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Train fares and tariffs / Krakow-Bratislava-Budapest-Belgrade-Sofia-Istanbul
« on: April 17, 2013, 10:14:37 pm »
Hello 
This is my first post and my first plan for a proper train trip! We're 3 friends, all from Britain and all under 25 if that makes a difference. Our current plan is this:
Jul 3: Krakow-Bratislava sleeper
Jul 5: Bratislava-Budapest evening train
Jul 8: Budapest-Belgrade sleeper
Jul 11: Belgrade-Sofia sleeper
Jul 13: Sofia-Istanbul (bus? not keen on switching from train to replacement bus service.)
We're considering skipping Bratislava if it makes the trip a lot less expensive, but we'd rather keep it.
Does anyone have an idea of how much this would cost, or some discounts we could use for each trip? We've had some mixed estimates, from €150 up to £250 (almost €300), so any ideas would be fantastic.
Especially - any ideas what exactly we should do for each journey? (should we prebook? Or which discounts to ask for at the counter?) I've read that SparNight should save a huge amount for Krakow-Bratislava (€45 down from £73=€90) but I can't find a way to book those tickets.
At the moment we're just planning to walk up to the counter in each place we arrive at and ask for our next planned train ticket, but we're not sure if there's a cheaper way to get tickets for some of our journeys. We're also slightly worried about trains selling out - is this likely to be an issue?
Many thanks for any replies!
This is my first post and my first plan for a proper train trip! We're 3 friends, all from Britain and all under 25 if that makes a difference. Our current plan is this:Jul 3: Krakow-Bratislava sleeper
Jul 5: Bratislava-Budapest evening train
Jul 8: Budapest-Belgrade sleeper
Jul 11: Belgrade-Sofia sleeper
Jul 13: Sofia-Istanbul (bus? not keen on switching from train to replacement bus service.)
We're considering skipping Bratislava if it makes the trip a lot less expensive, but we'd rather keep it.
Does anyone have an idea of how much this would cost, or some discounts we could use for each trip? We've had some mixed estimates, from €150 up to £250 (almost €300), so any ideas would be fantastic.
Especially - any ideas what exactly we should do for each journey? (should we prebook? Or which discounts to ask for at the counter?) I've read that SparNight should save a huge amount for Krakow-Bratislava (€45 down from £73=€90) but I can't find a way to book those tickets.
At the moment we're just planning to walk up to the counter in each place we arrive at and ask for our next planned train ticket, but we're not sure if there's a cheaper way to get tickets for some of our journeys. We're also slightly worried about trains selling out - is this likely to be an issue?
Many thanks for any replies!