arlflyer

I'm putting together a central Europe itinerary for the first two weeks of September 2015 (a ways off for sure, but with award flight availability these days it's book 330 days out or bust). I've got most of the big stuff locked in. Starting off with BA F/J IAD-BUD and 4 nights in Budapest to begin the trip. Then at the end, we'll do 3 or 4 nights in Krakow, a hop to Berlin on AB and then 2 full days in Berlin before an AB J flight back to the US.

At this point I'm trying to figure out the middle part of the trip, between BUD and KRK. I've got 4 or 5 full days to play with and, given that it's dead in between my origin and destination, the logical choice is Slovakia. Originally, I'd figured we'd follow the river up and do Bratislava. But then I thought that perhaps this trip was getting a bit city-heavy, and that we'd really like to see some of the countryside and maybe some places where things were a bit slower, like the old way. Then I saw some pictures of the Tatras and central Slovakia. Wow, sign me up, I thought.

However, trying to figure out the logistics, I keep hitting dead ends. Trains that may or may not exist, nightmarish cross-border rental car drop fees, and bus connections that involve standing on a border and praying that a bus shows up.

So, here's the open-ended question - if I wanted to start off in BUD and end up in KRK, and see the Slovak countryside and mountains in the intermediate 4-5 days, what would be the best way to go about it in 2014/2015?

With the distance being only 450km or so, I am only half joking when I am saying that I am giving serious thought to doing it by bicycle. 100km/day in the saddle is fine. Of course, we'd run into drop fees there too!!

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

theSaladDays

Sounds like a great idea! ^ For a regular cyclist 100 km daily should be quite easy, though it does get quite hilly in places, so bear that in mind.

In fact, if you're so inclined, you might even consider doing something like Stage 5 of the Tour de Pologne from this year's edition, which started in Zakopane in Poland (worth a visit itself) and Strbskie Pleso in Slovakia (never been but it looks lovely) a few nice climbs on that route!
http://tourdepologne.pl/en/t/v-etap,etap/#5

arlflyer

It's an interesting idea, to be sure. Assuming decent weather, it would be quite an enjoyable and memorable trip. But I would think one-way drops on bicycles would be difficult, unless we went with some sort of packaged/supported ride, which would get costly. We'd probably also have to do some luggage forwarding. Not logistically impossible, but probably not yet our #1 option (though doing a day ride somewhere in there would definitely be of interest).


If I were to focus on the more mainstream methods of transit, it seems that the most logical thing to do would be to somehow get into Slovakia and then do an in-country car rental for 4 or so days terminating in Poprad. It appears that this can be done quite cheaply - about $150 USD. Then from Poprad figure out some sort of way to get to Krakow - apparently a 2-stage bus ride is doable with some level of reliability/predictability?

Any suggestions on the quickest way into a big city in Slovakia from Budapest? Kosice is in the right direction, is apparently quite a nice place in itself, and could be the origin from which to rent a car. It's also theoretically served by a direct train from Budapest...except that from what I can tell (bahn.de, etc.) it seems to run only in the evening and then about 2 months from now disappears from the schedule altogether. Preferably, the goal would be to get out there from BUD in the AM one way or another.

Also any thoughts on getting from Poprad to Krakow? Most of what I can find seems to be anecdotal and/or dated.

Gagravarr

Based on the Seat 61 page on Hungary, one option from Budapest to Slovakia is probably train to Vienna, then onwards from there into Bratislava

As for everything dissappearing in 2 months time, that's to be expected. Early December is the launch of the next Europe train timetable period, and train bookings are only just opening beyond that horizon. (France was last week, as was Germany, not all open yet). I'd suggest trying again in a few weeks, once the rest of the January-June trains have been announced + loaded into the various booking systems

arlflyer

I think this is the opposite direction from where I'd want to be going though. If I could at least make it in the Kosice area then we could head towards the mountains. The way you suggest is I think too far out of the way for our itinerary. It's what we were originally thinking of doing, but then we decided we'd rather see the eastern part of the country.

This is good to know, thanks. Is it really standardized across all countries? Aren't the rail operators different by country? When would things for late summer (Sept.) come online?

Doing a bunch of side research and searching across the web, it seems that quite a number of threads have been born with "I want to go from Budapest to Krakow" and have gone to their graves unresolved. Seems to be one of the intractable problems of mankind.

Gagravarr

It really is standardised, yes. A lot of people think the wrong dates were picked though, as the December switch causes issues for people booking train tickets for Christmas.

The Loco2 blog has a bit on how it all works, and for more detail try to find a talk by Mark Smith from Seat 61.

As for when tickets for next September come on sale, it'll vary, but no earlier than about May. Most of the rail booking systems in Europe operate with a 3 month horizon. There's some slight variation, but broadly I'd say you wouldn't want to look up September train times for certain until a month or so before the June change.

(For an idea of what'll be there, check for tomorrow, as the summer/autumn timetables should be similar for next year, but there's no promise it'll be the same)

exilencfc

The trains are operated by different companies (most countries have a national company and maybe a few private sector ones). There are also plenty of cross border services. But the timetables are worked out jointly because you can't have more than one train on a piece of track at the same time - and people want reasonable connection times if they have to switch trains. Slovakia only has one railway company for passenger trains and you could try emailing them http://www.zsr.sk/anglicky/contact.html?page_id=282

Bus info you could maybe get from Lonely Planet, either their forums or a paper copy of the relevant guide.

arlflyer

Thanks Gagravarr and exilencfc for the rail info. This is very helpful - I wondered why I wasn't finding too much and the availability was just dropping off at weird times. Makes sense that it's released seasonally, rather than on an X-months-out basis.

That said, I wonder if the best play here is to just blow most of a day (or an overnight) to take the train from BUD to KRK, then set forth with a rental from there southward into the mountains. That would give us at least 3 full days, with a rental, to explore the region of Slovakia we're interested in. According to google maps, even Kosice (the furthest we'd consider going) is only 250 km from Krakow. It would take us less time to drive there than we would lose in transfers trying to get there by transit.

Or, are there any local or LCC airlines that do a direct flight?

Looks like cars can be had from KRK for 3-4 days for a cost of about $200 USD, which coupled with 2 train tickets BUD-KRK would still be much less than the close to $1000 for a BUD-KRK rental. Thoughts on this? Particularly, does anyone know if there is an issue with taking a rented Polish car into Slovakia (and bringing it back)? I had found a copy of the AVIS T&C for each European country the other day...of course I can't find it now. I know that there's the matter of buying a Slovak road sticker or whatnot, but that seems trivial. And it seems like most of the restrictions were on one-way drops or taking cars into countries considered riskier than that of origin - and my understanding is that Slovakia seems lower risk than Poland in the eyes of the rental car company actuaries.

abhilife2001

No problems with driving rented cars around Schengen regions based on my experience..
Just ensure the insurance coverage is there ( usually there) and yes you would need to buy and affix a sticker for the road tax for Slovakia which can be bought in the border shops..
We have rented a car in Slovakia and travelled thru Germany, Swiss, Austria, Czech, Hungary and Italy without any problems..oh yes also Slovenia and Croatia.

arlflyer

Thanks for confirming that this might be a sensible thing to do. Of course, I'd also check with the particular agency, and get it in writing, before going forward.

So I'm thinking this might be the way to go - train or bus BUD straight to KRK, get a car and do our exploring southward from there, then return to KRK to do the city for a couple days.

theSaladDays

If you're renting a car in Poland, I'd recommend Express.pl, I've used them on many occasions and for various lengths of time. The rates are much lower than any of the international agencies, the cars have always been in good condition, they've never had an issue with taking them abroad, and there's a wide variety of extra options should you need them, available as packages or individually (extra driver, GPS, child seat, the usual stuff...)

http://www.express.pl/en/rents/index

Because the prices are lower than the other agencies they tend to be sold out in advance, I once forgot to book ahead of time and when arriving at the airport in Warsaw they told me that they didn't have any cars available in the entire city. They'll bring the car to you if you prefer, I think there's a small fee for that.

They have offices throughout the country and at multiple locations in the larger cities.

MichalFKowalik

actually that's a great tip - rental cars in PL are bleeding expensive and I was about to post a note to check pricing PL vs SK vs HU.

safe travels and enjoy CEE

mfk

arlflyer

^

Good to hear. And since I am planning way out in advance, I will have plenty of time to shop around. Thanks all!

EmailKid

Well, that's just silly.

Many trains a day between BUD and BTS, though the reliability may be suspect (same will apply to VIE).

Scored a VERY cheap Biz fare a couple of years ago to BUD, took the bus to the main train station and purchased a direct train to BTS. Sadly the train was a few hours late, but it got me to Bratislava.

It's a lovely city, though most Western tourists won't want to spend more than a day or two there, but you can take a direct train to Poprad to go explore Vysoke Tatry.

If you are somewhat adventurous, you can bus/train it to Poland (RomeToRio.com has some very good suggestions).

Going to Kosice (hopefully next year) and to Vysoke Tatry next year for first time in 30 years (OK, never been to Kosice) with a one day layover in Vienna. That is another wonderful city to visit, and one that has boat connection to Bratislava, if that's what floats your boat

arlflyer

Yes, this is pretty much what I gathered after doing research. Bratislava is a nice city, and a cheap one too, it seems, but if we're also doing BUD and KRK it all might be a bit much of the same.

Looks for now like the plan will be to get BUD to KRK somehow and then take a car and backtrack across the border into the mountains. Vysoke Tatry looks lovely. Going by way of Poprad or Kosice also looks doable, but wouldn't solve the issue of getting across the PL border.