It appears that a round trip train fare for 3 people costs much more on the US Rail Europe website compared to a Czech website. At http://www.raileurope.com/us Trip 1 From: Prague, Czech Republic To: Dresden, Germany Date: 10/22/2010 Time: 8:31AM Travelers: 3 Price: $ 180.00 Trip 2 From: Dresden, Germany To: Prague, Czech Republic Date: 10/22/2010 Time: 7:10PM Travelers: 3 Price: $ 180.00 Your Total: $360.00 At http://czech-transport.com From Prague To Dresden Departure date 22. October 2010 Travelers 3 Train code: EC 176 Alois Negrelli Train type: Eurocity Departs: 08:31 22. October 2010 Praha hl.n. Arrives: 10:46 22. October 2010 Dresden Hbf 2:15 Cabin: 2nd class Round trip Train code: 379 Carl Maria von Weber Train type: Eurocity Departs: 17:10 22. October 2010 Dresden Hbf 19:27 Arrives: 22. October 2010 Praha hl.n. 2:17 Cabin: 2nd class Your Total €180 Currently €180 equals about $250, so through the Czech website, the fare is about $110 cheaper. Do I understand the train fares properly? Would there be any problem with me buying the train fare through the Czech website. Currently I am in the US, and I will not depart for Europe (Prague) until 20 October. I would prefer to purchase the train tickets in advance, so I can plan my time to see the Green Vault in Dresden. As a tourist, would there be an potential issues with arriving back at the Prague train station at 12:30 a.m. instead of the 9:30 p.m. time associated with the itineraries above (19:27 departure plus 2 hr 17 minutes ~ 9:30 p.m. arrival). I have heard that there are some issues with tourists getting transportation from the Prague train station. Any other things to consider? Thank you
Posted by
OP
Atlanta
8 posts
Sorry about the formatting nightmare in the post. I did write the post with plenty of white space and separate lines to make it easier to read, but apparently it did not post that way.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
If you book RIGHT NOW on the German Rail site, www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml, you can get a Europa-Spezial Tschechien fare of €19 for both the 08:31 Prague-Dresden EC train and the 19:10 Dresden-Prague EC train.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19095 posts
RailEurope is a travel agency that resells ticket, and only tickets for the most expensive trains, at a profit. Any time you can find the tickets from a European national rail website, they will be cheaper. Between the Czech Republic and Germany, use either the Czech Rail website or German Rail. http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en will get you to the main German Rail website a little faster. German Rail will allow you to purchase with a credit card and print the tickets at home. Reservations with online tickets are cheap, about €2,50 2nd class, and it you want to change them when you are over there, you just get new ones at €4,50.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19095 posts
Whether you purchase the non-refundable, non-exchangeable €21,50 fare (€19 plus €2,50 reserv) or full fare tickets at €33,20 ea. ($46 ea) with reservations, you can get your ticket printed at home (no S&H). Full fare tickets are usable any time; only the reservation is non-refundable, but you can make a new one for €4,50 ea. The RailEurope ticket ($60 ea) says "it" (does that mean the whole ticket or just the reservation) is non-refundable, non-exchangeable. You can exchange it in advance with RailEurope for a 22% charge.
Posted by
OP
Atlanta
8 posts
Thank you all for the explanations and suggestions. We are considering taking the OrangeWays bus to Dresden and the train booked through DB Bahn back to Prague as a way to get 2 different views of the countryside. Alternatively we may just go by train round trip booked through https://www.cd.cz. The bus does not have a good return trip time. Kind regards