Danny

Hello again. I am having a little bit of trouble getting this little section of my trip planned. I am trying to go from Frankfurt to Wurzburg, which is fine, but then I want to go to Bamberg, and then to Prague. From Prague to Vienna. I've gotten a price from Frankfurt to Wurzburg ($36), but cannot find a price for Wurzburg to Bamberg. I also cannot find a connection from bamberg to prague or a price. Also, I have a eurail pass which I plan to activate once I get out of the czech republic. Can anyone suggest a city outside the border of czech republic between prague and vienna where I can activate my rail pass, and then I will use it to get to vienna. Thank you!

Ben Haines

Fodors <BR> <BR>Wurzburg to Bamberg is 100 kilometers. In January second class for 100 kilometers cost 25 marks or 13 US dollars. Your best route for Bamberg to the frontier at Shirnding is via Nurnberg. 190 kilometers or (in January) 52 marks or 26 dollars, plus an Intercity supplement of 5 dollars. Then Schirnding to Cheb needs an ninternational ticket, which yiu c an buy in Frsankfurt, about 10 dollars. At the Czech side of the frontier, at Cheb, a Czech conductor bosardss the traiun b and you can pay 3 dollars to Prague. You can also buy a through ticket from Bamberg to Prague, but it would cost you a good deal more, as you'd be paying an international fare per mile the whole way. <BR> <BR>Trains leave Bamberg at 0635, 1051, and 1328, and take forty to sixty minutes to Nuremberg. Connecting trains, sometimes with a change, leave Nuremberg at 0744, 1147, and 1430, and take four or five hours to Prague. <BR> <BR>On the trip from Prague to Vienna the last Czech station is Decin, and the first Austrian one is Hohenau. <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR>[email protected] <BR>

Richard

Danny, Using the DeutschBahn site, I find a train from Wurzburg to Furth, 1hr 05min, connect to Bamberg, 40min, cost 41DM. From Bamberg to Prague(Praha), connect thru Nurnberg, changing trains in Nurnberg, total time 6hrs. Direct trains from Praha to Vienna (Wien)4hr 24min, about $46.00.

Russ

Würzburg to Bamberg is about $13/one hour. There are morning departures at 8:42 and 9:38 on weekdays. <BR> <BR>The best connection from Bamberg to Prague I found was 10:51 / 16:43 with a 22 minute layover in Nürnberg (about $30 to the German border station of Marktredwitz.) There's another leaving Bamberg a bit earlier at 10:38, with a connection in Hof, that also gets you to Marktredwitz, where you can catch the previously-mentioned train to Prague (this one costs only $18 from Bamberg to Marktredwitz because it's an RE train -- regional express.) There are one-day passes in Bavaria that you can buy on weekdays, good for up to 5 people travelling together, that cost only $18, so get one of these if you're using the RE connection instead of regular tickets if there are 2 or more of you. <BR> <BR>There is a thing called the Prague Excursion pass ($30 - $35, I think) which you can buy here at home and use for a border - Prague - border itinerary. <BR> <BR>As far as your pass validation goes, see if you can get it validated for a future date while you're in Germany. If not, either the window personnel or the conductor can probably do this for you in the Czech Republic; I'm sure there are others who have been in your shoes, and someone will know what to do. If not, the Austrian conductor will probably help you. Getting off a train just to validate a pass seems ridiculous. <BR> <BR>For a non-stop Prague - Vienna train, try the 10:39 / 15:03 for one of the shortest travel times. <BR> <BR>I pulled this down off the www.bahn.de website.

Patrick

Regarding the pass validation: this is no problem. We've been in similar situations several times. This summer we were on a Swiss pass, traveling into Austria where we wanted the Eastern Europe Pass to take over. Then traveling from Gdansk, Poland on the Eastern Europe Pass we were going to Berlin which would be the start of our Eurrail pass. In the first two cases, the conductor on the train in the new country validated our passes for us right on the train. On the way to Berlin, the conductor accepted our Eurrail pass but we thought he didn't validate it. When we got to Berlin we checked to see if they would validate it at the station and they stamped it officially, but showed us that the conductor had indeed already made a mark that had validated it. I suppose since you will be in Germany before, you could have the pass validated for the date you will be reentering, but that is a little scarey as they usually just stamp it with that day's date, and I'd hate to think that would happen.