Berlin-Krakow-Budapest

You sort of picked the tough to get here from there trio. There is direct flight service during the high season from Budapest to Krakow on Ryan Air. My guess is someone has direct service Berlin to Budapest. Unless money is a huge factor Im not a big fan of the discount carriers.

Check out skyscanner.com (another similar website is whichbudget.com). You can see what flights are available on a given date and see current fares. Air Berlin flies Berlin to Krakow, and for a date I picked in October the one-way fare was $90. Krakow-Budapest flights seem to be scarcer- Ryanair flies that route but not every day. The daily overnight train is a popular mode of transport on that route, though some people have trouble sleeping on trains and have a negative experience. Check out the German Railways site, bahn.de to see schedules. The Krakow-Budapest night train leaves Krakow at 10:09pm and arrives in Budapest at 8:35am.

Thank you!! I'll check that all out!

Driving in Europe is not difficult. They invented the superhighway in Germany. Highways are beautiful, just as good as in the US and sometimes better, and there are just as many nuts on the highway there as here. I have driven in Europe numerous times. It's fun, it's flexible, and it's easy. In a big city, I park the car and use public transport, since cities are confusing - it took us 45 minutes to find the way OUT of Budapest. Driving in SOME small towns in difficult, since the streets are crazy in some. You would have NO trouble with Hungary, Poland and Germany. Drop-off charges can be high if you leave the car in another country, so circle trips are best.

I wouldn't recommend driving at all. These distances are too great, and unless they've made huge improvements, Polish roads are among the worst in Europe. Stick with trains or airplanes.

I dont know about Polish roads in particular and to be absolutely honest I stick to trains, public transport and private drivers and have never been behind the wheel of a car in Europe. However we did go by car from Budapest to a place in the High Tatras of Slovakia about an hour and a half from Krakow and the roads along that route were remarkably good. Pretty much the same route you would take if you drove Krakow to Budapest. We have also gone by car from Budapest to Vienna and that was a good road as well. Both trips we went off the beaten path a few times to check out the countryside and some small towns, castles, etc and never saw a really poor road. Of course none of this was in Poland.

I drove just last summer from Prague to Krakow from there to Auschwitz, on to Cesky Krumlov and then back to Prague with a number of little stops along the way off the beaten path and the roads were absolutely beautiful... no problems whatsoever. Not sure how to route your trip with a car, but I like the flexibility of the car and as we had 4 people it was so much cheaper than the train for what we wanted to do. If you traveling by yourself the train or a flight might be the best option, but FYI I found the driving to be fine with roads well-marked although I did have my GPS, I could have done it without it.

Pam, Yes, the train does seem to take forever, I've done the Krakow-Berlin day by train, took 10 hrs., left Krakow way early in the morning. It was direct. I vote for taking the train, aside from the rental car's contract on taking it into Poland.

Thank you all for the information.. I'll most likely take the train - car would be too expensive (drop off fees in different country) and may be hard to deal with for just one person.. plus finding hotels in the cities to park the car, etc. So I know the trains now - but I just heard about the bus from Krakow to Budapest - 7 hours and very cheap (like maybe $10 USD). Bus line is called Orangeways.. anyone heard of that? It seems to be 3 hours faster than overnight train and see better countryside/sights. Thanks again!
Pam

We used this summer of 2011 to go Bud -> Krakow. It should have been fine, there was an issue that ruined the experience that seemed to be peculiar to that particular bus that day, to wit the problem entering Poland with the changeover in road permits effective that day, Poland did not allow these to be purchased in advance, causing an incredible delay at the border. However, the ride is beautiful, particularly the entire Slovakia section. It might only take about 6 hours rather than the time listed if traffic breaks well. Our bus left almost an hour late, but I think we would have been on time arrival without the border problem. You get a reserved seat in advance for your about $21 US (pay in HUF not Euro, it's lower). Ride was generally clean and comfortable, bathroom is, well, it's crammed into the bus. Light drinks and snacks for a fee, no reason you can't pack yourself a picnic dinner (we did). Note their baggage fees, and they indiscriminately make bags go underneath, although we have two RS convertibles, not overloaded, for some reason they forced my wife's bag to be stowed after I boarded first, and would not let her prove it fits the luggage rack. The route runs Sun-Mon_Wed-Thurs-and Fri, leaving 2:30PM, arriving 9:45 PM. Note that you will be riding the bus that is due in from Budapest at 1:15PM Make sure you understand where the Budapest bus station is, it's at a Blue Metro stop, and that wherever you are staying can handle your arrival late.
Website is Orangeways.com