Train travel Ffrom Prague to Krakow to Budapest to Ljubljana to Zagreb

The "Bahn" is German Rail. The German Rail website almost only gives fares for routes with one end in Germany. That is why you can't find prices for Eastern Europe.

I think the Eastern European rail websites only give fares for the portions of a trip entirely inside their country. Sometimes you have to go to several websites and piece together the prices of the sections in each country (with a short section in both countries missing, but you can get the general idea of the fare.

For Budapest to Ljublyana, if you are going through Austia, Austrian Rail might give you the Austrian fare for the whole route.

The website for Czech Rail is here (the link to English is on the right hand side, part way down. I believe this is the official Polish Rail site. Other website can be found under links on the Rail Fan website.

For night trains, of course, RailEurope will sell you "reservations", but they mark up each ticket from the "in Europe" price. Euraide can sell you reservations at the "in Europe" price. They will charge you $50 for the whole order, including sending them over here. Euraide's website was being rebuilt recently and did not show night train prices online. You might have to call them (number on their website).

Lee and Steve,

Thank you for your speedy replies. I will check the websites listed in your responses for rail prices.

I checked dohop.com to see if airfare may be cheaper. I found the prices for Prague to Krakow and Krakow to Budapest to be around 270 USD including taxes and fees for each leg per person. I can't imagine that train tickets would be as expensive even traveling first class. Plus I have always wanted to experience the overnight train trip.

Steve. I made a mistake. We are staying in Korcula at the Apartments Depolo. I dropped Hvar from our itinerary after I read posts on different websites. Originally I was going to "island hop" from Hvar to Korcula. We prefer to experience a destination rather than cram as many destinations in our itinerary as possible. We are also very fortunate to have about 4 weeks each summer to travel.

Your advise and comments are very helpful.

You can fly Germanwings.com from krk to bud for 198 Euros a couple. Honestly, you really have to check air against rail all over to see which is the most competitive, and, usually air is equal to or less than rail, especially if using raileurope from the US. From Prague, check Lot Polish Airlines, and I think it will be around $180 each.

Jerry, I might agree with you about air vs. rail and RailEurope, but, for travel within Germany, if one uses the special on the Bahn website, you should be able to do better with the train. When computing costs, you have to factor in the time and expense of getting to/from airports, as well.

I don't believe there are any fast catamarans from Hvar to Dubrovnik. You'll likely need to take the Jadrolinija ferry. If you're traveling on a day the ferry doesn't run, take the fast catamaran back to Split and a bus to Dubrovnik. It may seem like back tracking, but the trip will take no longer than the ferry (might even be slightly faster).

Jerry, I will check out Germanwings.com. The best I could find for LOT was about $270 USD for each long leg, Pra to Krk and Krk to Bud.

Frank, Thanks for the "heads up" on no fast catamaran from Hvar to Dubrovnik. I will go to Jadrolinija web site to check out the days of operation to Dubrovnik before we go. Thanks for including an alternative route via Split.

I am still having trouble finding what I want for night train travel from Krakow to Budapest. The only helpful site was Raileurope. I found a price on the 9:32 PM to 6:24 AM nonstop train from Prague to Krakow, 1st class with a sleeper car and reservations. Two tickets with fees will cost $374 USD or $187 each. If I take the plane I will have to pay for an additional night hotel and therefore take that into consideration for the price of a flight vs. train.

I must say that I like the convenience of a train, This will be the first time I have used a train from one country to another. I haven't found a price for a night train from Krakow to Prague. I have tried to use any Thursday date (my itinerary calls for a night train to leave on Thursday 7/8). I found the times to be 10:11 PM to 8:32 AM nonstop from Krakow to Budapest. However, no availabilty in the next two months. (A am using current prices to compare with those at a later date). I realize that these 1st class night trains go quickly and I have to keep checking for availability. Worse case senario will be to fly or take the day train.