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Train tickets Budapest to Krakow

Hello! I am trying to get tickets on the night train from Budapest to Krakow in late April. The Hungarian website leads us through the steps and then says "no offers available." We called the Hungarian railway office and were told that the night train tickets can only be bought in person...and of course, we don't have anyone to do that for us.

Would appreciate any insight others have on this issue.

Thanks!

Posted by
6011 posts

From the Man in Seat 61-

Anyone from any country can order tickets from reliable Polish agency www.polrail.com and pay extra for tickets to be sent to you, although this will cost a lot more than buying a cheap advance-purchase ticket from Hungarian Railways direct. For cheapness, consider option 2 below.

Option 2, consider catching the 18:40 EuroCity train from Budapest Keleti to Vienna Hbf, then using using the 23:10 Vienna-Krakow sleeper train instead, see times & fares here - the Vienna-Krakow(-Warsaw) sleeper arrives at Krakow coupled to the Budapest-Krakow(-Warsaw), they are two portions of the same train. By all means book an earlier train from Budapest and have dinner in Vienna! You can easily buy a cheap Sparschiene fare in a couchette or sleeper from Vienna to Krakow at the www.thetrainline.com or at the Austrian Railways website www.oebb.at with tickets that can be printed out.

Tip: The sleeper arrives in Krakow at an early hour. Exit the station through the shopping centre and you'll find the Hotel Puro Stare Miasto on the other side of the road and to the right. They'll let you join their excellent breakfast buffet from 7am for around €16.

Posted by
8171 posts

Krakow is one of those cities that can often be difficult to get to. And the trains coming out of Hungary can be pretty utilitarian coaches with poor air conditioning. In other words, unpleasant to ride on for very long.

You could fly on Wizzair or Ryanair--both inexpensive budget airlines--to Warsaw and then take the 4.5 hour train down to Krakow.

Posted by
5 posts

Hello- looking at booking the same train for june and wondering how you worked it out :)

Posted by
223 posts

I just posted about this in forum too. I didn't see your post until after I posted. Looking for late June but can't book even a 2nd class ticket let alone a sleeping compartment. I ended up going with POLRAIL e-ticket.

Posted by
7 posts

Hello everyone and thanks for your responses.

Ultimately, we could not get the direct BUD-KRA ticket - I suspect that this train does not run overnight, but we could not get this question answered either.

We went BUD-Vienna, and then the night train from Vienna to Krakow.

I hope this helps others.