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136
« on: June 02, 2015, 11:02:47 am »
To avoid high one way charges (if in fact I can get such a deal) we have decided that we will take bus/train transport direct to Kosice and hire from the airport there. Yep, car rent might be a good choice in regions where you have plenty of destinations to see, but most of them take just couple hours in terms of sightseeing. However remains the question - how you will get from Krakow to Kosice? Already for many years there is no direct train + didn't hear anything about any new regular bus connection either (only rather expensive shuttle service by TigerExpress) I think Warsaw to Krakow is straightforward – buy online 30days before for best discounted ticket (ie until they run out). Yes, if you sure about the date & time, then in advance purchase of Super Promo tickets is your best choice (sold as early as 30 days in advance, but not less than 15, unless sold out earlier). But if you didn't get cheap ticket in advance it's a not a huge problem, because even on the day of the journey it's possible to travel relatively cheap using less fancy train. As the EIP trains are new, do they have wifi in both 2nd & 1st class and if I can get the cheapest fares is it worthwhile travelling 1st ? Yes, Express InterCity Premium are new Alstom sort of high-speed trains. PKP promised to introduce wi-fi on all of them during the first half of this year (obviously for both classes), but to be honest don't know whether this goal is achieved in full or not yet. What concerns 1st vs. 2nd class... well, the difference in terms of seating is more or less standard ( 1+2 vs. 2+2). In any case might be useful also to take a look at EIP trains seating scheme Krakow through to Budapest is already covered. 20euro single (17.50 if I buy rtn?) at Kosice ticket office on the day. Kosice to Budapest using direct trains (via Miskolc) is 20 euro no matter when you purchase, 17,5 it's Budapest to Bratislava. Both are return, but it's cheaper than one-way because of the 60% discount on return tickets between Hungary and Slovakia Budapest – Bratislava. Should I buy on the day in Budapest (rtn cheaper?) or is there an even cheaper fare all the way to Salzburg? Well, with Budapest to Bratislava there is nothing to worry about (17,5 euro no matter when you buy it). With Budapest to Salzburg directly it's possible to get discounted ticket for as low as 29 euro (or 39 euro for so-called "Trip Ticket", which can't be sold out, thus you can purchase it already in Budapest and don't bother with any in advance purchases) Hoping on a short stopover in Bratislava en route to Salzburg – depending on ticketing available. With the visit to Bratislava you have couple options: a) as described above: Kosice to Budapest (20 euro) + Budapest to Bratislava (17,5 euro, unless you ready for some small tricks) + Bratislava to Salzburg (23 euro) with bought in advance discounted OeBB domestic ticket. Total will be 60,5 euro b) Kosice to Bratislava ( RegioJet from 9 euro), Bratislava-Budapest (again 17,5 euro or slightly less with tricks) and Budapest to Salzburg (29 euro with in advance purchased discounted ticket or 39 euro in all other cases). Total will be 55,5 or 65,5 Salzburg-Ljubljana via Villach. Salzburg-Villach was already discussed as discounted tickets, 9euro online? Not sure how far in advance. Is it still relevant given the changed itinerary? Well, the opposite direction you don't have an option of very cheap one-way Villach to Ljubljana ticket (which is offered by Slovenians if you go Ljubljana to Villach), so perhaps with Salzburg to Ljubljana it makes sense to go with international discounted ticket, which starts from 29 euro and, just as 9 euro domestic Salzburg-Villach, can be easily purchase via Austrian Railways (OeBB) website
137
« on: May 25, 2015, 11:52:40 pm »
Just a humble suggestion for the return trip from Munich to London.
Please consider London Spezial from Deutsche Bahn which can be bought in advance for 59 euro (Munich -> St Pancras all inclusive  with Eurostar tunnel crossing)
It allows for two stopovers for up two 48 hours each - so you can visit Cologne, Nuremberg, Frankfurt or even Brussels. Good suggestion. And even if two stopovers (or their timing) isn't enough, then it's possible to combine London Spezial discounted ticket with something else (e.g. first Munich to Strasbourg, then comeback to Germany (--> relatively close Karlsruhe or even Stuttgart) and use London Spezial from there, thus at the end having another two stopovers still possible
138
« on: May 14, 2015, 11:32:00 pm »
I estimate the return Ljubljana/Salzburg journey is about the same length of time as Salzburg/Krakow so there is no particular advantage either way that I can see. Salzburg to Ljubljana by train is slightly more than 4 hours, while with Salzburg to Krakow the fastest you can do is about 9 hours, but some connections are 10 and even 11 hours Are there any cheap day fares from Salzburg to Krakow? Which alternative would you recommend? Straight forward no, but with some tariff tricks you can get a pretty good overall price. Basically there are three options here: a) travel from Salzburg to Czech Republic (via Linz, Summerau), then through Czech Republic to already mentioned Cesky Tesin. Salzburg-Summerau (last Austrian station) discounted tickets start from only 9 euro per passenger (if bought in advance via OeBB website), Czech domestic ticket isn't very expensive either (for instance you can get day long pass for the entire Czech rail network for only 550 CZK), while Cieszyn to Kraków we already discussed earlier. Or, as an alternative, just go with discounted international ticket Prague to Krakow for 19 euro (Leo Express or Czech Railways) b) travel from Salzburg to Vienna and then to Slovakia with the idea to enter Poland via Zilina-Zwardon. Here entire Austrian leg can cost you as low as 19 euro, Slovak 11 euro, while Polish one we already discussed. c) travel from Salzburg back to Bavaria and only then to Czech Republic with Bavaria-Bohemia ticket (valid all the way from Salzburg to Czech Plzen) and then domestic Czech ticket to Cesky Tesin or mentioned above discounted international Prague to Krakow. Options A and C can allow a sort of overnight journey, so you can actually save on hotel Or it might be cheaper to fly. You can try searching, but it's unlikely that you can find anything cheaper than train (Bavaria & Austria aren't connected to Poland by low-cost airlines) options. Which alternative would you recommend? There is no definite answer here. Salzburg to Ljubljana is pretty good travel time + not very expensive if you get in advance discounted 9 euro tickets Salzburg-Villach, but with Salzburg to Krakow (no matter which route you take) you can actually make stopovers and see some places in between. ...but I notice that there are no trains to Dubrovnik. Long time ago Dubrovnik actual had railway (coming from Sarajevo), but eventually it was closed and pulled apart. So nowadays farthest you can get by rail is Split (trains from Zagreb), and then continue by bus or ferry to Dubrovnik. Also, in case you have time, it's very nice journey simply to take ferry all the way from Rijeka to Dubrovnik, this way you'll sail throughout the entire Croatian costline
139
« on: May 11, 2015, 11:51:02 am »
I'm also trying to buy a Night train ticket from Brasov to Budapest but I really couldn't finish it... it's really difficult to understand how to buy tickets online. Unfortunately situation didn't change much compared to what it used to be 2 years ago - it is still impossible to purchase international tickets via Romanian Railways (CFR) official website. Obviously unless you willing to risk & overpay using some agency's services. I'm planning my travel to mid August and I'd like to know if I can have problems buying the ticket only two or three days before the journey in Romania. Doubt that there will be any problems buying ticket 2-3 days in advance (NB: remember that you can purchase such ticket not only in Brasov, but basically any Romanian ticket counter). There are 4 overnight trains from Brasov to Budapest, so it's highly unlikely that all of them will be sold out, especially on a week day. The only trouble is that 2-3 days in advance all the discounted promo fare tickets (start from only 19 euro) would probably be sold out, so you'll have to pay standard fare ticket price (which is almost 50 euro for the ticket + seat/berth reservation) Can you tell me if this travel is comfortable? Well, it depends on your idea of comfortable (e.g. depending on the train you can expect sleepers look something like this, seat compartments like this or this), but in general international trains in that part of Europe usually tend to have newer/more comfortable carriages than domestic ones
140
« on: May 10, 2015, 03:59:46 pm »
Just open Austrian Railways (OeBB) ticket sale page, enter stations + date and tickets should be shown. Now checked again, for 17:08 departure on 12 June those 19 euro (per person, thus it will make 38 euro in case two passengers traveling) tickets are still available, but obviously they can get sold out any time. Quota of discounted tickets are limited per each departure, so it's first come - first serve bases
141
« on: May 10, 2015, 01:21:17 pm »
1) See more of Slovakia and work our way back to Poland by train for a flight from Krakow (not booked yet and we need to work out feasibility/cost of fitting it in with our international flights). To be honest, it's a bit weird to come back to Poland in order to fly to UK. Obviously there are plenty of things to see in Slovenia-Hungary-Slovakia, but perhaps it might make sense to look at other options (e.g. see below) 2) Take a train route that allows us to stop off a couple of times in places we haven't visited before or are happy to revisit - Salzburg, Munich, Cologne, Strasbourg seems to be on the main routes. It's not a problem to travel (mostly) by land rather cheaply here, for instance: Ljubljana to Salzburg: it's possible to get discounted promo fares tickets from Villach (first big station next to Slovenia/Austria border) to Salzburg for only 9 euro, while leg from Ljubljana to Villach is just 12 euro no matter when you purchase ticket. Salzburg to Munich: very easy and cheap, especially if traveling not alone - so called Bavaria Ticket can be bought and is valid from Salzburg, plus it allows travel during the entire day, so for the same money it's possible to turn Salzburg-Munich into whole day excursion around Bavaria (e.g. leave Salzburg in the morning, arrive to Munich & leave your thing in hotel/luggage storage and spend rest of the for the trip to the mountains, lake Constance etc.) Munich to Cologne: multiple options here: a) you can fly; b) travel by high-speed train (plenty of departures + discounted tickets, which can be bought from German Railways website) and c) don't bother with in advance ticket purchase and simply use slower trains & Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket/Happy Weekend Ticket (more about these tickets on our Germany page - http://europetrainsguide.com/Countries/Germany/Germany-DB.html ) Cologne to Strasbourg: again to avoid international tickets and in advance ticket purchase you can opt for Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket/Happy Weekend Ticket from Cologne to Kehl (which is small town just across the Rhein from Strasbourg). From Kehl to Strasbourg it's very easy by local transport Strasbourg to London: again few option here: a) simply check flights from the nearby French and German airports or b) travel via Paris with high-speed TGV and then EuroStar trains (discounted tickets for both legs (from 25 euro & 51 euro respectively) available via French Railways website 3) Wait to see what alternatives you come up with  Perhaps first thing I thought here was spending few days at the Adriatic cost (Croatian Istria, Koper, Trieste) and/or touring northern Italy (Udine, Venice, Verona, Milan etc.) with the idea afterward to fly to London from Pula/Rijeka or one of the Italian airports (all those are served by low-cost airlines, so it can be very cheap compared to by land travel option). In September it's still very warm there + less touristy, so it can be perfect ending for the European trip.
142
« on: May 08, 2015, 03:55:16 pm »
Our travel date is 12 June 2015.
Guess the better option is to take to Westbanhof and take the bus from there to airport.
Would take suggestion to leave Salzburg 16:08. Unfortunately for dep. 16:08 on June 12 all the discounted 19 euro tickets are already sold out, promo fare tickets are left only for 17:08 departure (arr. to Vienna 19:30) -->  But if you want to be on a safe side and arrive to the airport earlier than 20:25 (will happen if you take 17:08 train), then perhaps you can just take WestBahn train departing Salzburg 15:52 (arr. to Vienna 18:22), this way you will make it to the same airport bus (dep. 18:40 - arr. to the airport 19:25)
143
« on: May 08, 2015, 03:45:29 pm »
Guy from German forum inform Bayern-Boehmen ticket is recognized in all CD trains (despite conditions on DB side state only EX, R, Sp, Os), even in SC (but for SC supplement is needed)
http://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?30,7401576 Ok, so it means that people in CD info center knew what they were talking about  Now we have confirmation from two sources Then with Prague to Plzen JT has two options: a) purchase in advance discounted tickets via CD eShop, 95 CZK per passenger or b) don't bother with any in advance purchase and just buy tickets (with group discount) before departure, those will cost 360 CZK for all three
144
« on: May 07, 2015, 11:09:01 pm »
1.Is my interpretation of this restriction on this ČD train correct? Well, actually this is relatively new situation. Czechs decided to switch these couple Prague to Munich trains from Express (Ex) to EuroCity (EC) on domestic leg only few months ago. And although de-jure EC trains aren't in the list of allowed trains for Bavaria-Bohemia ticket, but ČD contact centre actually confirmed by email that Bavaria-Bohemia ticket can be used on those EC from Plzen onwards, so it appears de-facto in this case category switch didn't change anything. You can yourself email Czechs and ask about the same thing, they should once confirm it as they did to our email recently. However we still will try to answer the rest of the questions, perhaps it might be useful in some other occassion 2. To avail ourselves of the cheap domestic ČD fares, I'd then like to buy domestic tickets Praha - Furth i Wald (Gr) for that train, but I can't seem to do that through the ČD Online shop. Are tickets for this stretch available through the ČD ticket machines at Praha Hlavni?
3. Or would I have to buy them in person at the station? And if so, is there a surcharge for buying in person? Furth i Wald (Gr) is basically a virtual point (= border between Czech Republic and Germany), not a station or anything, that is why CD eShop can't sell you such ticket. However at the station it is possible to buy it for 258 CZK per person (or 580 CZK for three passengers due to group ticket discount). No surcharge. 4.If I can't buy domestic tickets for Praha - Furth i Wald (Gr), I"m thinking about buying domestic tickets for Praha - Domazlice, then short haul international tickets Domazlice - Furth i Wald Bahnhof for the same train. Does this sound feasible? Yes, sure, but it won't be necessary, since you can purchase ticket till Furth i Wald (Gr) at the counter in basically any Czech station 5.If anyone has any ideas about how I could minimize the costs further, please let me know. Well, 285 CZK (Prague-Plzen for 3) + 37,2 EUR (Bavaria-Bohemia Ticket for 3) or 580 CZK (Prague-Furth i Wald (Gr) for 3 with group discount) + 33 EUR (Bavaria Ticket for 3) is already very very cheap, so hardly you can get a better deal. Perhaps anything that can come close is super promo fare bus ticket to Germany (like 9 euro per passenger) + again Bavaria-Ticket, but still it would be more expensive.
145
« on: May 07, 2015, 10:02:44 pm »
Having spent an inordinate amount of time researching your recommended bus/train connections (yes great Slovak website) and places to visit I finally decided to take the ‘northern’ route. However I haven't investigated going via Piwiczna-Zdroj/Lomnica-Zdroj yet as there were so many good reviews for travelling via Zakopane. In case you prefer to see Stara Lubovna and Bardejov, but still travel via Zakopane is not a problem at all, can be easily accomplished. Just that your route will be slightly more curvy compared to Krakow-Piwiczna-Zdroj/Lomnica-Zdroj. De-facto even here you can have two possible options: a) "lazy": e.g. Krakow-Zakopane (bus, 6:40-8:40 or earlier, 15 PLN), then Zakopane-Poprad (bus, 9:00-10:53, 22 PLN), basically nothing to see in Poprad, so makes sense to continue further almost immediately, thus Poprad-Kezmarok (either bus 11:25-11:55 or train 11:46-12:12, both options will cost you around 1 euro), short walk around the town and continue with Kezmarok-Stara Lubovna (bus, 13:38-14:23) or alternatively you can simply skip Kezmarok entirely and just go with the same train (dep. Poprad 11:46) to Stara Lubovna (arr.13:00), ticket fares are 1.5-2 euro. Next few hours can be reserved to see the castle, town, maybe have lunch and afterward catch bus to Bardejov (16:00-16:58, around 3 euro for the ticket). And finally another couple hours for Bardejov and catch bus/train to Presov or even Kosice (depends on where you want to spend the night) b) "no Poprad needed" version: Krakow-Zakopane the same as above, while with Zakopane-Poprad bus you actually don't go all the way to Poprad, but get off half an hour earlier in the mountains (Tatranska Lomnica), once again makes sense to check google maps, which will help you to visualize geography of the region. If you lucky and bus from Zakopane arrive early you might be able to catch direct bus to Kezmarok (dep. Tatranska Lomnica 10:20 - arr. 10:48), if not, than take a walk in the nature and travel by train with change in Studený Potok (11:43-12:12 arr. to Kezmarok). After Kezmarok it can be the same itinerary as above. Obviously all the schedules and prices are for current day, but hardly there will be major changes in September, so you can more or less count on the same buses & trains (unless you travel on weekends, when bus/local train schedules tend to differ from ones on weekdays) Anyway at some unearthly hour of the morning I realised that we would want to leave our luggage somewhere while we explore. We travel light, very light by most standards, but I do not want to take it with me on any short excursions. Do the smaller railway stations have secure lockers? Any suggestions? Well, with train stations you have a list of Slovak stations where baggage lockers are available (unfortunately, as you can see yourself, it's mainly major stations). With buses situation might be even more difficult, because not everywhere you would even have a building of bus station. However, in smaller towns you can usually try just asking around. Even if the cashier/caretaker at the station full refuse to allow you leave the baggage in their room, then perhaps makes sense simply go to the nearest bar/restaurant, order a beer and ask the owners if maybe they can watch you things for a few hours (obviously this will work only if you don't plan to leave something very valuable)
146
« on: May 05, 2015, 11:51:09 pm »
I have checked the train maps and Slovakrail web site and places like St Lubovna and Barejov appear to be at the end of branch lines and not on a direct route to Kosice? Therefore if I want to go to Bardejov I would have to take a return journey from say Kysak? Here it makes sense to combine rail transport and buses. In Slovakia buses run pretty well, so you can easily create an itinerary and logistically cover everything nicely (e.g. from Stara Lubovna to Bardejov by bus and then from there to Presov/Kosice by train and so on). Slovaks actually have very nice website for checking all the schedules (train, buses) - cp.atlas.sk - it will show you everything you need (although obviously for September it's too early yet, but in August you can easily see all the buses available for the exact dates you need) Big question is that in case you do decide to see some places in Eastern Slovakia, you have to choose whether to go "northern" route (Poland-Stara Lubovna-Bardejov-Presov-Kosice) or opt for "southern" (Poland-Poprad-Levoca-Spisske Pohradie-Presov-Kosice). While from Kosice to Budapest it's fairly easy: morning or evening direct train (three and half hours & 20 euro for the ticket even if you buy before departure) The only other part of the journey I’m still unsure of is getting from Krakow-Zakopane and over the border into Slovakia. Bus or train? From Krakow to Zakopane it's easy peasy - either direct train ( schedule) or bus ( multiple carriers), both option will cost you 14-20 PLN, no need to buy in advance. From Zakopane to Slovakia during the season (lasts till October) it's also not a problem, since there you have direct buses few times per day (22 PLN for the ticket to Poprad). But in case you decide to go for "northern" route in Slovakia (thus Stara Lubovna-Bardejov), then it might make sense to think about skipping Zakopane at all and from Krakow going directly to Piwniczna-Zdrój/Łomnica-Zdrój with further idea of catching Slovak domestic bus from Mnisek nad Popradem to Stara Lubovna Therefore if I decide to stay over en route for a night or two I would have to split the journey and buy two tickets? Well, here will work the same trick with different tickets. From Poland to Slovakia you'll come by bus, then either combination of train+bus (with Slovak domestic ticket, which aren't expensive), perhaps a night in like Kosice, while from Kosice to Budapest you already get international ticket. Imho, its totally doable to start in the morning from Krakow, during the day see some places and arrive to Presov/Kosice for the overnight stay Can I buy a ticket through to Budapest at any of the smaller stations if I have to split the journey or wait til I get to a larger terminal like Kosice? Yep, you can, in Slovakia it's done using pc program, so any station with pc can sell you international ticket to Budapest, but it doesn't make sense to buy ticket like Poprad-Budapest or Bardejov-Budapest, much cheaper would be to go with Slovak domestic tickets and then international ticket from Kosice Booking period on website:
Maximum 3 months before the date of travel
Minimum the day of travel - (but they may have run out of the cheaper bargain tickets by then?!) It's 60 days and yep, bargain tickets will definitely be sold out on the day of travel, so hardly you can count on buying 19 euro ticket while already in Budapest. Also would like to remind you that such discounted tickets aren't exchangeable or refundable (sort of the price you pay for bargain fare)
147
« on: May 05, 2015, 12:26:46 pm »
First of all it means that you can count on cheap Budapest-Ljubljana daytime train (discounted tickets which can be bought from Hungarian Railways website start from only 19 euro, while before departure you'll pay 39 euro), which actually goes through Celje (dep. Budapest 13:35 - arr. to Celje 20:03)
as fair as I know the purchase of SparSchiene 19 EUR ticket Budapest - Ljulbjana is not implemented on MAV website (probably because it's quite new deal, in previous seasons kinda-SparSchiene tickets from Hungary to Slovenia didn't existed)
 However SEL should keep in mind that with entering Budapest-Celje route sparschiene discounted tickets will not be shown, thus it makes sense just to buy Budapest-Ljubljana and get off earlier in Celje
148
« on: May 04, 2015, 10:40:44 pm »
We will be travelling in Sept and our final destination from Krakow is near Celj, Slovenia but I had assumed that we would have to travel to Ljubljana to get there. Ljubljana is a detour actually, since in both cases (whether you go to Slovenia from Vienna or Hungary) you will be coming from north-east, thus Celje will be earlier than Ljubljana. Our only reason for stopping off in Vienna was to revisit the city, as our previous stay was in winter and I had assumed that it was on the easiest & most direct route. Well, if Vienna is not must stop destination, then it changes a lot of things. First of all it means that you can count on cheap Budapest-Ljubljana daytime train (discounted tickets which can be bought from Hungarian Railways website start from only 19 euro, while before departure you'll pay 39 euro), which actually goes through Celje (dep. Budapest 13:35 - arr. to Celje 20:03) We have never been to Slovakia and I am thinking that perhaps we should stop off somewhere along the line if we accept Option C. (Recommendations appreciated). Again, if you not necessarily need to travel through Austria, then actually you not necessarily need to take Krakow-Bielsko Biala-Zwardon-Skalite-Zilina-Bratislava (where Zilina can perhaps be a stop for couple hours or Bratislava even for an entire day). In case you like nature or some old towns/castles you can choose to travel for instance Krakow-Zakopane-Stara Lubovna/Bardejov(-Kezmarok-Levoca-Spisske Podhradie)-Presov-Kosice-Budapest (obviously some of the middle points here can be thrown out or changed) or see some central Slovakia (Banská Bystrica, Levice etc.) Another route I gather is via Budapest. Another city we’d love to visit, as once again we have only been there in mid-winter, but not necessary. Yes, Hungary (and Budapest) is basically a must either way (whether you travel through western, central or eastern Slovakia), because mentioned above direct train to Slovenia departs from Budapest So without, I hope, taxing you too much, would you recommend another more direct route that avoids going through Austria? However we are also happy to use bus connections or walk the extra km if that helps at border crossings - but no hitch hiking! Well, as you can already get from previous comments, another more direct route is Krakow-Slovakia-Hungary-Celje. And you can either choose to stop somewhere in Slovakia (see above) or perhaps just take direct bus Krakow-Budapest, it's relatively fast and cheap. I am also sorting out the next stage of our journey NW or W from Ljubljana but I’ll leave that for another time... We are here to help fellow travelers, so you are always welcome to ask for advice
149
« on: May 03, 2015, 10:54:44 pm »
Little bit cheaper and simpler is just buy via CD eShop just the ticket Cesky Tesin - Wien in advance, it costs 19 EUR. Simpler, yes, you are right. However from previous experience it was more difficult to get 19 euro discounted tickets (Moravian-Silesian Region to Wien) compared to 9 euro ones from Brno, quota was bigger for the later + more trains, but maybe nowadays it's not that big of an issue anymore. Cheaper? Not really. Since those 290/306 CZK for Cesky Tesin-Brno/Breclav ticket is absolute maximum price (when buying ticket at the ticket counter before departure), while in case SEL has a chance to buy Czech domestic ticket in advance, then ticket fare can go down to 199/243 CZK + 251 CZK (≈ 9 euro) for Brno-Vienna vs. 530 CZK (≈ 19 euro) for Cesky Tesin-Vienna promo offer, thus win with Czech domestic tickets can be up to 80 CZK Just it worth to know that in cases when it's not avaialble (when such tickets are sold out or if you want to go in time, when price 29EUR is not proposed) - it's still often possible to find other option to make section Wien - Ljubljana cheaper (many of them are based on possibility to get ticket Wien - Graz in only 9 EUR or Wien - Spielfeld Strass in 14 EUR if you buy in advance). True, although cross-border fares from Austria to Slovenia aren't cheap and there is really no way to cross cheaper (unless hitchhiking)
150
« on: May 02, 2015, 07:18:04 pm »
I gather from other posts that the cheapest way is to buy point to point ticket for stations within each country. Well, it kind of depends on what type of case you have. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy in advance discounted international ticket (sold in limited quantity per departure, but fare is really cheap), sometimes indeed it's cheaper to "break" tickets via border stations. We would also like to stop off in Vienna for a few days so wonder if there is any ticket that allows us to break the journey or if we would have to buy two tickets to travel through Austria. If you purchase standard international ticket (SCIC-NRT tariff) Krakow-Ljubljana via Vienna it will be valid for 15 days and allow unlimited number of stopovers, however price of such ticket is enormously high (almost 140 euro per passengers). That is why it makes sense to choose different way and buy couple tickets for separate legs of your journey. Option A: you can purchase in advance discounted tickets for daytime or overnight train to Vienna (seats from 29 euro, couchettes 39 euro, sleepers 59 euro), and then another discounted ticket from Vienna to Ljubljana (from 29 euro), thus in total you will pay as low as 58 euro for the entire trip (Krakow-Vienna-Ljubljana). However bit of a problem here is that on the first leg (Krakow (or other destination in Poland) - Vienna) discounted tickets can't be bought online via official Polish Railways (PKP) website, while once you will be already in Poland to visit ticket counter they probably will be already sold out. With Vienna to Ljubljana everything is much simpler - these tickets sold online via Austrian Railways (OeBB) website and we even have a step by step guide on how to purchase tickets via OeBB website Option B: don't bother with discounted tickets Poland-Austria and just travel with changes. For instance rather cheap option would be to catch a bus from Krakow to small border town Cieszyn (2:30-3 hours & 20 polish zloty), then walk to Czech part of the town (less than 2km, you can check it yourself on google maps) and catch Czech domestic train till Brno (btw, nice town to stop for couple hours) or Breclav (both are roughly 3 hours away and max. 11 euro for the ticket), while from Brno you can get direct train to Vienna for as low as 9 euro (if bought in advance via Czech Railways eShop). Option C: avoid going Czech Republic at all and travel via Slovakia. With this plan you can even avoid any in advance ticket purchase and simply buy everything before departure. Route will be Krakow-Bielsko Biala-Zwardon-Skalite-Zilina-Bratislava-Vienna, for Krakow to Bielsko Biala better to use bus, while afterward train with changes in Zwardon-Zilina and Bratislava. Total price for the entire journey will be about 30 euro Anyways, we suggest you to look at rail network (and usual) maps of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia & Austria, see yourself all the point mentioned above and then make a choice which option might be of interest to you I also notice that on the Polrail website they ask for the ages of passengers. Do they actually give a discount to youths or seniors from other, or non European, countries? First all of all, Polrail is not an rail company, it's just an agency which resells tickets with commission. Those guys just use the fact that Polish Railways doesn't sell yet all the types of tickets online and offer their resellers service. We usually don't recommend using agencies, simply because there aren't always reliable + always charge more for the ticket. Second, in some cases age does matter, but it usually happens with standard fare (=already very expensive) tickets
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