We appear to have hit a sore point with our next trip - I need the population of experienced travelers to settle the argument. I was planning on us staying in Cesky Krumlov two nights and then taking a 9 hr train ride to Bled. My husband is adament that we take a night train (sleeper car) and not waste a day on the train.
My thoughts are that I don't want to check out of our hotel in CKrumlov at noon and not have any place for us or our stuff until the 6pm train. The night train is 11 hrs long and arrives in Bled at 5am. Now its 5am and what do we do and where do we go with our stuff? RS specicfically mentions that Czech night trains are a paradise for thiefs. With that plus its a train, I am concerned I won't sleep well. And I should note our trip is almost a month long and this would be the only major train day - so I am not eating up one whole day from a 5 day trip or anything like that.
So my husband's counter point is just as I stated above about not wasting a day on a train and I shouldn't worry about the theives, we will guard our stuff smartly and tightly.
What would you do?
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1556 posts
Difficult question - my suggestion - since your trip is almost 30 days long, why not find some place inbetween CK and Bled to break up the journey and spend a night.
My rule of thumb for our family travels is not to exceed 6 hrs of travel in a day (this does not include long transpacific or transatlantic flights obviously). I wouldn't want to do 9 hrs on a train and give up a full day either. Also, I tend to avoid night trains especially ones that would drop me in a city early in the morning which will leave me exhausted.
Posted by
OP
Madison, WI, USA
524 posts
It's a good thought. We are traveling Germany-Austria-CzechR-Slovenia-Croatia. I played with the route a little but found there were a lot of ineffiencies going Germany-CzechR and then Austria. Train rides went from 3 hr to 5 or 6. So anything we gained on that on major long haul - we essentially lost trying to get from Munich to Prague, CKrumlov to Vienna and so on.
Posted by
Tulsa, Oklahoma, US
290 posts
Amy, I think Arnolds right; break it up into two shorter days. Not everyone can sleep well on a train and it won't save you any time if you arrive tired and grumpy. You could stay in Linz, it's about halfway.
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1556 posts
I agree - looking at the map Linz or Salzburg seem to be good alternatives.
One other thing - have you looked at buses - say Eurolines. Sometimes, the buses are a lot faster than trains especially when the train has to cross different borders since a lot of time is wasted changing the engines and crew.
Posted by
OH, OH, USA
1158 posts
Amy,
I would not travel by train for so long. I would travel 4-5 hours maxium instead.
Here is my idea. Fly between countries or far away cities instead of taking the train.
Fly from/to a large city then take the train for a much shorter distance than 11 hours.
Or another idea is to rent a car. Traveling by train between small town is very hard.
Posted by
Edmonton, AB, Canada
668 posts
We avoid night trains because we do not sleep on them. We also like to see the coutryside. I know some people say you see very little, and I know that is true on some routes.
One day relaxing on a train and reading, planning the next leg of your journey or just watching the world go by may be a good way to relax on a 30 day trip.
Posted by
Fort Wayne, IN, USA
2349 posts
I say the person who won't sleep well wins. If he would be up all night but you wanted to do the night train, wouldn't you give in?
Posted by
Clarksville, TN, USA
956 posts
I'm with your husband. We took the night train out of Prague to Munich to also save a day of travel. Now, I cannot speak about the thievery on the train. Since our train was from Prague to Munich, we were on a German train, so there may have been different "clientele" if you will. But I'm sure you can find a lot of info on this subject on this message board. As far as your luggage concerns -- most hotels/hostels will hold your luggage after you check out. Same goes for hotel in the city that you're arriving in. If you go to your hotel, they should hold your luggage until you can check in. And you never know, your room may be available as soon as you arrive anyway... So that shouldn't be a concern. But of course, email each hotel to make sure they hold luggage before/after check out. I bet you they do. But I can see your point of view. You have an entire month that you'll be traveling, so one day on a train shouldn't be too big of a deal. Plus, the countryside IS very pretty and can be enjoyed with a daytime trainride... I hope at least some of my advice helps! ;)
Posted by
Puyallup, WA, USA
881 posts
Losing a day to back aches and lack of sleep would be my concern.
It depends on how good of a sleeper you are, I think. Can you sleep anywhere? In moving vehicles? A lot of the night train are not quiet - sometimes you'll wind up sitting at a station while other trains blow past you, or cars are subtracted or added, each time jolting the train.
Also - 5AM? I'd see if you hotel/hostel can take your bags, because I don't know if Bled is open that early... LOL
Final thought - I think the train ride around Bled is one of the two most beautiful I've ever taken... just me.
Posted by
OP
Madison, WI, USA
524 posts
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I am going to have my husband read everyone's replies and see what he thinks. I really appreciate everyone's input - it should help us settle this thing one way or the other!!