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Train fares and tariffs / Re: Cheapest way: Milan to Berlin, Prague, Budapest (order doesn't matter)

« on: May 22, 2011, 06:47:46 pm »

Ahh, okay I see. So, if a reservation is required for some routes, you're required to get both? That seems kind of odd, but that will be very helpful to know. Thanks again!

By the way, we made some alterations in our route to include Croatia (which should be great getting in right before the heavy tourist months).. I think we kinda know what to do for most of it, but we will need some help with Slovenia-to-Croatia and Croatia-to-Hungary... and I'll bold questions just because I know it's a lot of text to read.

Revised route


The red portion of the route we'll be using a car to get around.

But starting in Italy...is it advantageous to board a train in Milan or could we do it from Bergamo, just right up the highway from Milan? And then taking the regional train from Milan to Venice. Is the train connection in Venice convenient for stopping for lunch and seeing some of town?

Then from Venice to Ljubljana we can just take metropolitan commuter trains (crossing over at the border) since it seems that the public transit systems meet each-other.

From Ljubljana to Croatia? No ideas here. I'm sure the rail connections are great, but is it better to go from Ljubljana to Zagreb or Split? We want to just hit up Split, Zagreb, and Dubrovnik and spend equal time in all of these. I see that getting to Dubrovnik must be done on bus. And then leaving, is it best to get to Budapest from Zagreb or Split? I saw where a return ticket from Budapest to Split is 68 euros, but I didn't see what one-way is...

Then Budapest-Prague for 19.

I am sure there is a good connection from Prague-Krakow, but I couldn't see what it was. Is it better to book it with the Czech or Polish rail company?

Then Poland will be pretty easy since it's all just one county. But in Poland, is it better to get discounts by booking trains in advance or in person at the vokzal/train station?

Then I think after Gdansk we will probably extend our trip to Berlin--you mentioned there is a good connection there, so not worried about that. I guess it looks like the map sort of skirts everywhere that speaks German, which may look odd, I just figured that I've been to Germany enough before and haven't spent nearly enough time in Central Europe which seems like an awesome place for backpacking.

Thanks again for your help!

2

Train fares and tariffs / Re: Cheapest way: Milan to Berlin, Prague, Budapest (order doesn't matter)

« on: May 17, 2011, 12:07:12 pm »

Ah, thanks so much. I did have a few dumb questions though.. what is the different between getting the ticket and a seat reservation? Do you have to check both?

Also, how do we pursue various discounts while we purchase these tickets online? For instance, how could someone actually get the Milan-Venice ticket for 14.65?

Ah, and I think that's it. Thanks again for all your help!

3

Train fares and tariffs / Cheapest way: Milan to Berlin, Prague, Budapest (order doesn't matter)

« on: May 13, 2011, 02:45:35 pm »

I will be starting off in Milan next month, and renting a car and touring the Italian Alps and also Southern France, and coming back to Milan to drop the car off. Some buddies of mine were wanting to go from Milan into Central Europe!

All that matters is that we start anywhere between Marseilles and Milan (although Milan is probably best for connections) and we want to be able to hit up all three of these cities: Berlin, Prague, Budapest. The order doesn't matter.

What would be the best, and cheapest way to do this? We would be talking about between June 14th and the end of June.

Also, two things that might either complicate things or be a benefit is that currently we are in Estonia, and our classes don't end here until June 8th, so we can't go in person to Germany and buy the cheap tickets although Eastern Euro fares might apply for us then, right? Also, we're all dumb North Americans--the terms like "international tariff" and "SparSchiene" were all very confusing--although the website was very helpful. Hopefully it could be broken down into dumb American terms!

Was kind of wanting to go to Poland afterward. There is a music festival in Gdansk that I'm really wanting to visit, sometime between June 31st and July 4th.

Thanks for your help!