Europe Trains Guide Forum | Profile of tUt | Show Posts | Messages
 Messages |
Topics |
Attachments
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - tUt
Pages: 1 ... 7 8 [9] 10 11 ... 83
121
« on: August 14, 2015, 08:22:03 pm »
1st trip that we're looking at is to Barcelona, end Oct/early Nov, and then from there maybe a couple of weeks later, over to UK for up to 14 days approx-best way to do this? From Nijmegen to Barcelona you can actually travel with only two train changes (Amsterdam, Paris) & entire trip can be done within a day in case you go for high-speed trains (Thalys/TGV) option. However in terms of ticket fares it won't be very cheap even if you purchase in advance discounted train tickets, because Amsterdam to Paris it's at least 35 euro per passenger + another 100 euro for Paris to Barcelona leg. It is possible to make the journey much cheaper with extra train changes, but are you ready for these extra changes which mean longer travel time? On the contrary you can fly to Barcelona for about 20-60 euro from the nearby to Nijmegen airports (e.g. Transavia airlines from Eindhoven airport, RyanAir from Weeze airport, Transavia or Vueling from Amsterdam) More or less the same story with Barcelona to UK (London). Here you can easily travel with only one train change in Paris, however again you should either go for expensive Barcelona-Paris train + not very cheap EuroStar train from Paris to London (from 51 euro) or agree to make extra train changes to make the journey cheaper. Airlines here harshly compete with each other, so air fare on route Barcelona to London is rather cheap, which means you can count on the ticket fare around 30-50 euro. Next connection to be made is to get to Nuremberg from Arnhem/Nijmegen by 4pm on 11 Dec-what's the best way to make this connection? Well, here probably train makes most sense. Although it will take you 6-7 hours and two/three train changes, but at least you can count on more or less good price (discounted tickets start from 39 euro, which isn't bad taking into consideration the distance). You can check timetables & purchase your tickets via German Railways (DB) website (discounted tickets go on sale 92 days before the journey) Then from there, looking into going from Vienna to Prague on 17 Dec-again, submissions welcomed on best way to do that, followed by next connection on around 20 Dec from Prague back to Netherlands-best way? Again, for Vienna to Prague train is your choice (connections are frequent, journey takes only 4 hours and discounted tickets (from 29 euro) can be easily bought via Austrian Railways (OeBB) website ). Also here you can take a look at buses - rather comfortable (at least for 4:30-5 hour trip) & cheaper than train. With Prague to Nijmegen... well, by train the journey can be done in a day or overnight (in both cases changes required), while the best train ticket fare you can get here would be around 50 euro and it will require ticket purchase in advance. EasyJet airlines offer Prague-Amsterdam for Dec. 20 for only 45 euro, which ain't bad taking into consideration that it will be holiday time Finally, going from Netherlands to Edinburgh to be there by 29 Dec, returning 2 Dec-any advice? Research so far indicates that air travel looks like best option-cost seems to be about the same as any of the other options, and a lot less connections/transitions to have to navigate... Flying is rather convenient here since for instance already mentioned earlier EasyJet can get you from Amsterdam to Edinburgh for around 40-60 euro on Dec.27-28. However in case you really want to travel by land/sea, then you can count on some exotic options (e.g. DFDS ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle & train to Edinburgh from there) or more trivial Nijmegen-Brussels-London-Edinburgh by train, which obviously will be more expensive compared to flying, however with in advanced bought discounted tickets the difference won't be super big Also, have looked at whether a Eurail Pass would be worth looking at, and the conclusion that I've come to so far is probably not, but am open to advice on this too Well, in case you ok with buying in advance discounted tickets (NB: some of them are nonexchangeable & nonrefundable), then pass is absolutely worthless thing here. Plus in your case many of the potential trains you would probably take will require extra supplements/seat reservations, which can be even more expensive than the ticket (e.g. Brussels/Paris-London) or cost the same as ticket (Thalys high-speed trains Amsterdam-Paris). Anyhow, thing like Eurail Pass is only makes sense in case you aren't sure about your itinerary until last moment and/or have no possibility to buy your point-to-point tickets in advance
122
« on: August 06, 2015, 03:39:22 pm »
I am about to celebrate my 65th birthday with a trip through Europe and see that some European countries offer free or discounted train tickets to EU citizens, or in the case of Hungary, to anyone in this age group. However I have been unable to find a comprehensive list of these countries showing associated costs, registration requirements and benefits. Never seen such list or any place where all this things will be gathered together. Perhaps the reason for that is that it's simply too many countries with varying conditions of use of such tickets (e.g. age, citizenship, need for additional senior rail card etc.). Anyhow, best and optimal way will be just check each train company in those countries you would like to visit. This way you will get up to date relevant info. After reading your 'tips and tricks', is it possible to book a free, or discounted ticket, to a country's border and purchase, from the same station, a paid ticket across the border to my destination. Are the ticket staff happy to accommodate such a purchase or is this ticket splitting frowned upon? Well, all the tricks we share are totally legit and in accordance to rules. I don't remember that we ever advised to break the rules or go for some illegal manipulations with train tickets. We just look at the situation with tickets & tariffs a bit differently than majority of passengers --> knowledge of tariff systems and experience allows us to find cheaper options (e.g. combination of couple tickets instead of one through, buying international ticket instead of domestic and alike tricks). Majority of train conductors don't care much as far as you have the ticket covering the journey. Some of them might understand that you playing some ticket tricks, but since all these things are legit and you basically simply exploit the loopholes rail companies leave you, they can't do anything. I’m thinking of planning a trip that makes the most of these bargains - while I still can! Taking into consideration your ip address, you aren't EU citizen, right? In this case using your age in order to receive certain discount on point-to-point tickets makes sense in very limited number of cases. Simply because all these senior discounts are subsidized (usually by state) and as result offered either only to countrymen or EU citizens at best. Plus you shouldn't be tempted to think that tickets with discount for seniors is something extremely cheap/worthy - usually discount isn't very big + in many cases you can actually get a better deal for usual "adult" ticket. Anyhow, optimal course of action here is deciding your app. itinerary (or at least list of places you want to visit). Once you do so, we would be glad to help, since with that info we can already give more or less clear advise in terms of what's your best (moneywise/hassle) options on each leg.
123
« on: August 06, 2015, 03:03:10 pm »
Unfortunately Hungarian Railways (MAV) doesn't sell only seat/bed reservations via MAV website, so you can not purchase it separately. Although in case you have a possibility to visit ticket counter with EPA, for instance in one of the agencies selling German Railways (DB) rail tickets, then you should be able to purchase paper form couchette/sleeper reservation for Budapest-Belgrade train there (obviously with some agency's commission). If not then just buy your reservation once you already in Hungary. Budapest to Belgrade route isn't very popular, so it's hardly a situation when you must purchase reservations far in advance. Also would like to remind you that for traveling in seating carriages reservation isn't obligatory, so you can just board the train with your interrail pass
124
« on: August 03, 2015, 01:53:48 pm »
I feel a contradiction in the rules. On one hand it says: "Bei Nahverkehrszügen können Sie einen früheren oder späteren Zug nehmen". But it also says: "Sie können Ihre Fahrt zwischendurch nicht unterbrechen." It seems like here it's a matter of interpretation, in you case it's not really a "unterbrechen", but just a stopover. And with ticket like the one from the previous post OeBB basically confirms possibility of such stopover because otherwise it wouldn't be possible to make that 2 hour stopover in Launsdorf (why it doesn't give more time it's already a different question) at all, system wouldn't allow it. I'm pretty sure if I ask ÖBB they'll play by the rules and say it's not possible to break the trip. I'm wondering how relaxed are the Austrian conductors regarding this issue. It's difficult to account for human factor, but simple search shows that we aren't the only ones who asked similar question (e.g. drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?106,7229450 where person asked about zugbindung and received an answer that it's only for RJ) But I'm still wondering if it'll be accepted to take earlier trains and spend a bit more time at the castle. Well, just found an elegant way to trick OeBB ticket shop and get you more time in Launsdorf. When inserting journey details choose connection time of at least 20 min., this way you can basically move your departure time from San Candido to earlier train while still counting on RJ №630 (as definite zugbindung). It should look like this -->  This way you will ensure that on the ticket it will be written that departure time is 7:15, then in Lienz you "miraculously" would be able to catch earlier train to Spittal (not 9:24, but 8:24), no way OeBB conductor would mind this. Same action for train change in Spittal. Overall this trick will ensure your arrival to Launsdorf at 11:32, while from there you will continue as in the travel plan, meaning at 15:33 p.s. in case 7:15 departure is too early for you, then you can always play the same trick with later departure time (meaning depart 9:15 and then count on RJ №632, while still having 4 hours for Launsdorf)
125
« on: August 01, 2015, 11:32:53 pm »
I can find Sparschiene tickets from Lienz to Sopron for 24€(Can't find any from Sillian) Actually you can get discounted ticket from San Candido/Innichen to Sopron for the same 24 euro (see below), so there is absolutely no point to pay extra and purchase same thing from Lienz ... but I'm not sure if Zugbinding(How do you say that in English?) applies only for the long distance trains(in this case Railjet) and I can use any train in the regional traffic starting at any time and breaking the trip in Launsdorf. Well, in SparSchiene Österreich offer rules it is written that "Bei Nahverkehrszügen können Sie einen früheren oder späteren Zug nehmen" (B.1.6.3.2.) and if my understanding of German is correct, by Nahverkehrszügen here meant R, REX & S-bahn trains. However your should also keep in mind that OeBB ticket shop can easily sell you spar ticket with two hour stopover in Launsdorf-Hochosterwitz, e.g. --> 
126
« on: August 01, 2015, 06:29:38 pm »
Well, 14 euro ain't that bad for return journey on 170km route (especially across the border), it's just barely higher than CFR domestic tariff for Regional trains and much cheaper than CFR InterRegio one
127
« on: July 31, 2015, 08:26:41 pm »
Timisoara-Stamora Moravica-Timisoara (5,65 RON * 2 = 11,30 RON = approx. 2,50€) [full fare+advance purchase discount by CFR] Will you be able to purchase this ticket in advance? Because it doesn't look like you can buy such tickets via CFR website, so it's Romanian ticket counter only. While if you purchase it before departure, then it seems like maximum you get save is 10% Vrsac-Belgrad-Vrsac 512,- RSD = approx. 4,30€ [round trip fare, source: http://serbianrailways.com/active/en/home/glavna_navigacija/putnicki_saobracaj/unutrasnji_saobracaj/cene_prevoza.html ] Vršac-Belgrade is <100 km, thus it means that ZS return ticket will be valid for only one day. Are you intending to make a trip to Belgrade in one day? Because otherwise you will have to go with two one-way tickets or think about tricks of buying return ticket for route >101km (but then it makes sense to count whether it will be worth that ZS 20% return discount on domestic tickets) What about the ticket Stamora Moravica-Vrsac? Could it be possible to buy it in Romania before? How much would it be? According to this source ( http://europetrainsguide.com/forum/index.php/topic,704.0.html ), 1,60€ * 2 = 3,20€ for both way (1 person) It is possible to purchase such ticket in Romania, however your calculations have an error. Although rail distance between Stamora Moravița and Vršac is only 21 km, but there is border, thus according to rules ticket tariff will be calculated separately for every railway on the route of the ticket, which means that one-way Stamora Moravița to Vršac ticket should cost 3,2 euro=1,6 euro (CFR part, even if it's just 3 km from border point) + 1,6 (ZS part, 18 km) Thus, the return trip Timisoara-Belgrad (1 person) would be 2,50€ + 4,30€ + 3,20€ = 10€. Right? Nope, see above remarks. Perhaps you can save some cents (compared to "Banat Special") if you go with offer of the same nature - Vršac Special (Timisoara to Vrsac for 4 euro one-way or 8 euro return) + ZS domestic ticket Last thing: are there reduced fares for a foreign 17-yo passenger with ZS and CFR? Well, in Serbia standard discount is given only to children/youth <14 years old, while for other categories you can get special SRB Plus Card (e.g. for ISIC/EURO26 holders it should cost only 100 RSD) and it will allow to receive 30% discount. In Romania 50% discount is given to pupils/students, but it's only for those studying in Romania. Also "youth" (<18 years old) passengers can get a discount in case they travel in minigroups (2-5 passengers) - two "youth" passengers count as one adult, but unfortunately for your case CFR notes that with odd number of teenagers one “youth” passenger is simply considered as ”adult” in terms of tariff
128
« on: July 23, 2015, 03:02:05 pm »
The Slovenske Zeleznice website under ‘Abroad’ only shows travel from Ljubljana, Zidani Most & Dobova to Zagreb. I didn’t notice that Kranj-Ljubljana was a continuation of route until after I’d posted. SZ website just shows timetable & fares from big/important stations or stations where couple lines cross, since they can't list every stop. In case of international trains helps DB website (you can click on train number and it will show you all the stops), while with Slovenian domestic trains you can check http://www.slo-zeleznice.si/en/passengers/slovenia/timetable (again click on train number to see all the stops) Are tickets train specific? No, Slovenian one-way domestic tickets are valid for one day (journeys <100km) for any train on route (although faster & more fancy trains require supplement to basic SZ tariff, that is the reason why SZ website prices for IC/EC trains are higher compared to slower LP trains), while international ones depending on type valid 15 days - 1 month. Separate question concerns seat reservations (which are indeed train specific), but reservations aren't obligatory for SZ or HZ trains (except Slovenian ICS (mainly run between Ljubljana and Maribor), Croatian ICN (daytime trains from Zagreb to Split) & couchettes/sleepers), you won't really need it.
129
« on: July 23, 2015, 12:44:12 am »
In Germany and Czech Republic absolute majority of trains doesn't require compulsory seat reservation. Reservation is purely optional and most of the passenger travel without any reservation by just taking any free seat. September is definitely not the busiest months, so hardly you can have a situation when all the seats on the train are taken, so I would suggest not to worry about any reservation at all. I find that there are no reservations possible on Second Class compartments. What exactly do you mean by "no reservations possible"? German Railways (DB) indeed won't be able to sell you such reservation, but once you in Germany you can buy it easily at any station, cost is 3 euro per person. Also since you mentioned that there will be traveling 3 passengers, perhaps you should consider option of buying Bavaria-Bohemia Ticket. It will cost 37,20 for three and cover leg till Czech Plzen, while from Plzen you can purchase Czech domestic tickets for 290 CZK for all three, thus making it about 16 euro per person for the entire trip Munich-Plzen-Prague. And the best part is that in Plzen you won't even need to change trains, but continue with the same one that brought you from Munich
130
« on: July 23, 2015, 12:21:05 am »
I was originally going from Ljubljana but see that the IC211 at 14:11 actually travels through the capital leaving at 14:45. Do I have to buy two tickets? i.e. Kranj to Ljubljana and Ljubljana to Zagreb It is possible to travel either with two separate tickets (Slovenian domestic Kranj-Ljubljana for 4.38 euro & international Ljubljana-Zagreb for 16,4 euro) or one international ticket Kranj-Ljubljana which should cost about 21 euro. As you can see, in terms of money it's not a big difference. You might save some money only if you go for option c - purchase domestic ticket Kranj-Dobova (last Slovenian station before the border) for 11,36 euro and international Dobova-Zagreb which should be a bit less than 5 euro, thus making it in total about 16 euro for the entire trip Kranj-Zagreb (instead of about 21 euro with options a & b) ... as the website doesn’t show a through train from Kranj. Hmm? Which website and what date? Since train #211 is Villach-Ljubljana-Zagreb-Vinkovci, it goes through Kranj and stops there Can I buy tickets, in advance, from Ljubljana station or should I buy them on the day at Kranj? Whichever convenient to you, both options will work. In advance purchase in this case doesn't really save you anything, since discounted tickets aren't available for this connection, but purchase in Ljubljana might be a bit easier (first of all due to language factor) then buying the same ticket at some smaller stations. I’ve also read so many different opinions re bus vs train travel from Zagreb to Split. My itinerary there is a bit of a disaster so we end up with return travel from Zagreb to Split spending a few days in each. But no matter. The bus is cheap and frequent with convenient times. The train longer but less frequent fast journeys. I reckon that by the time I’ve factored getting to & from the airports and waiting around, the bus takes not much longer with more convenient times. The other option is one way car hire - but perhaps I’ve read too many disaster car hire stories there. Anyway I’m happy to try different modes of transport each way. Your thoughts? Well, on this website we usually suggest rail options  But it doesn't mean that we didn't try bus. When I did a bus journey myself I specifically choose the bus which travels by the sea coast (it has longer travel time of about 8 hours) and not the one which takes faster highway route (here buses make the trip in about 5 hours), since it seemed to be way more interesting. Car hire will allow not only to see those nice town along the coast, but stop whenever you like + make detours (e.g. already discussed Plitvice lakes)
131
« on: July 11, 2015, 04:34:08 pm »
I have tried to register on the MAV website in order to purchase Budapest - Vienna tickets. Unfortunately, I have not received the confirmation email in order to activate my registration. My email address is now in limbo...I cannot try to re-register because the site says the address has already been used for registration. And when I try logging in, it says I'm not registered. Suggestions? First of all, we would probably suggest to check all the spam/trash folders in your mailbox, perhaps MAV's email is there. If you already did so, then our suggestion would be simply try to register once more with a new email (you can always open one just for this purpose), it's just for registration on MAV website, while for your ticket you won't really need this new email anyways.
132
« on: June 27, 2015, 12:22:52 am »
However MAV shows no availability (already!) for the dates. The issue seems to be not in the fact that all the discounted tickets are already sold out, but technical nuance - with EuroNight "Metropol" train (Budapest-Prague-Berlin) on leg between Budapest and Prague run two groups of carriages (Budapest-Berlin with arr. to Prague at 4am and Budapest-Prague, which in the middle of the night makes a couple hour stopover in Pardubice and get reattached to other train with arr. to Prague at 6am), thus de-facto while starting from Budapest with the same train you can arrive to Prague at two different times. As result nowadays choosing Budapest-Prague via MAV website doesn't seems to work for either options I cross-checked with German Railways yesterday (easy since I am sitting in Germany :-)) and they said both are available and the couchettes cost ~€480 while 2x2 sleeping compartments would set us back by ~€550. This appears to me to be too expensive compared to the prices I have read here and also on other forums. DB quoted you a full fare price, that is why the sum is over the moon. Even today via DB website you can actually get 'Saving-Night' discounted ticket for 59 euro couchette (the only nuance is that in order to buy from DB the arr. station needs to be in Germany, but you simply get off earlier in Prague) -->  Or same thing via MAV website (this time you can just take Czech station after Prague and again get off a bit earlier) 
133
« on: June 26, 2015, 11:39:57 pm »
19 euro SparSchiene tickets are still available, it's just a matter of ticket sale period (it's shorter compared to Ljubljana Spezial 39 euro ticket). If you check dates in August you will see 19 euro Spars, thus you will have to wait a bit until ticket sale will start for your dates
134
« on: June 25, 2015, 11:37:58 pm »
The journey from Ljubljana to Pula on Slovenia Rail shows only one train from Divača to Pula and the journey from Ljubljana by bus - although there is a connecting train from Slovenia. As Slovenian Railways informs us, trouble there is because of "Zaradi sanacije posledic žledu", but perhaps it will be fixed and instead of substitution buses in October there will be trains already. But even if not, bus is 100% "coordinated" with the train, so nothing to worry about in terms of change from one to another. As an alternative you can also take morning or evening train to Rijeka (btw, nice place itself) and then Croatian domestic bus to Pula from there. Or direct bus from Ljubljana to Pula via Koper, Portoroz Pula-Plitvice lakes-Split: although you can reach Plitvice lakes by bus, but perhaps here your best option would be car rental, it will save you quite a lot of time and allow to see many interesting places (e.g. hire a car in Pula or Rijeka, then drive along the cost till Senj, turn to Plitvice, while from there back to the cost and through Zadar-Sibenik-Trogir to Split. Split-Hvar & Hvar-Dubrovnik: pretty much your only choice here is taking a ferry (unless you want to come back to Split and take a bus to Dubrovnik), but it's very picturesque journey, thus hardly anybody would complain about such "only ferry" option. With Split to Hvar there are more options regarding companies (you can read through http://europetrainsguide.com/forum/index.php/topic,782.0.html ), while with Hvar to Dubrovnik unfortunately there is not much choice - Jadrolinija canceled their ferry on leg Rijeka-Split-Hvar-Dubrovnik, so it seems that only one company serves the route now.
135
« on: June 25, 2015, 09:54:56 pm »
Options to travel from Paris to Vienna in 5-6 days are so numerous that it is even difficult to count them all. But we will try to outline a few and then you can take a closer look and decide which one suits your interests:
a) Paris to Strasbourg (high-speed train with discounted ticket purchased in advance), then to Stuttgart with Baden-Württemberg-Ticket (special group ticket allowing unlimited journeys within the region, thus you can for instance arrive to Stuttgart around noon, drop you things in hotel and then continue exploring places around Stuttgart using the same Baden-Württemberg-Ticket with the idea to come back in the evening), then travel to Bavaria (Munich) with short stop in Ulm and/or Augsburg (here you can also use similar ticket, but this time not only for one region, but entire Germany - depending on the day of the week either Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket or Happy Weekend Ticket), while from Munich you can make a day trip to Salzburg (with Bavaria Ticket), then to Nuremberg (again Bavaria Ticket). From there to Czech Republic (Prague) with either Bavaria Ticket + Czech domestic ticket, or Bavaria-Bohemia Ticket (basically the same as Bavaria Ticket, but includes neighboring regions of Czech Republic). Prague to Cesky Krumlov is easy and cheap with Czech domestic ticket (in advance purchase will get you slightly cheaper price). And finally from Cesky Krumlov to Vienna also not very difficult - domestic ticket till the Czech-Austrian border and then group ticket (Einfach-Raus-Ticket) for Austrian domestic leg.
b) Paris to Strasbourg the same, then from Strasbourg through Offenburg to Singen (so-called Black Forest Railway) and stay somewhere around Lake Constance (again Baden-Württemberg-Ticket is your best option here). From Lake Constance you can either make a side trip to Switzerland (e.g. Zurich) or simply continue along the lake to Bavaria (maybe stop somewhere along the route, like Lindau or Fussen). While Munich you can either travel as described above (through Czech Republic) or simply go south to Innsbruck/Salzburg and from there to Vienna
c) travel from Paris to Geneva (discounted tickets for high-speed train can get you a good deal), then continue through entire Switzerland (either using SuperSaver Tickets or Swiss pass) and from Zurich get to Vienna (with potential stopover in Innsbruch/Salzburg) with a help of either high-speed daytime or overnight train
d) Paris to Cologne (discounted tickets for high-speed train can get you a good deal), then make you way south-east (via Frankfurt-Nuremberg), again using either regional group tickets or already mention group tickets which cover entire Germany
Obviously in all of the above itineraries stops on the way can be easily adjusted (choice highly depends on sightseeing preferences), so perhaps it makes sense first to decided general direction (e.g. through Switzerland, through Baden-Württemberg, through the norther route with Frankfurt as a must), then, once you already know the approximate route, start researching places which might interest you (nature, castles, old towns, etc.) and finally when you have a list of those we can already work on exact travel times/ticket options
Pages: 1 ... 7 8 [9] 10 11 ... 83
|
Show Posts