Cieszyn to Oświęcim

1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

  Ok looking at the train rozklad-pkp.pl for 25.5.2011, I am only seeing a few trains leaving from Cieszyn Marklowice to Oświęcim:

8:04 (with a connection in Czechowice Dziedzice),
12:08 (with a connection in Czechowice Dziedzice) and
14:25 (Direct)

  You had mentioned the bus is another option and the PKS station is right close to the train station in Cieszyn.  I can only find the Polish language website for the PKS in Cieszyn so I can't really understand what the bus times are to get to Oświęcim.

  Just trying to figure out better options then just those 3 trains

The best place to check polish bus timetable is www.e-podroznik.pl . English version of the website isn't that good, but still at least something. While entering the destinations you need enter all those letters like ś , ę etc. for the website to find it, thus enter Cieszyn - Oświęcim. Also click on 'Accept indirect connection' box.
Saying roughly, bus connections available every 30-45 minutes between 4:30am till 7:30pm, most with change in biggest town of the region - Bielsko-Biała. Total journey (around 70km) with change take from 2 to 3 hours.
If you having troubles, then just let us know, we are ok with polish version, so give us your app. arrival time to C.Tesin/Cieszyn and we would specifically find connection for your time (list buses, timing etc.)

  Ok I can check that out.  I did notice though there is a train that leaves from Ostrava to Oswiecim on May 25th at 6:19am as well.  It's only 255 czk and takes about 2 hours.

 The only issue is it looks like there is 2 connections and from how I'm reading it, there is very little time to get off the train and on to the next one.  Am I reading that right?  Seems 2 minutes to change trains is way to short.

  Here's the link to the literary I am looking at:

http://www.cd.cz/spojeni/conn.aspx?f=ostrava&date=25.05.2011&t=oswiecim&time=6&v=&byarr=false&cmd=cmdSearch

...there is a train that leaves from Ostrava to Oswiecim on May 25th at 6:19am as well.  It's only 255 czk and takes about 2 hours.

Yep, 255 CZK or a bit more than 10 EUR it is full international ticket fare for such distance, so if you are ok with paying such price, than no need to do the trick with C.Tesin.

The only issue is it looks like there is 2 connections and from how I'm reading it, there is very little time to get off the train and on to the next one.  Am I reading that right?  Seems 2 minutes to change trains is way to short.

Yes, you are right, it is option with two changes (in Bohumín and Czechowice Dziedzice), in first case you will have 3 minutes to change trains and in second - 5 min. In such cases usually trains wait for each other, so if Czech Railways tend to list this connection it means that they advertise it as "concordant" or "agreed". In most cases such 'connected' trains even taken on the same platform, so you will just need to walk few meters.

  Ok good, I may be a bit disoriented trying to find the trains so wasn't sure how the connections worked and might be worried about getting stranded as I'm not sure how big each station is or how many platforms there are at each one.  Looked at Google Earth, but not entirely sure.

  The only issue with the Tesin Cieszyn trick is that there doesn't seem to be very good times for the trains there to Oświęcim.  And I'm not finding any information about the buses there.  I was able to find the bus schedule from Krakow to Cieszyn easily though, but not from Cieszyn to Oświęcim.

... not sure how big each station is or how many platforms there are at each one.

Both station isn't that big, so nothing to worry about. But even if you somehow miss your train, then you can always take the next one (the only inconvenience is that you might wait for a while till that next train), anyway full fare international ticket is valid for any trains on the route.

The only issue with the Tesin Cieszyn trick is that there doesn't seem to be very good times for the trains there to Oświęcim.  And I'm not finding any information about the buses there.

Well, as far as you asked about morning rail connection, then we can assume that you want to depart Ostrava early morning.
For instance, let's take same Os 3303 departing Ostrave 6:21am, with it you can be in C.Tesin 7:16 (55 CZK for the ticket), walk from Czech train station to the Polish (max. 20 min.), then catch 8:05am bus to Bielsko-Biała (there at 9:05), change there to bus till Oświęcim (9:15-10:14), through bus ticket should be around 20 PLN in total. As result you will save about 3 EUR and have less worries about need for the fast change of trains.
Basically both options are relatively equal, since by train you can travel faster, but a bit more expensive, while with C.Tesin and bus it cost slightly less, takes more time and gives you a little bit less hassle without 3 min. change of trains. So at the end we can't recommend you only one out of two option, both are ok and it is your choice which criteria you prefer

  Ok well that's good then that the ticket would be available for any trains on that route.  So the day before I could book the train trip via Bohumin and Czechowice Dziedzice doing the time I specified above.

  Then I could get to the Ostrava hl.n station early and catch either the 5:15 or 5:42 train to Bohumin, get off and then have a longer time to wait for the original train to Czechowice and Oświęcim.

  The reason for this is I noticed if I missed the connection in Bohumin, then the next trains to Czechowice add even more stops and changes.  If I miss the Czechowice train, there are several others that have direct trains to Oświęcim, so I 'm not worried about missing the Czechowice connection at all, but the Bhoumin one is the one I just can't miss.

  So with that, I should be allowed to board an earlier train that day then correct to Bohumin and then catch the original train to Czechowice and that would give me a little over an hour or 1/2 an hour depending which earlier train I had to make that connection in Bohumin?

Since it is full fare standard ticket, then it is not 'bounded' with any specific train, thus the only limitations are route and first day of validity. So when buying Ostrava-Oświęcim ticket just make sure you give cashier correct route and state when you want to start your journey, then you would be able to use any train on route mentioned during ticket validity period, so it won't matter if you use 6:21 or 5:42 train from Ostrava.

  Ok great.  I have it written down as follows which I can show them on paper and hopefully they can understand what I am trying to do in case they don't speak English:

Ostrava hl.n   Prijezd:  5:40  Odjezd: 5:42   Spoj: OS 3301

Bohumin       Prijezd:  6:28  Odjezd:  6:31   Spoj: OS 3050

Czechowice   Prijezd: 7:30   Odjezd:  7:35   Spoj: RR 43342
Dziedzice

Oświęcim       Prijezd: 8:16

  And hopefully they can give me a single ticket with this and if I miss my connection in say Czechowice I'll just jump on the next train then...

Ostrava hl.n   Prijezd:  5:40  Odjezd: 5:42   Spoj: OS 3301
Bohumin       Prijezd:  6:28  Odjezd:  6:31   Spoj: OS 3050
Czechowice   Prijezd: 7:30   Odjezd:  7:35   Spoj: RR 43342
Dziedzice
Oświęcim       Prijezd: 8:16

You can even omit "Prijezd" and just leave "Odjezd" + train number, that should do the trick. You can also write down route like this: Ostrava*Zebrzydowice(Gr)*Oswiecim. Cashiers shouldn't have any problems understanding you after they see all that. But anyway, it also good to know that they can't charge you more than 255 CZK (or 10.2 EUR) for this ticket. So if they ask you for more, than it good idea to re-ask whether cashier understood you correctly.

  Ok great, that will probably be easier to just show them Ostrava*Zebrzydowice(Gr)*Oswiecim then.  And then with the ticket I should be able to board any train leaving that day then.  Even if I want to take an early train to Bohumin...