Budapest --> Krakow --> Prague (overnight train)

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Hi Hi

We plan to take overnight trains from budapest to krakow then krakow to prague, we would like to have sleepers and we hold east rail pass, so to reserve in advance, either

1. buy via agent in HK, most more expensive but certain

2. buy via agent in Poland(recommended in net), they mail the ticket to HK, less expensive

3. ask my friend in poland buy for us then mail to us , but we are not sure if she does not have rail pass on hand, can she still reserve the sleeper? or as long as we show the pass with the sleeper reservation when we on board is ok?

4. buy after we arrive budapest (first station), but we will take overnight train to krakow on the second night, afraid out of stock or no sleeper

please share your advise!!THANKS!!!

One more question would need your help:

We are travelling from budapest to krakow (overnight train), krakow to prague (overnight train ),
prague to cesky krumlov by student agency bus, cesky krumlov to Linz by transfer service shuttle, Linz to hallstatt by train, hallstatt to Salzburg by train, Salzburg to vienna by train and vienna to budapest by train too

do you think we should by east europe rail pass? or point to point?
please share your thought, thanks so much!!!

3. ask my friend in poland buy for us then mail to us , but we are not sure if she does not have rail pass on hand, can she still reserve the sleeper? or as long as we show the pass with the sleeper reservation when we on board is ok?

Since you have a friend in Poland there is definitely no need to pay extra and use agencies. It is not a problem to buy sleeper reservation without having ticket/pass. You just need to have both when you board your train

We are travelling from budapest to krakow (overnight train), krakow to prague (overnight train ), prague to cesky krumlov by student agency bus, cesky krumlov to Linz by transfer service shuttle, Linz to hallstatt by train, hallstatt to Salzburg by train, Salzburg to vienna by train and vienna to budapest by train too
do you think we should by east europe rail pass? or point to point?

Actual answer depends on number of days you want to buy pass for and resulting price of the pass. If to take in theory, then Budapest-Krakow ticket+2bed sleeper reservation can cost you as cheap as 49 EUR (discounted offer sold by Hungarian railways online). For the overnight Krakow-Prague train there is no discounted offer, but ticket there isn't that expensive (38 EUR+sleeper reservation). For Linz-Hallstatt you can always use Einfach-Raus Ticket (daily pass for regional trains for up to 5 passengers), thus your total travel cost will be only 28 EUR. Same Einfach-Raus Ticket can be used for Hallstatt-Salzburg and Salzburg-Vienna routes. While for Vienna-Budapest you can always purchase discounted 19 EUR ticket (https://ticket.oebb.at/bin/frame_ticket.pl?ticket=jticket.pl&LANG=EN).
So if we take your "we" as two passengers traveling, then smartly bought point-to-point + things like Einfach-Raus Ticket can give you travel expenses per person around 160-170 EUR in total for the whole rail part of your itinerary.

thanks for the detailed reply！！its so helpful!!
however, i sent email to polish state rail, and ask if my friend can reserve sleeper for us without the rail pass on hand, they said no. i asked similar question to czech rail and they said no too, but ask us to try to buy, does this mean officially my friend hasto buy with the pass, but in reality they will reserve for u even u dont have the pass on hand?

thanks in advance

however, i sent email to polish state rail, and ask if my friend can reserve sleeper for us without the rail pass on hand, they said no. i asked similar question to czech rail and they said no too, but ask us to try to buy, does this mean officially my friend hasto buy with the pass, but in reality they will reserve for u even u dont have the pass on hand?

Hmm... sounds strange. As far as we know, official rule that forbids purchase of reservation without having ticket in hand only used in former Soviet countries (like Russia or Ukraine). There you won't even be able to purchase ticket separately. But in Central Europe it wasn't an issue. There is a slight chance that something changed rather recently, but more that it's some kind of misunderstanding. For instance, Czech Railways freely sells online reservations for certain international trains (https://www.cd.cz/eshop/) and you can buy it without any ticket. So probably the best thing here is just to ask your friend to try at the actual ticket desk, then we will get definite answer

I searched and found there is only one direct train from budapest to krakow and from krakow to prague,

 Travel from Budapest to Krakow,
Tuesday, 28 June 2011:
Train #EN476
Depart Budapest-Keleti pu 19:55
Arrive Krakow Glowny 06:56

Travel from Krakow to Prague, Thursday, 30 June 2011:
Train #D402
Depart Krakow Glowny 21:57
Arrive Praha hl.n. 07:33

am i correct? I afraid i will buy the wrong tickets

in case my friend couldnt but it for us at the train station without the pass,
do u think we can buy it on 27 afternoon for the budapest to krakow one (3 people sleeper)?
cause we arrive on 27 June only.......
or we should book via agent.........
for the krakow to prague one(30 June), do you think we will able buy it when we arrive budapest in 27 June??

sorry for so many questions but really thanks so much for your detailed answers and patience

O..searched again and found that budapest does not have direct train on 28 June, one change is needed:

 20:05 Budapest-Keleti 06:24 Krakow Glowny 1 10:19    - - 
  Timetable Factual
/Estimated Platform Information Train  Services
Budapest-Keleti 20:05  6  476  METROPOL  EN ( - Berlin Hbf (Tief))         
Breclav 23:55    through carriage   
Breclav 00:22   +>> 406  CHOPIN  EN (Wien Westbf - Warszawa Wschodnia)       
Bohumin 02:22       
Bohumin 03:07   +>> 401  SILESIA  (Praha hl. n. - Krakow Glowny)   
Krakow Glowny 06:24       

I thought they always have a direct train  but seems they dun have in the end of june...
or the information is not yet available ....?please help
 

Tuesday, 28 June 2011:
Train #EN476
Depart Budapest-Keleti pu 19:55
Arrive Krakow Glowny 06:56

DB and PKP websites list departure at 19:55, while official Hungarian railways website as 20:05. But nevertheless, it is the option. With train EN476 (Budapest-Berlin) run two so called 'through' carriages Budapest-Krakow. In the middle of the night they just get reattached to other trains, so at the end you don't need to change anything

Travel from Krakow to Prague, Thursday, 30 June 2011:
Train #D402
Depart Krakow Glowny 21:57
Arrive Praha hl.n. 07:33

Correct

in case my friend couldnt but it for us at the train station without the pass, do u think we can buy it on 27 afternoon for the budapest to krakow one (3 people sleeper)?

For route Budapest-Krakow, as we said earlier, you can purchase tickets online in advance from Hungarian railways website. As of now, it seems that the last day of sale for this route is June 11, but soon there should be tickets available for your dates as well.
Concerning purchase already in Budapest: it is only two direct carriages (one is sleeper and the other one is couchette). Hard to believe that there will be no beds left at all two days in advance, but since it is rather busy season, then you might have problems getting exact beds you want. As result we would recommend to buy online, it will be cheap and safe

or the krakow to prague one(30 June), do you think we will able buy it when we arrive budapest in 27 June??

Hmm... actually we doubt that in Budapest they will sell you ticket Krakow-Prague that easily. But even if they do, then the fare would be cosmic since not special Poland-Czech Republic will be applied. So in this case it makes sense to ask you friend to buy in Poland. There it would be no problem at all.

I thought they always have a direct train  but seems they dun have in the end of june...or the information is not yet available ....?please help

Don't worry, there is direct rail connection from Budapest to Krakow everyday, but websites just tend to show it a bit strangely. In real life, as we already said, there is no direct train from Budapest to Krakow, but only direct carriages, which during the route get reattached few times (in Breclav and Bohumin). So 'one change' you found is one of those reattachments and nothing else, which somehow listed as 'change' on MAV website (might be simple mistyping or something like that). Polish, DB etc. timetables don't list it at all.

Hi, would like to ask can we use Einfach-Raus Ticket  for train OIC??
i know the card can be used for RSB/REX/R/S-Bahn, but i see some cars show OIC ...
thanks!

would like to ask can we use Einfach-Raus Ticket  for train OIC??

No, Einfach-Raus Ticket is not valid for OIC (InterCity) trains, since those are already considered to be long-distance fast trains.

I CHECKED THE TRAIN FROM HALLSTATT TO SALZBERG, THEY SHOW R.OIC, REX, OIC,I SEE THE TRAIN FROM 9AM.TO.1 pm, seems the trip not covered entirely by  the group ticket, i chcked in bahn.de

It is covered, it is just the problem of DB website showing you by default fastest, thus involving OIC trains, options. If in the column "Means of transport" you tick "only local transport" and uncheck "prefer fast connections", then it will show you options with regional trains only.
For instance, 9:08am dep. from Hallstat, 15 min. change in Attnang-Puchheim (10:40-10:55) and arrival to Salzburg at 12:19.

For the overnight Krakow-Prague train there is no discounted offer, but ticket there isn't that expensive (38 EUR+sleeper reservation).

Where did you check thise price? i emailed polish rail ([email protected]) and they sell it at 308 PLN

Thanks!!

I emailed Czech rail and they said 38.6Euro , which is the same as what you mentioned, but i wonder why the price difference in Czech and Poland is so wide? or I asked the wrong email for the polish rail?

...but i wonder why the price difference in Czech and Poland is so wide? or I asked the wrong email for the polish rail?

Definitely price difference isn't possible. The fare from both sides is the same here. Maybe polish guys quoted fare for two one way tickets, did you mention to them anything about two people traveling?
Other much less obvious explanation is that they somehow added sleeper reservation to the ticket fare and gave you total price. But still, if so, then there is app. 40 extra euro, which is neither single or double sleeper reservation fare on this route