Europe Trains Guide Forum
General discussion => Train fares and tariffs => Topic started by: Sher on April 18, 2010, 04:53:54 am
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I still am confused after reading information about this route. I will be in Krakow for two days in October before I take the night train to Budapest.
I am understanding that this can be done in Krakow but maybe I could get the tickets ahead of time for a discount. I have contacted the Polish rail service and they say they will email me when special prices are available on this route about two months in advance.
Do I buy the tickets from them when they notify me? How do I receive them. Also, bought in advance, about how much should they be for the ticket and for a two person sleeper for each person. Do you think we will have difficulty knowing which cars on the train is ours. Thank you
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I am understanding that this can be done in Krakow but maybe I could get the tickets ahead of time for a discount.
As of now, Polish Railways doesn't sell any type international tickets online, so the only way to purchase them is to do it from the ticket counters.
I have contacted the Polish rail service and they say they will email me when special prices are available on this route about two months in advance. Do I buy the tickets from them when they notify me?
This is an agency, so they will charge you some commission for the service and mailing (they will mail your ticket to you)
Also, bought in advance, about how much should they be for the ticket and for a two person sleeper for each person.
As of now, discounted fares: 3 bed sleeper starts from 45 euro, 2 bed from 49 and single from 99 euro.
Do you think we will have difficulty knowing which cars on the train is ours.
Not really, each carriage has its route board and special number (will be indicated in your sleeper reservation). And you can always ask any railway official to help you.
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Well thank you very much for the information. It is still difficult for me to believe that the ticket and the sleeper would only be E49 per person.
One service says they charge a 10 euro commission. I have otherwise been told that the price of the ticket and sleeper bought in Krakow right before the journey would be about 93 euro. A 10 euro commiission seems very reasonable. I would not be able to take advantage of the reduced rate any other way.
I think part of my confusion was with the Polish railway. When they said they would notify me when the tickets became available I thought I could purchase tickets from them
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I have otherwise been told that the price of the ticket and sleeper bought in Krakow right before the journey would be about 93 euro.
Regular one way 2nd class ticket bought any time (even 10 minutes before departure) for the route Krakow-Budapest costs 75 euro + 21 euro for 2 bed sleeper (or 14 euro for 3 bed).
In case you are interested, there a number of ways how you can save even with a combination of regular tickets instead of straight forward one, so you can be not dependent on discounted tickets, but do not pay full 75euro fare.
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I would be interested in the combination. Would the comination of regular tickets be useful for this tirp? If not I still would like to know how to do it for the future.
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Simplest way to save on Krakow-Budapest route with regular tickets is to use combination of tickets: Krakow-Breclav (last Czech station before Slovakia) costs 26.6 euro, Breclav-Budapest (doesn't matter whether you purchase it in Krakow or already in Breclav) costs 36 euro. Such simple combination cuts your fare from 75 euro to 62.6 euro
Other way: purchase ticket Krakow-Bratislava (45 euro) + Bratislava-Budapest (12 euro if bought in Bratislava or 24.8 if bought in Krakow). In both those cases you can travel the very same carriage all the way from Krakow to Budapest, but just show conductor your combination of tickets.
Even cheaper option: purchase ticket Krakow-Sturovo (app. 50 euro), get off the train there. Sturovo is located right across the river from Hungarian town Esztergom (check google maps). Rail ticket Esztergom-Budapest costs 4 euro (1100 HUF) + you get a chance to enjoy touristic sights of Esztergom (town is actually really nice)
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So this is good to know. I always think that the direct ticket would be the best but I see this is not always so.
Wonderful information and greatly appreciated.
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I need to know how I can tell if the online agencies that I have found are reputable.
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I need to know how I can tell if the online agencies that I have found are reputable.
Make a small search check on it (look for commentaries about, personal experiences etc.) or post name and website address here, so we can help
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One of the agencies offered tickets but they want 896PLN for two tickets with sleeping car which I will not even consider. The other is www.centraleasteurope.com
They are offering an advance tiicket for 49 euro each and they charge 10 euro commission.I think the commission is very fair.They will send them to us or also they will send them to the hotel. I think I would like to have them here because then I can make sure they are correct.
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The topic of the agency you've mentioned was just discussed recently here - http://europetrainsguide.com/forum/index.php/topic,36.msg154.html#msg154
Some outside discussion as well here - http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g274887-i263-k3493311-Buy_train_ticket_through_centraleasteurope_com-Budapest.html and here - http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-505856-1-1-Travel-0-0-Budapest-discussion.html
As you can see, those guys appeared on the market not that long ago and haven't really earned any reputation yet, so... that is probably all we can say at the moment.
Generally saying, it is far not the best choice to use any type of agency for purchasing rail tickets (unnecessary mediator between you and actual seller, commission etc.), but it is your call here - additional 10 euro is not that big of a sum comparing to what you can save with discounted ticket fare.
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Well. I used Google all kinds of ways to search anything I could about this company and was not able to come up with the links you did. Go figure.
These tickets cannot be bought on the internet from the rail company. The only way I can buy then at a discount, and it is considerable, is to purchase it from an outside agent. The Tourist Bureau of Poland gave me the name of an agency they vouch for but they will not arrange tickets for me unless I book something else with them.
Central east Europe is supposed to use Paypal, although I see by one of the posts that the purchaser had difficulty getting information from them on how to do it. I have a Paypal account attached to a credit card. My trip is not until October. At this point I am leaning toward booking with them and protesting with my card if I do not receive the tickets as promised. I do not want to buy them and have them sit there until we arrive at the hotel. Something they offered.
Thank you for all of your help and I will definitely report back so that you have at least one point of reference.
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Ok, will wait for your report. Good luck
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I would like to ask one more question. Do you know if these tickets can be purchased in any other country in Europe? I have a friend who spends the Summer in Europe and could buy them for me if they can be bought in France or Italy.
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Do you know if these tickets can be purchased in any other country in Europe?
Yes, since those tickets are issued with a help of international TCV tariff (dominant tariff in most European countries), so every ticket counter having access to the tariff is able to sell it. But there is no sense of purchasing it anywhere else besides Poland or Hungary, because in every other place you will pay full TCV tariff fare and will not be able to get discount.
As result -> instead of purchase anywhere else it is easier and less problematic simply to buy full fare tickets already in Krakow.
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Well. It was worth a try to ask. Thank you. I will let you know what I end up doing.
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After much consideration I decided to use an agency and purchase my tickets. I know that it was not recommended to do so here. I contacted an agency and purchased two tickets for the night train from Krakow to Budapist 60 days from my day of departure.
The price was E49 per ticket for a two compartment sleeper and E20 service charge. The agency uses a Paypal account and they do not have my credit card informaition The total cost was $155 for both tickets.
The reason I decided to do it was not only the price and the use of Paypal but I did not feel confident that there would be seats available with only two days to obtain tickets in Krakow.
If I recieive the tickets, or not, as the case may be I will report back here.
I want again to thank you for all of your help.
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I promised to write and give the final outcome of this problem. I did use an agency. If anyone is interested I will give the name. But it wasn't a good experience. The agency charged me $155 for two tickets with a two person sleeper. They never did provide the tickets. Although I gave them several weeks to deliver them to my house. Even after we were in Krakow they emailed me promising me the delivery.
We finally walked to the train station and purchased two tickets. The price was 196 PLN which I think they said was E69. I have put in a protest to my credit card company and am waiting for a final resolution of the charge.
The train compartment was fine but I found the trip to be very noisy with a lot of stops. I didn't get a lot of sleep.
You told me to not buy from an agency there and I should have listened. Although it turned out ok in the end. Again I want to thank ou for all of your help
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We finally walked to the train station and purchased two tickets. The price was 196 PLN which I think they said was E69.
It's great price for such connection. And judging from the fare (196 PLN = 49 euro) it is obviously discounted Spar ticket, so you were fortunate enough that some of those still left for the day you wanted ;)
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I also want to say that after I purchased my ticket my travel companion tried to buy her's and I must have gotten the last ticket for that fare. She wouldn't pay the higher fare they wanted for the other berth in the cabin. She elected to stay in a four person compartment for a lesser price. The berth in my compartment remained empty as did the other three beds in her compartment.
The train cars were mostly empty. We were very lucky.