if for no other reason that to make sure I could sit in a non smoking car!! (Or a smoking car if you are still an addict.)

As for RailEurope, about the only purpose it serves me is to sell Swiss Cards. Prices are fierce. For example, I bought tickets from Munich to Basel and paid about $65.00 at the current rate of exchange. RE wanted $199.00 for the same type of ticket.

Die Bahn also let me print my own ticket. Very nice feature.

In asking for schedule information for your journey, use Venedig for Venice.
I think the DB web site recognizes Prague for Praha, but for Vienna, use Wien. I suggest Firenze for Florence as well.

As for scenic, don't you think that is a judgement call? And no one who has not ridden all of them can really answer the question, now can they?

huntley

Bob_Brown, thanks so much for such a detailed response.
I just went to the bahn.de site, and got all the schedules for my routing. I didn't look for fare infomation, however; but I believe fare info is not available for all or most int'l trips; am I right?
Also, on the Int'l visitors page off the main bahn.de page, there is a reference to "Travelers in Europe"; these can get 25% and 50% off deals. Is this referring to citizens of Europe? Are US citizens not eligible for these deals? If eligible, what is the Saturday requirement ("Saturday in between traveling" ?).
Finally, to repeat one of my questions: would the tickets cost any lower in Prague as opposed to Germany for the same segment(s)?
Many thanks again.

PS: On bahn.de, Venice is Venise.

cambe

Hi huntley,

I bought tickets Prague - Krakow -Budapest - Vienna - Salzburg for a recent journey through the Die Bahn office in London (I live in the UK). I checked with a few other passengers when on route to these places who had bought their tickets at the station and I paid the same price.

I would imagine that you could buy them all in Berlin but if you have the time to wait in line at the station you should have no trouble getting them there. Do reserve a seat.

I found man at seat 61 http://www.seat61.com a very useful website and they give approximate prices for trains in Hungry, Slovenia etc.

TimS

One small correction to bob_brown's post: The international access code for the US and Canada is 011.

rex

I disagree. 001 is correct. Sometimes expressed as "++1" where "++" means "whatever you need to do to get an international line".

Which, in the US, is nothing.

And thumbs way up to Bob Brown for the kind of "essay" answer which makes this forum uniquely the best of the internet.

It's collective wisdom, and its perpetuation that makes this site so good. The "historians" of this site will recognize the immensely valuable railfaneurope.net website as the successor to the old "mercurio" link, first cited here in 1998.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...&tid=58742

Best wishes,

Rex

Christina

no, 011 is the international dialing code FROM the US to Europe. The dialing code FROM Europe to the US (which would be the number you'd put on a form in Germany), is 001 + the regular phone number with US area code. At least for the countries I've been in (Germany, France, Czech Republic, etc., I think Western Europe). I think you have to wait a little after the one for a tone that indicates you should go ahead.

altamiro

>I just went to the bahn.de site, and got all the schedules for my routing. I didn't look for fare infomation, however; but I believe fare info is not available for all or most int'l trips; am I right?

In most case, unfortunately, yes. The international fare database is different from the one of the national railways, and only ticket agents have access to it.

>Also, on the Int'l visitors page off the main bahn.de page, there is a reference to "Travelers in Europe"; these can get 25% and 50% off deals. Is this referring to citizens of Europe?

Of course not. Why should the availability have to do anything with the citizenship you have? It is referring to travellers in Europe, as opposed to travellers within Germany. In other words, cross-border offers as oposed to the purely national ticket offers.

>Are US citizens not eligible for these deals?

US citizens make a very tiny percentage of train travellers. Nobody will make any restrictions for 0.1% of the passengers.
In any case, there is not and cannot be any restriction of the ticket availability on this grounds. It would be illegal in the EU. They may refuse to send the actual paper ticket outside the EU. In most cases a ticketless option or printable tickets are available though.

>If eligible, what is the Saturday requirement ("Saturday in between traveling" ?).

It means that you can only buy the special deals for return trips and that a saturday/sunday night has to be between outbound and inbound trip.

>Finally, to repeat one of my questions: would the tickets cost any lower in Prague as opposed to Germany for the same segment(s)?

Yes, for the segment within the Czech Republic. Not for any travel outside CZ.

>PS: On bahn.de, Venice is Venise.

I guess it is a translation error. Venice/Venezia in German is Venedig. Venezia SL will always be the surefire option.

rex

<< Which, in the US, is nothing. >>

Doh. Of course, this is wrong. What was I thinking? It is, as Christina says, "011" from most US numbers.

Thus, a number in Germany that is expresed as ++49 (then the number) means (from the US), 011, then 49, then the rest.

Mea culpa.

But my first paragraph is correct, as far as I know.

ben_haines_london

Dear Huntley,
I write under the impression that you have not yet bought your tickets. I think you need not do so in the States, but can buy them on arrival in Berlin, certainly in the main station (Hauptbahnhof or Lehrter Bahnhof) and from Euraide’s office on the ground floor of Zoo station, and probably also from Berlin Ost if that is easier to reach. In the main and the Ost station you need the international desk. It helps to take you needs with you on paper, with class, date, and time of travel, and number of people. Most staff speak English and all accept credit cards. These offices can sell tickets for your whole route.
At the same desk you should ask to buy the international rail timetable. This starts with a few pages in German, but the bulk of it is the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable, in English. It is cheaper in Germany than in England ! With it beside you as you travel you can see whether your train is on time, and make any changes of journey you need. The page http://www.thomascookpublishing.com/...ies=Timetables describes it.
I agree with all the points that Bob Brown makes.

Ben Haines,
London
[email protected]

huntley

Many thanks for your informative postings, particularly Altamiro and Ben_Haines.
Altamiro says the tickets may cost less in CZ for Czech postings; others have said they are the same regardless of whether bought in Berlin or Prague or elsewhere in Europe. My segments are: Berlin-Prague-Vienna-Budapest-Ljubljana-Venice-Florence. We are going to be in most places 3 days. I would like to make sure before deciding where to buy them.
That reminds me, some fares are lower if bought at least three days before deaprture; am I right on this? If so, would it not argue for purchase of all segments at the very first opportunity? And how are the 3 days interpreted? Monday purchase for a Thursday departurem, regardless of time or is it strictly 72 hours?
Sorry for the torrent of questions!
Cheers, all!
Huntley

altamiro

>That reminds me, some fares are lower if bought at least three days before deaprture; am I right on this? If so, would it not argue for purchase of all segments at the very first opportunity? And how are the 3 days interpreted? Monday purchase for a Thursday departurem, regardless of time or is it strictly 72 hours?

First of all, it depends on the country. Every railway adminstration has different rules. Secondly, the fares are not automatically cheaper when bought whenever in advance: rather, the discounted "specials" are only available till 3 d before if not bought out. The full price tickets are available at any given moment and, at least on the trains without reservation requirement, cannot be sold out.
Also, don't forget that buying a discounted ticket binds you to a certain train. You lose any flexibility that a full price ticket offers you. Some people find that OK; personally I prefer to pay a bit more if I can afford it, as an insurance agains a change in plans. For me it is a more important difference than 1st vs 2nd class. But other people may see it differently.

Amart

http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en