We will fly into Frankfurt on the 10th April. Please help with advice on the best way to travel by train from Frankfurt to Prague (with a stop in Karlovy Vary) <BR>Travel from Prague to Cesky Krumlov ( with a stop in Pizen) Travel from CK to Vienna (with a stop in Salzburg) We have 2.5 weeks. <BR>Please help with the most cost effective method ie rail pass V buy as we go V other? <BR>Have used rail passes before but our itinery means we need more than one. I have found difficulty in getting individual leg prices. <BR>Thanks for feedback.....Ken

Ken: I'll give you the same (excellent) advice which was given me on this site a couple months ago -- check out www.ricksteves.com.

Fodors Train Travel Queries <BR> <BR>The reference library in a city near you may have the Thomas Cook Europoean Timetable. For Frankfurt to Karlovy Vary: <BR>Frankfurt Airport 0903, Cheb 1329 to 1355, Karlovy Vary 1457. Or Frankfurt Airport 1203, Regensburg 1529 to 1538, Pilzen Hlavni 1821. Either find a bus to K V, or pend a night, and go to Karlovy Vary in the morning. Or Frankfurt main station 2339, Cheb 0438 to 0444, Karlovy Vary 0558. <BR> <BR>Karlovy Vary to Prague is routine: the best train might be Karlovy Vary 1002, Prague Holesovice 1406. <BR> <BR>So is Prague to Cesky Krumlov. The best train might be Prague Hlavni (bewate pickpockets) 0713, Cesky Budejovice 0946 to 1033, Ceske Krumlov 1135. <BR> <BR>C K to Salzburg gets more complex. I'd say Ceske Krumlov 0829, Ceske Budejovice 0940 to 1002, Summerau 1117 to 1150, Linz 1305 to 1320, restaurant car train, Salzburg 1450 <BR> <BR>Then Sazburg to Vienna is among the finest services n Europe. There are trains with childrens play coaches, with vans for bcycles, and with a first class observation car, and most expresses have a restaurant car. You leave Salzburg at 5 or 10 minutes past each hour (and at a few other times), and take 3 1/2 hoiurs to Vienna West station. The 0810 is good for breakfast. For lunch you choose between the 1105 with a Hungarian restaurant car and the slighly faster 1132, with an Austrian. <BR> <BR>Czech domestic rail tickets are cheap: you should not buy a railcard. Plzen to Orague seond clsss single is 68 crowns or 2 US dollars. If you buy Czech and Austrian money at Frankfurt airport, or use a credit card and cash dispoensers, you can buy a ticket (and couchette berth ?) from Frankfurt to Cheb or Plzen, from there a ticket to Karlovy Vary, from there a ticket to Prague, from there a ticket to Cesky Krumlov, from there or Cesky Budejovice a ticket to Salzburg, and from there a ticket to Vienna.Other sample second class single fares in the Timetable for January are Frankfurt to Prague 105 dollars, Prague to Vienna 43 dollars, and Salzburg to Viuenna 410 schillings or 29 dollars. Others are in http://www.railfare.com, under "point to point", but are ten percent above the costs if bought in Europe. <BR> <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. If you do, could you please say where you are and whether you've found the book ? <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR>

Ken, <BR> <BR>Czech rail information can be hard to come by - - besides the print information which Ben Haines has provided so ably, the websitein CZ is http://www.cdrail.cz/ - - as the opening page indicates, most of theinformation is in Czech; there is a logo to click for German, but none for English (Funny that the opening page IS in English!). <BR> <BR>This Czech site, by the way, comes (as a link) from the "master rail page" - - http://mercurio.iet.unipi.it/misc/timetabl.html - - a bookmark that EVERY Euro-phile ought to have (unless they have constant, instantaneous access to Ben Haines, that is!) <BR> <BR>Regrettably, this is the extent of my knowledge about rail travel in the Czech republic. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex

We had a rail pass for Germany but found that it was cheaper to pay at the station for travel from the last station in Germany to Prague than to buy the add-on ahead of time. I think we paid $19 from the German border to Prague (Dresden route south) 2 years ago. Check the German rail site at http://bahn.hafas.de You can get all sorts of times, itineraries, & prices.

<BR> <BR>To get from airport to station at Frankfurt you follow signs and take your luggage trolley down a lift. The station is directly underneath the airport. <BR> <BR>To buy a rail ticket in Bohemia can present a problem. What I do is write, before I join the queue t the window, such words as <BR> <BR>2Kl <BR>Cheb =&gt; Karlovy Vary <BR>26 VI 2000 <BR>1355 <BR> <BR>and a picture of a seat or of a sleeper berth, if that's what I want. <BR> <BR>In line I watch for who's behind me, and ask any person who is young and well dressed whether they speak English. If they do I ask them for help, show them the paper, and explain my need. They are glad to help, partly because they want me to take little time at the window. <BR> <BR>If there's no such person I hand over the piece of paper, smile, and hold up a bunch of banknotes. It's always worked so far. <BR> <BR>In Frankfurt and Salzburg you can expect to work in English and using a credit card. In Prague Prague Holesovice is a pleasanter and safer place than Prague Hlavni to buy your ticket, though you must use Hlavni to take your train. In Cesky Krimlov the station is tiny, and you might do better to buy a ticket there just to Ceske Budejovice, or to go from CK to CB by bus, since in CB the bus station is opposite the rail station. <BR> <BR>The Thomas Cook European Timetable is on sale at Mercury Travel Boks, 206 Maroubra Road, Maroubra, NSW 2035, phone (2) 9344 8877. You'll see: it's good value. <BR> <BR>Please write again if I can help further. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines <BR> <BR>