Europe Trains Guide Forum
General discussion => Train fares and tariffs => Topic started by: ghioane007 on February 13, 2010, 08:36:33 pm
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Hy,
we are three friends from Romania, and we intend to make a trip to Kiev somewhere in may, this year...The problem is that our railway company (CFR) does not have the posibility to sell or book for us tickets and reservations for train 15/16 "Tisza Express", Budapest Keleti- Moscow Kievskaia for the Debrecen- Kiev journey, and they told us that only from Ukraine we could get tickets and reservations for this train, since he does not run on romanian teritory...
I want to know if the hungarian train reservation sistem could get us this tickets and reservations aproximately 1 month ahead of the trip because we want to come in Debrecen to buy them if possible...and if anyone of you knows the price for this journey...any information will help...thanks
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Yes, international counter in Hungary can sell you tickets and reservation for the train #15, in case those available (usually this route isn't that busy), one month ahead (and even more - international tickets in this connection are sold up to 60 days in advance). It might take time for cashier to issue it and etc., but you will be able to get it for sure. Ticket+sleeper will cost around 55 euro per person (a little cheaper if you purchase return). Such price is only when you purchase ticket in either Hungary or Ukraine (since it includes special interstate discount)
And keep in mind small fact: all the Russian RZD cars on the route are sold as 2/3 (sleeper costs app.15 euro), while Ukrainian (UZ) cars Budapest-Kiev and Beograd-Kiev (but not Budapest-Lvov) are sold as 2/2 (sleeper costs app.18 euro). So if there are two of you, then it is better to purchase reservations to Ukrainian cars and get the whole compartment for yourself.
You can as well purchase sleeper reservations for the train via DB terminal - in some countries tourist agencies got those, in such case you will not need to travel to Debrecen in advance, but simply buy reservations from terminal some time ahead and ticket already in Hungary before departure.
p.s. We assume that you are aware of the fact that there is a number of ways to travel cheaper (and almost with the same comfort) from that region of Europe to Kiev. In case you might bel interested - ask ;)
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Thanks for the help very much
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anyway, 55 euros doesn`t seems very expensive after all...one more question: we can buy those tickets from anywhere in Hungary or we must go into a bigger town, like Debrecen for instance or we can go in a smaller town, like Biharkeresztes?do they have computerized ticket sistem or they have to write the tickets by hand?
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anyway, 55 euros doesn`t seems very expensive after all...one more question: we can buy those tickets from anywhere in Hungary or we must go into a bigger town, like Debrecen for instance or we can go in a smaller town, like Biharkeresztes?
As a rule, you can buy your ticket at any station, where any international trains run, but... it will really simplify your task, if you buy those on the station where "Tisza" runs - there cashiers must know how to issue such tickets, while somewhere in Biharkeresztes cashier will say to you - "I need to call Debrecen or even Budapest and consult" etc. and you might lose a lot of time. Plus the knowledge of Hungarian is rather crucial here - somewhere in Biharkeresztes it would be nice to be able to clarify what you want in Hungarian :)
do they have computerized ticket sistem or they have to write the tickets by hand?
By hand
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thanks again...and if we will go in Debrecen, they can get those ticket only from Kiev to Debrecen for instance?that, in case we decide to only come from Kiev to Debrecen, not going to Kiev...we curently seek the best posibility
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In Debrecen cashiers surely can issue Kiev-Debrecen ticket as well, no problem here. But keep in mind that you might face problem with purchasing sleeper reservation Kiev-Debrecen in Hungary. Ukrainian and Hungarian systems aren't synchronized, so the only way to buy sleeper UZ-MAV in Hungary is to rely on a small number of so called "reverse" sleeper reservations (limited number of seats booked for MAV sale). If those aren't available any more, cashier will ask you to purchase sleeper already in Kiev. But in such case the whole trip from Romania to Debrecen for purchasing tickets has no sense - you can purchase ticket+sleeper already in Kiev