hpoirot

I'm planning a trip across a few central european capitals this december. And have secured accommodation.
I have a interrail pass for zone D. The problem is , deutsche bahn says that some of the journeys i plan to make have got their tickets sold out already. Which is infuriating because i have been calling deutsche bahn for the past month, and they keep telling me to call back later.
Here is what my schedule looks like:
Prague - Kutna Hora - Brno - Bratislava - Budapest - Bucharest - Budapest - Zagreb - Ljubljana

Besides taking the fast inter city trains (which are sold out), is there any remote chance of securing the tickets when i am in central europe? (Currently, i'm in the UK)... or are there regional trains that i can take to get from point to point?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
aaron

Lennart Petersen

"hpoirot" <member29591@british_expats.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected] m...
    > I'm planning a trip across a few eastern european capitals this
    > december. And have secured accommodation.
    > I have a interrail pass for zone D. The problem is , deutsche bahn says
    > that some of the journeys i plan to make have got their tickets sold out
    > already. Which is infuriating because i have been calling deutsche bahn
    > for the past month, and they keep telling me to call back later.
    > Here is what my schedule looks like:
    > Prague - Kutna Hora - Brno - Bratislava - Budapest - Bucharest -
    > Budapest - Zagreb - Ljubljana
    > Besides taking the fast inter city trains (which are sold out), is there
    > any remote chance of securing the tickets when i am in eastern europe?
    > (Currently, i'm in the UK)... or are there regional trains that i can
    > take to get from point to point?
    > Any help would be greatly appreciated!
    > aaron
Sounds like you're travelling in the peak X-mas time if the trains are sold
out.
But yes there plenty of local trains without reservations but typically
they're not running the full distance so you've to change here and there.
Besides staying in smaller places are much less expensive compared with the
capitals.
Try to find out schedules on : http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

hpoirot

I've actually got the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable with me. So i actually can find out what alternative routes there are to get from capital to capital..

Lennart Petersen

"hpoirot" <member29591@british_expats.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:[email protected] m...
    >> "hpoirot" <member29591@british_expats.com> skrev i meddelandet
    >> news:[email protected] m...
    >> > I'm planning a trip across a few eastern european capitals this
    >> > december. And have secured accommodation.
    >> > I have a interrail pass for zone D. The problem is , deutsche bahn
    >> > says
    >> > that some of the journeys i plan to make have got their tickets sold
    >> > out
    >> > already. Which is infuriating because i have been calling deutsche
    >> > bahn
    >> > for the past month, and they keep telling me to call back later.
    >> > Here is what my schedule looks like:
    >> > Prague - Kutna Hora - Brno - Bratislava - Budapest - Bucharest -
    >> > Budapest - Zagreb - Ljubljana
    >> > Besides taking the fast inter city trains (which are sold out), is
    >> > there
    >> > any remote chance of securing the tickets when i am in eastern
    >> > europe?
    >> > (Currently, i'm in the UK)... or are there regional trains that i
    >> > can
    >> > take to get from point to point?
    >> > Any help would be greatly appreciated!
    >> > aaron
    >> Sounds like you're travelling in the peak X-mas time if the trains are
    >> sold
    >> out.
    >> But yes there plenty of local trains without reservations but
    >> typically
    >> they're not running the full distance so you've to change here and
    >> there.
    >> Besides staying in smaller places are much less expensive compared
    >> with the
    >> capitals.
    >> Try to find out schedules on :
    >> http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
    > I've actually got the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable with me. So i
    > actually can find out what alternative routes there are to get from
    > capital to capital..
The Th Cook timetable is a good companion while travelling.
But it could be reason to know that not all raillines are included (the
separate map do show them all) and a fraction of all available trains are
included in the timetables (mainly locals are missing)

hpoirot

That was fantastic advice, there!
I am checking thru D. Bahn local trains..
so there wouldn't be a problem with getting on these regional trains (labelled OS) without any reservation/supplements..
armed with my rail pass, i can just hop on these trains?

Dan

I can only address the Budapest-Bucharest-Budapest portions. I would
expect the trains to be fairly crowded but if traveling alone I would
think you could get a ticket at the station. You may have to stand in
an aisle for a long ways and it is about 20 hours from Bucharest to
Budapest unless you are on an intercity train. If you can get from
Budapest to Arad there might be a Blue Arrow train to Bucharest. These
are brand new and fast but only have 3 cars usually.

You might also be able to catch one of the minibusses that now run
between major cities. These cost about the same as the train and stop
every hour and a half to 2 hours for food and bathroom. Look for them
near the train station or just ask around.

Try to travel light and wear a good coat as the trains can be cold and
uncomfortable. Few sleeper cars on Romanian trains any more but I
don't know about international trains.

If you need a good cheap place to stay in Buch that is right next to
the train station I recommend Vila 11 Hostel. E-mail
[email protected] for reservation. Good luck.

Helmut Uttenthaler

hpoirot wrote:
> I'm planning a trip across a few eastern european capitals this
> december. And have secured accommodation.
> I have a interrail pass for zone D. The problem is , deutsche bahn says
> that some of the journeys i plan to make have got their tickets sold out
> already. Which is infuriating because i have been calling deutsche bahn
> for the past month, and they keep telling me to call back later.
> Here is what my schedule looks like:
> Prague - Kutna Hora - Brno - Bratislava - Budapest - Bucharest -
> Budapest - Zagreb - Ljubljana
>
> Besides taking the fast inter city trains (which are sold out),

Which trains on which routes on which dates are sold out according to DB?

To me it seems more likely that some trains on your route cannot be
booked at all from Germany. AFAIK it's not possible to book trains
originating in Romania via the DB reservation system.
Another important fact is, that the timetables will change on Dec. 22 -
bookings for trips beyond that date may be possible only at short
notice, depending on the country.


BTW, apart from Romania trains on the routes you mentioned don't require
prior reservation.
However, it's possible, that you won't find a free seat at peak times,
but you can always get on the train without a reservation.


Regards,

Helmut

hpoirot

Thanks for all the help,
i have actually since then managed to get reservations on most of the journeys through Internationalrail.com
I'm left with budapest-zagreb, which hasn't been booked.
Is there any local service llinking these 2 cities, besides the faster EC/IC services?
A check on Deutsche bahn reveals no available service.

Helmut Uttenthaler

"hpoirot" <member29591@british_expats.com> schrieb im
Newsbeitrag
    > Thanks for all the help,
    > i have actually since then managed to get reservations on
    > most of the journeys through Internationalrail.com
    > I'm left with budapest-zagreb, which hasn't been booked.
    > Is there any local service llinking these 2 cities,
    > besides the faster EC/IC services?

I think you can also use EC/IC trains without reservation on this
route. There is no need to book in advance, but if you want you
can surely get a reservation at Budapest.



--
Helmut Uttenthaler,
Graz

Martin Bienwald

Helmut Uttenthaler:
    > hpoirot:

    >> Thanks for all the help,
    >> i have actually since then managed to get reservations on
    >> most of the journeys through Internationalrail.com
    >> I'm left with budapest-zagreb, which hasn't been booked.
    >> Is there any local service llinking these 2 cities,
    >> besides the faster EC/IC services?
    >
    > I think you can also use EC/IC trains without reservation on this
    > route.

Reservation is compulsory on EC/IC trains in Hungary; you have to pay a
$10-ish surcharge if you board without a reservation.

Reservations can be made until departure time (as long as there are
seats left).

... Martin