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181
« on: October 01, 2014, 01:32:07 pm »
Fly into Zagreb - Split - Mostar - Dubrovnik - Budva - fly out of Podgorcia Croatia, BiH and Montenegro are great places to visit, however a bit puzzling seems to be the choice of some destinations. In Dalmatia for instance Split is probably not even in top 10 most interesting places to visit. Yes, it is a big city (at least in Croatian context), but, imho, choosing it as destination to spend few days...khm... maybe just make it a base camp with "radial" journeys to more interesting places - Trogir, islands etc. Also slightly awkward seems the choice of Budva in Montenegro, especially taking into consideration that between Dubrovnik and Budva there is such a pearl as Kotor. Seems there is a good train and bus between Zagreb and Split. Yep, during the high-season there are usually a couple of daytime trains (roughly 6 hour journey) and two overnight ones. And obviously plenty of buses, however if you do decide to use the bus, then we would advise you spend some extra time and take one of the "longer" buses that travel by the seaside road (via Zadar, Sibenik) and not the highway. And see there is a bus service to Mostar from Split and Dubrovnik. There are buses between these destinations, although obviously not as frequent as domestic connections in Croatia (e.g. between Split and Mostar about half a dozen departures, a 3-4 between Mostar and Dubrovnik) I assume there is no train service between Dubrovnik and Budva though and the best is to just take the bus to Budva and then I see a lot of buses from Budva on (www.busterminal.me/) to Podgorcia? Long long time ago Dubrovnik had a railway line connecting it to the rest of the world, but nowadays it's only about buses. In Montenegro on the line Herceg Novi-Kotor-Budva-Cetinje-Podgorica buses run like every 20-30 min, so it's very easy to travel to Podgorica, even no need to think about tickets in advance or timetable - just get to the bus station and board a bus. With this option do you think with bus/train this route would be doable? How are the services between Zagreb and Sarajevo? I would think there would be a lot of buses or trains from Sarajevo to Mostar? There is daytime direct train from Zagreb to Sarajevo + multiple buses. Between Sarajevo and Mostar there aren't many train as one would predict - only two daytime train + again multiple buses, but in this case would really recommend taking a train - great scenery. Trying to figure out if this options would give me a few days in each place and be able to get back to Zagreb without feeling too rushed? Well, all the listed destinations aren't that big, for almost all of them a day or two is totally enough, imho. Thus two weeks seems to be more than enough time, even if you chose to travel during the day (NB: with Zagreb-Split and Zagreb-Sarajevo distance allows an overnight journey)
182
« on: September 29, 2014, 07:24:38 pm »
so i guess i will buy treitalia ticket from Milan to ZuerichHB ..but i stop at Arth Goldau? right ... that i will buy now... Yep, somehow TrenItalia website doesn't have Arth-Goldau station in the list, but since the promo fare is the same (22 euro) it totally ok to purchase ticket till Zurich, but get off in Arth-Goldau (train definitely stops there, so no worries) ...but for Arth Goldau-Engelberg i will buy later... 14 days before travel? Exactly, no point to buy now, since for way in advance dates it shows full fare tickets (kind of pricey), but 14 days in advance you'll have access to the discounted SuperSaver tickets (you can check this out yourself inputting some date 14 days from today) currently i see they are departing every hour from arth goldau. Arth-Goldau to Luzern train actually run 3 times per hour and SBB usually have one of the trains "connected" to the arrival of the long-distance international one (for instance now there is 5 min. between arrival of the morning train Milan-Zurich to Arth-Goldau and departure of Arth-Golday-Luzern one). Pretty much the same thing will be in the new timetable - Swiss Railways care that passengers have minimal train change time. Where do you think i can find the list of stops from Milan to ZurichHB? You want to know all the stops? Or just those for the EuroCity trains Italy-Switzerland? For instance morning train is here, other train you can as well find via SBB Online timetable (just click + sign on the right from the destinations and then train type, like "EC") its free travel for 4 year olds right? so i dun need to purchase any tickets. SBB website informs us that " Children under 6 years travel free of charge when accompanied by a person holding a valid ticket", in Italy for the domestic journeys children need to have child fare ticket from the age of 4, however with the international connections it's different - Italy to Switzerland age limit is 6, so you should be fine
183
« on: September 29, 2014, 01:29:07 pm »
I plan to leave Milan on the 21st december 2014 morning train , theres no overnight train is there was hoping if there is i can leave 20th night? a) overnight journey isn't really an option here (at least when we speak about rail connection), and obviously unless you want to make something like a late night stopover somewhere in the middle (e.g. Lugano); b) dates after the mid. December are a bit tricky, since it's the time when almost entire Europe changes train schedule, thus current timetable can serve only as approximate example (general pattern will stay the same, but exact train times will probably change a bit). For instance for the international connection Italy-Switzerland schedule is already known and you can even purchase your train tickets today, while for the Swiss domestic journeys it's not up yet. Anyways direct train from Milan to Luzern departs in the afternoon, so it isn't an option for you then. Instead you have two more or less similar options in terms of money and travel time choices: board morning Milan-Basel train (can get off in Bern if you would like to spend some time in the Swiss capital or Olten in case you want to travel directly to Engelberg) or morning Milano-Zurich train (get off in Arth-Goldau). In both cases available discounted tickets (start from only 22 euro per passenger (standard full fare is >70 euro), must be bought in advance via Italian Railways website), while for the trip Bern/Olten-Engelberg or, alternatively, Arth-Goldau-Engelberg tickets should be bought via Swiss Railways website (in terms of money best option would be to wait until two weeks before the journey and get so called SuperSaver tickets There are 8 of us ... 7 + 1 (4year old child) Well, with such number of passengers you should be really quick in buying discounted tickets, since for the holidays time low-fare train tickets get sold out really soon (NB ticket purchase obviously is reasonable only if you are totally sure about the date and train choice, since discounted tickets are non-refundable & non-exchangeable) Basically for now we advise you to check out Italian Railways website, see yourself those discounted 22 euro tickets (should look like this), then for the informational sake you can also visit Swiss Railways website and check current timetable for Bern/Olten or Arth-Goldau-Engelberg trains (number of train connection should stay the same in late December). In case you still will have any questions - we are here to help. If no questions and you are totally ok with the discounted tickets Italy-Switzerland tariff rules - buy those and you can wait until early December for purchase of tickets for the short Swiss leg
184
« on: September 29, 2014, 10:51:21 am »
Getting to Mt.Titlis from the south/southeast (canton Uri) is a bit difficult, so this geographically most direct way probably isn't an option here. It means that coming from the north (-->visiting Luzern) is kind of inevitable, however there is absolutely no need to travel all the way to Zurich. From Milan to Luzern there is both direct rail connection from Milan and multiple options requiring only one train change (can be done in Lugano, Arth-Goldau or Olten). Swiss railway network map can be found hereBut in order to determine the best (price/time) option it will be good if you can tell us the time of the day you want to arrive to Luzern/Engelberg or dep. from Milan + app. date of the journey (many discounted train tickets require in advance purchase, so it is important to know whether you plan to travel tomorrow or in a few month) p.s. overall travel time between Milan and Engelberg during the day is between 5:30 and 6 hours (including all the train changes)
185
« on: September 28, 2014, 03:34:57 pm »
Then there is absolutely no need to think about ticket purchase right now, imho. Simply no point to buy expensive Vienna to Bucharest ticket now. You should think about tickets to Romania already once you know the decision regarding visa. If you get visa early enough, then you'll still have chance to get some discounted promo fare tickets (buying non-refundable tickets can get you a great deal). And even if all the discounted tickets are sold out at the time visa situation resolved, then there is still a number of tricks in order to pay less than OeBB wants to charge you for the journey on #346/347 train (e.g. go with Hungary-Romania + Austria-Hungary tickets combo) So there is only one government website where we can book the tickets which is clear. But when I search google for EU train tickets, it is not clear for me. Well, in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe absolute majority of railways as well are state owned, the trick is that there is just a lot of countries/railways and they all have different tariffs and offers, so sometimes straight forward ticket from destination A to destination B isn't the cheapest option
186
« on: September 26, 2014, 08:23:13 pm »
Tickets with refund option is quite pricey and basically there is not a big choice here. Kind of obvious way to go is purchase your tickets via OeBB (Austrian Railways) customer service and do so for the direct overnight train #346/347 Vienna-Bucharest (since it is a direct train there will be no problem). But once you get your visa (as far we understand you applying for Romanian visa, but flying in/out of Vienna, thus Schengen will be a transit, right?), you can simply return these tickets and opt for a cheaper option (depends on timing you've got before departure) Anyway ;there is NO solution to what you ask, as you cannot buy such a ticket online. In this case Online-Ticket isn't the only option for the abroad travelers, because OeBB offers so called ticket purchase via email (Customer Service form), it's not an online ticket, thus can be returned if the passenger in advance contacts OeBB
187
« on: August 31, 2014, 08:30:09 pm »
Actual sense in buying rail pass a lot depends on countries where you plan to travel and kind of intended journeys there. And the reason why we usually say "don't buy the Pass" is because fellow travelers consider pass for either very few journeys, or plan to use it in the region where majority of their rail journey would cost less than the price of the pass travel day. While with lengthy itineraries in relatively "expensive" rail countries (=almost all the Western Europe) pass quite often is hard to beat. Your case seems to be like that. The only comment we may have looking at your plan is that maybe it would be more economical to manage the whole thing with 21 days pass. Why? Because your first days in Italy can be easily and cheaply cover with smartly bought point-to-point tickets, while your last days in Sweden aren't full with many rail trips, so something like Stockholm-Uppsala you can as well travel with point-to-point. So at the end the sum of your point-to-point tickets* can be less than difference between the price of 30 and 21 days passes (although to confirm this guess we may need to know the exact difference in EUR, because in the Eurail Pass website we doesn't seem to find your 770 euro option) * e.g. Rome to Florence is easily doable with 9 euro ticket, Florence to Siena even before departure is just 8,7 euro, Milan to Lugano can be done in <10 euro and so on.
188
« on: August 27, 2014, 04:49:06 pm »
Well, there are couple things we can suggest here:
a) if you didn't purchase you pass yet, it might make sense to rethink such purchase (at least for Central Europe and Balkans journeys), because in absolute majority of cases Eurail pass is useless money spending for trips anywhere east from Germany/Austria. If you already have the pass, then maybe you should think on spending travel days on "expensive" countries (--> majority of Western European ones) where pass is indeed a good travel option.
b) but in case you totally ok spending pass travel days on Central Europe and Balkans, then probably a good itinerary would be to start from Paris with high-speed train to Germany. This way you for instance can reach Budapest (or Prague, or Vienna) in a day long journey, meaning you'll use only 1 travel day from your pass in order to reach you first Central European destination. Same trick with one travel day you can do for Budapest to Bucharest (in can be either really long day journey or overnight trip with 7pm rule). With Bucharest to Belgrade it's more tricky, since direct train is canceled and in order to reach Serbian capital you'll have to make a couple changes, although again 7pm rule can as well save you pass day here. Thus overall the entire itinerary Paris-Budapest-Bucharest-Belgrade can be done by using only 3 pass travel days. If you want to add Istanbul as the final destination, then again you should be ready for train changes (no direct rail connection here already for a while)
c) what concerns suggestion about destinations to visit, then probably can be added Prague, Vienna (either or both can be done before Budapest, meaning Paris-Prague/Vienna-Budapest and so on). Also might be a good idea to consider Transylvania (either "usual" Brasov, Sibiu, Sighisoara or something more exotic and less touristy), region is right in between Budapest and Bucharest. And finally from Serbia to Istanbul you can travel either via Bulgaria (also quite a few places to see there) or FYR Macedonia (lake Ohrid) and Greece (Thessaloniki). Although you should understand that additional stops will require additional travel days from you pass or, if it's a relatively short trip, a separate point to point ticket instead of using pass day.
189
« on: August 09, 2014, 12:08:41 am »
Not sure whether you heard, but few months ago there were huge floods in Serbia and multiple sections of the Belgrade-Bar line were damaged. ZS tried to repair it, but since June they canceled daytime train, so nowadays only overnight option is available. Anyways, in cases like these it is better to rely not on DB website or websites like cp.sk, but on official Serbian railways website, because "local"/company operator websites react much faster to any changes.
190
« on: July 23, 2014, 03:41:19 pm »
I actually called the hotel where I will be staying a few minutes ago and inquired about taxis, and I was told they could arrange a taxi from Tirana to Sarajevo for US $76, which sounds very reasonable. Is it? Well, $76 sounds even a bit unreal, imho. It's almost 400 km via two borders and entire Montenegro. Generally prices in the region aren't very high compared to other parts of Europe, but still... be careful and make sure that it's not the price for Albanian leg only or something like that. NB: by public transport the journey (Tirana-Shkoder-Ulcinj-(Sarajevo)-Podogrica) should be about 30 euro (app. 40 USD)
191
« on: July 22, 2014, 02:01:45 pm »
"Best ways" is kind of relative here, since on some cases there aren't many options to begin with, especially when it comes to rail transport Between Albania and Montenegro there is no passengers train service, so as far as you can get by train in Albania is Shkoder, while from there you can take bus to Montenegro (buses from Shkoder to Ulcinj run few times per day). Also it has been reported that there are some semiofficial transport directly from Tirana to Ulcinj, however for the up to date info on that it will be better to ask already in Tirana (e.g. hotel management in Tirana would probably help here). From Ulcinj you have two options: a) travel directly to Sarajevo (apparently during summer season there is daytime (7:30-17:20) and overnight (20:00-6:30) direct buses) or b) first travel to Podgorica and from there take one of the multiple buses to BiH capital (bus schedule Ulcinj-Podgorica and Podgorica-Sarajevo can be found here) With Sarajevo to Ljubljana you also can not count on direct train, however with one change in Croatia (Zagreb) the journey is pretty easy. First direct train from Sarajevo to Zagreb (10:46-19:51) and then another one from Zagreb to Ljubljana (21:20-23:37). In case you don't want to spend entire day for the journey, then also possible to take direct overnight bus from Sarajevo to Ljubljana (however night on the bus might not be the most desired option)
192
« on: July 21, 2014, 12:13:17 am »
Hi & Welcome 1) I can only find an overnight train from Amsterdam to Prague, even though I have read that there are day trains as well. Am I not looking in the right place? How can I find/book a day train?
As of now (and as far as we remember for many years already) the only direct connection between Dutch and Czech capitals are the overnight CNL train (19:01-9:27 and 18:29-10:03 on the way back). However it doesn't mean that you can't travel between two cities during the day - with one train change it is totally possible and quite easy actually, although overall travel time in this case will still be about 12 hours (depending on connection) 2) Is it best to book round trip from the Dutch Rail Line (NS Hispeed, is it?), or a one-way from the Dutch, and a one-way from the Czech Rail Line (CD)? Well, here it's a bit tricky and you should look at the particular date of the journey and whether you choose to travel with direct overnight train or during the day with change. Because sometimes it might be cheaper to purchase ticket via NS website, sometimes via CD (Czech Railways), while sometimes even via German Railways (DB) website 3) The fare I found while attempting to book from the Dutch website was over 300 Euros for 2 people - that can't be right, can it? Again, it's hard to say something without knowing the exact date, but de-facto tickets for the direct overnight CNL train start from only 29 euro per passenger, however when cheapest fare level tickets get sold out the next price level kicks in and so on, until the full standard fare is reached (300+ euro for two passengers seems to look like the price for the full fare tickets). So with date relatively close from today you might not get a chance to purchase cheapest discounted tickets. That is why we suggest you to decide whether you want to travel for 12 hours during the day with one change or instead go with direct overnight option, then decide on the date and let us know. With this information we can definitely let you know where (NS, CD or DB) to buy your there and back tickets and what will be the cheapest fares available
193
« on: July 20, 2014, 12:33:28 pm »
also meinfernbus, deinbus, city2city and berlinlinienbus have opened a lot of new buslines in DE-and recently also more to neighboring countries. They often now offer the only overnight options Sure, I know that this sort of low-cost bus companies are booming right now. And Czech Republic was actually one of the first countries where this model turned out to be relatively successful (--> Student Agency company). The only reason why in the previous post I mentioned EuroLines is that it seems to be the only bus company on the route from Vienna to Prague which promises < travel time compared to rail transport. If we speak about financial matters, then obviously it will be good to know the date of the journey (or at least how long in advance can OP purchase the tickets), only then it will possible to weight all the pros & cons of bus vs. train
194
« on: July 20, 2014, 12:23:57 pm »
Is this high-speed supplement really needed? Yes, it is compulsory. Apparently it's the problem with the module/website, it simply doesn't show the difference (confirmed by Q&A on SNCF website) If the answer to previous question is "yes" - my 2nd question - if this TER-GV supplement is needed in case of usage NRT ticket (purchased in Germany) In the context of supplement NRT ticket isn't different from base TER tariff, so unlike in some other countries "international" ticket won't save you from paying the supplement. Although there is a minor chance that French conductor won't sort out things with the unusual ticket and just let you travel without supplement, but it's kind of risky to rely on such possibility, imho. Much easier is just to pay extra 3 euro
195
« on: July 17, 2014, 08:57:59 pm »
We are trying to see if it's possible to go from Vienna to Prague and backwards the same day. Yes, it is possible. Travel time between the cities by train is roughly 4:30-5 hours (depending on departure), while first morning train from Vienna to Prague departs at 6:50am (arr. to Czech capital at 11:21), last evening train from Prague to Vienna departs 18:39 (arr. 23:03) Worth it? Well, it depends a lot on your sightseeing practices. Basically you will have about 7 hours in Prague, theoretically it is enough to see the city center p.s. at this forum we mainly help out with rail itineraries, but the full picture - one of the bus companies (EuroLines) which operates between Vienna and Prague actually offers 3:55 journeys between the cities
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