First off, 2-3 days including travel time is pretty minimal for Prague and Budapest. I think you’ll want a minimum of 3 days, not counting travel time, in each. 2 days, counting travel time, is hardly enough for any city — particularly since there’s a lot of travel time involved with these cities. Do you really want to arrive in Vienna at 6:00 PM today and leave at noon tomorrow, or even noon the next day?

What kind of “updated information” are you looking for? Check rail schedules at
http://reiseauskunft… There aren’t many direct trains between Krakow and any of the other cities but there are numerous options with a connection or two. Use www.whichbudget.com to see which low cost airlines fly which routes and check the stickys on “cheap flights” for more search engines and suggestions.

I´m having the same problem since I´m doing Berlin-Prague-Wien-Budapest-Krakow-Warsaw in May/Jun 2009.
there are some bus schedules in http://www.eurolines… but they have them updated until april 1st.
If you found out sth else please let me know!!

My problem is that for some routes, the frequency is twice a week. If they decide to change the days, I´ll have to re-book hostels and the following routes so that I don´t miss time in any city.
Thanks anyway . I guess I´ll just have to keep my fingers crossed…

I didn’t realize you were using a pass. There is at least daily bus service on all of these routes — although not all of the buses will necessarily be Eurolines buses and apparently Eurolines does not honor it’s pass on all of it’s buses??

I doubt you will find any changes in the days. If there are any changes, it will be more service, not less, so you shouldn’t have a problem. You won’t need to make reservations until the summer schedule is set, anyway.

We’re thinking of not doing Krakow in order to give us more time in the other cities. It seems a lot harder to get to Krakow directly than the other cities. It looks like the only way to do it reasonably would be to lose a couple of days on travel to and fro.

Belandthecity, have you looked at Orange Ways Bus Svc http://www.orangeway…?

hi, i looked into Orange Ways and their schedules look good so far, so I might book a few tickets with them…
If I were you I wouldn´t miss Krakow. I was told Krakow can be easily walked in 2 days, maybe less, and the Auschwitz camp (a hour from Krakow) is worth visiting. Maybe you could change the order of the cities you are visiting so that you don´t waste so many time traveling. I´m doing (Berlin-) Prague-Vienna-Budapest-Krakow (-Warsaw).
Hope this helps!
Take care

Actually that doesn’t seem like the most logical order to me. I would change that to Berlin – Warsaw – Krakow – Budapest – Vienna – Prague to spend the least amount of time on transport. If you have time and don’t want to spend all your time in big cities (it depends on your tastes, but I would get bored with just big cities pretty quickly) add places like Poznan, Kazimierz Dolny, the High Tatras, Kosice inbetween.

But if you don’t have time, I think it’s nicer to skip one or more cities than to spend too little time everywhere. However I’d cut out Budapest and Vienna sooner than Krakow. But that’s personal.

Hi Seraphim,
I thought there was like an 8-hour trip by bus or train between Berlin and Warsaw, but I´ll double check that… So I might start in Prague and do Berlin after Warsaw, as my last stop… i´ll check how this change affects my airplane ticket prices, since I´m flying out /in Madrid.
About the big/small cities issue, I totally agree. Since I´ll be staying more than a week in Warsaw (I´m going for my friend´s wedding) I´ll be doing some day trips to Gdansk, Lotz, Lublin and some other small cities in Poland. That´ll give me a better perspective on Polish culture for sure. I noticed you mentioned Pozna, Kazimierz Dolny and the High Tatras… are these more interesting that Gdansk and Lotz?

Thanks for the advice

I’ll probably write an article on the Eurotrip front page about the travel between Krakow and Budapest. Every time people ask this.

Well, an extremely brief outline:
1] This year, there is no direct train.
2] There are direct overnight traincars that travel between Krakow and Budapest, but not on a direct train, they are reshunted during the night.
Krakow: leaves at 22.15 as part of Fast train 200 “Silesia” to Prague, arrives to Budapest 8.32 in the morning
Budapest: leaves Keleti station at 19.58 as part of EuroNight train 477 “Metropol” to Berlin, arrives Krakow 6.33.
3] There is one direct bus, operated by www.orangeways.com, Budapest (Nepliget) 6.00, Krakow 13.30, Krakow 14.30, Budapest 22.00. Definitely cheaper than bus. Order online. In Budapest, board at Nepliget bus terminal, blue subway line, station Nepliget. In Krakow, board at Regionalny Dworzec Autobusowy (regional bus terminal) next to the Main station, in Bosacka street.
4] You may take a train with one transfer in Bratislava.

5] no other possibilities except great detours