Train Travel in Eastern Europe

Trains in Eastern Europe differ a lot in quality/comfort and onboard ammenities. Of the trains I've been on in Eastern Europe none are up to par with Western European trains. A good website is www.seat61.com. I used a travel agent (Wasteels) to book my tickets they often have offices at the rail stations and I found their staff could understand English when sometimes the staff at the regular booking counter couldn't communicate in English. Wasteels were the same price for tickets (than booking directly) every time I used them. Whether you should book in advance depends on when you're travelling, I travelled in the off season and booked my tickets a day or two in advance.
You could consider the night train between Krakow and Prague if you are short on time. It'll save you spending the better part of the day travelling between the two places. You can get a private sleeper compartment onboard.

The only train I took was from Germany to Prague a few years ago and although we boarded a lovely train in Germany at the border we all had to get off and go on this dumpy old train...then in the middle of the trip we had to get off the train and take a 20 minute bus ride and then get on another train to finish the trip... no one spoke English, so after much deliberation we assume there was a problem on the tracks and we had to go around it. On the way back I was such a wreck I hardly remember it...Also took a train from Timasora Romania to Budapest with no issues. However while visiting Prague this May we picked up a car at the airport after seeing Prague and drove to Krakow. Easy drive, then we had our own car to go to Auschwitz and explore the countryside of Czech on the way back to Prague. Made a drive to Cesky Krumlov and it was the most beautiful drive through the countryside. We stopped at fields of poppies and little towns along the way. Then returned car to Prague and flew out of there.

We took the train from Budapest to Sopron, and from Sopron to Olomouc this past spring. The trains were not up to the level of the very nicest trains in France, Italy, Germany, but they were plenty nice. You can go to the Raileurope for schedules and fares, but be aware they have markups. I would always book ahead for an overnight train, and get a sleeping compartment. The overnight train between Budapest and Krakow was not running any more, or so I thought. On some routes the two-person sleepers are not available, you have to sleep with strangers. That's not necessarily so bad, I have done it; but I would not want my wife to have to. Recently I have seen some mixed-sex six person sleepers, not a bad approach as long as I can be in the came compartment as my wife. You might do better on pricing through a travel agent than Raileurope.

Thanks for the info and advise. What about buses? Anyone have any experience with buses in Eastern Europe? I was looking at train vs bus travel between Budapest and Krakow, and I saw where bus travel was about 7 hrs and train travel (because of layovers) took about 11 hrs. Any thoughts on bus travel???

We personally had a bad experience on Orangeways from Budapest to Krakow this July, but we think that it may have been a particular incident/problem on that particular day only (issue with Polish road pass changes for buses in effect that day). The reviews in various places have otherwise been decent for these international bus companies. We had an excellent experience last year on Student Agency round-trip Prague to Cesky-Krumlov. The international buses can go direct routes that the trains cannot and save many hours. However, they tend to run only 1 per day and not all days of the week. They are in fact much cheaper than the trains, and generally reliable. The question is whether their schedule can work for you. Seats can be booked and paid for in advance on-line at the bus company sites. For Orangeways, it was cheaper to have the site work the price in Hungarian currency (huf) rather than euros, at least when we ordered in the spring.
SA with the trains, you can't order far in advance, seems to be around 2 months ahead when the dates open.

We were in Budapest and Krakow this past June. We ended up flying from Budapest to Krakow because we were not interested in such a long train trip. LOT Airline is your best bet for travel between Budapest and Krakow. And you can get a budget airline between Prague and Budapest. You might consider starting in Prague, fly to Budapest and then LOT to Krakow. Go to the website www.flylc.com and see what your options are. I do not book on that site, but go to the airline's directly. We loved both Budapest and Krakow.

We rode busses within the Czech Republic, between Olomouc and Telc, Telc and Cesky Krumlov, and then a couple of days later on to Prague. The seats are more cramped than trains and the busses are more crowded. Similar to a plane, actually. The busses were not especially well air conditioned in some cases. This was in May and the air circulation was poor enough that my feet were sweating inside my shoes. All part of the adventure, though!

George, You asked about taking the bus in Eastern Europe: this may be a bit dated. I took the bus only in Poland... from Torun (Thorn an der Weichsel) to Chelmo (Kulm) in July of 2005 as a day trip. I was pleasantly surprised, bus was quite satisfactory, (much better than Greyhound..that's for sure!). I liked it. The ride was about an hour or so, seeing that former West Prussian landscape was revealing. I had also planned to go by bus from Torun to Grudziadz (Graudenz) but that was too long of a ride.