Interrail planning advice

Good evening,

I'm planning an interrail trip in September over a fortnight. I'm planning on visiting Berlin, Krakow, the Tatra Mountains and Budapest.

I have a few questions for which I haven't found answers to, and I would be very grateful if you were able to offer any advice

• If I travel from London to Berlin by daytime trains (Eurostar to Brussels, ICE train to Cologne Hbf and then another ICE train to Berlin Hbf), am I likely to run into any delays and/or cancellations. I'm asking after reading stories about how chaotic travelling long distances on DB can be. I'm tempted to get the Nightjet sleeper from Brussels to Berlin for this reason (I'll be travelling on a Saturday when the European Sleeper doesn't run).
• I'm planning on travelling to the Tatra mountains by getting the train from Krakow to Zakopane and then the bus from there. At the moment there is an Intercity service leaving Krakow at 0913 and arriving at Zakopane at 1146. Is this likely to be delayed, seeing as the train starts its journey in Warsaw?
• The European Railway timetable says there's one Flixbus every day from Zakopane to the towns on the Slovakian side of the Tatras. Does anyone know if any other buses cross the Tatras? I've read elsewhere there are buses to the Slovakian border from where you can get another to the skiing towns, but can't find any timings online.
• I've never been to the Tatra mountains - where would you recommend staying?
• Likewise, does anyone have any recommendations for Budapest? I like scenic railways and interesting traction but wouldn't spend all of my time chasing a particular class of locomotive.
• Will the Nightjet service from Vienna to Brussels/Paris be running every day from September? The Man in Seat 61 website says these services should be running daily from late 2024. If not, has anyone been on the Hungarian Railways sleeper from Budapest to Stuttgart?

Thank you in advance

Obviously 'The Man in Seat 61' website is the first stop, but if you do Facebook there are a few useful sites there too, particularly when it cones to reservations. Just search Interrail on FB.

No one can predict delays, just make sure you have a plan B. Then if you are delayed plan B becomes plan A. (Have plan C if ultra cautious!).

The narrow guage railways in the Tatra mountains are worth a ride in Slovakia. The 'childrens Railway' in Budapest is something different and makes for a good half day excursion.

If you're just doing London to Berlin in a day (ideally leaving London early!) then you should be fine. Worst case scenario, you can take Belgian trains all the way from Brussels to Aachen then pick up DB services from there, with just one change in Liege. The ICE from Brussels to Cologne is essentially the 'weak' link in the journey.

DB isn't particularly reliable but, strikes aside, binning everything off GB-style is pretty uncommon on long-distance services. Everything will at least try to run - even if quite delayed!

PKP aren't horrifically unreliable by any stretch of the imagination - I've had one substantial (45 min) delay with them ever. 10-15 mins or so is common but they'll normally get you to where you want to go. Just make sure Krakow-Zakopane isn't bustituted as the past few years that line seems to have been shut more than it's been open.

Zakopane is definitely worth a visit and is probably worth staying in, too. Plenty of nice walks to be had off into the mountains and make sure you sample some freshly fried up Oscypek.

Currently on Interrail (not for the first time!) in Interlaken en route to Sicily.

As soon as you step outside your front door, the world becomes less reliable. Today, one of our trains (a 6-hour leg) was cancelled part way through our journey. It took two connections to reach our destination, but with the Interrail App, it is remarkably easy to rebook.

The important consideration is to not commit to 'Just In Time' planning, and rely on reaching your ultimate destination on the last train of the day, having set out on the first train of the day,. It's fine to accept tight connections, but always allow for disruption. Interrail allows you to flex not only times, but also routes. In two days time, we are heading from Switzerland to Sicily in one Interrail day (including sleeper) but we have a couple of lengthy changes is insurance.

I would also add that PKP's restaurant cars are brilliant.

Is it possible for you to do the 8:16 London to Brussels
Then then 10:25 Eurostar to cologne
And then the connecting Berlin train in Cologne

As that's what I did I have found Eurostar to be more reliable than Ice

FlyingPotato said:

Is it possible for you to do the 8:16 London to Brussels
Then then 10:25 Eurostar to cologne
And then the connecting Berlin train in Cologne

As that's what I did I have found Eurostar to be more reliable than Ice

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I think you mean the 11.25 Eurostar from Brussels to Cologne. The 10.25 is an ICE and the train from London doesn't arrive in Brussels until 11.13.
But even with those times I would not risk 12 minutes in Brussels.

Peterthegreat said:

I think you mean the 11.25 Eurostar from Brussels to Cologne. The 10.25 is an ICE and the train from London doesn't arrive in Brussels until 11.13.
But even with those times I would not risk 12 minutes in Brussels.

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11:25 then


I've done it before, just book your seat near the front of the train

It's possible but have a Plan B: the ES was not always that good on punctuality last year and the ES/ICE connections to Cologne willl not necesarily be held as they have to fit with trains in Germany, particularly through Cologne.

With all ICE/IC/EC trains in Germany, one should allow at least an extra hour for a journey such as Brussels - Berlin to cover for delayed/broken trains. A lot of things do go wrong, unfortunately. The advantage of going to Berlin is that, since it is essentially a 24h city, you should be able to get to your hotel even if you are rather late (provided it is Zones A +B of the fare system...), ie. there are nightbuses pretty much everywhere.

In Budapest, Line 1 of the Metro is pretty much a 'must see': the "oldest underground railway in the world" (by some estimates...) and hardly changed from when built in the late 19th Century. Otherwise, there is a lot of atmostphere to adsorb in this city, including the hot baths/spas at some of the hotels.

One hint: a strike could hinder your plan.
However, once you made it to Aachen, you are pretty safe. From Aachen there are tons of one-stop option to get to Berlin.

My exp is on PKP that delays are not that common.
I kind of remember-having done that many moons ago, there was a local BUs+Bus combo (change/cross border-not very uncommon on this continent) from Zak into SK. THis very much varies also with season. Also note that the BUS to travel from Krkw to Zak is far, far more common, frequent, cheaper and much faster as the train. AND-surprise for some!-you should have some local money to pay driver, SK has €, PL still does with its Zloty. FLIX is in my exp halfway in a route much, much more prone to delays.
Depending on your age IR may not be the best buy. F.e. Seniors>65 (any, not as in HU just from the EU) can get a free pass for free train travel IN SK. Most PL cities offer free local travel (bus,tram) for any senior >70, but that excludes trains. Juniors may also get discounts. LOcal trains like PR also offer quite cheap ride-at-will rover type tickets.
Its also by now quite some time ago since I myself last stayed in the Tatra. It will depend on what type of accomm you want and what you wish to do whilst there. Of course sites like booking will give a broad overview and you can set that to select many factors. Its also quite common in these parts of the world to hire private accomm (´holiday homes´)-in such a case look very much at maps how it is situated. Plus that they may not by now already get posted for sept-plus there really is not any need to book that now-sept is after the main summer hols. I always read the BAD reviews first-and check from how long ago these are. The main town in the area is Poprad-a medium size town with both a major main line train stop and start of the narrow gauge network into the mountains.
Perhaps other minor surprise (or horror?): Countries PL-SK-HU (and CZ) also have loads of TESCO hypermarkets. But these will not offer the usual specific GB stock so much.
I understand NJ from Wien-it will simply depend on/when new stock gets delivered on time-or not. Which one will only know for sure when it is delivered-or not.
And here is also community.eurail.com. Forum that mostly gets all the tipical beginners questions.

Drsatan said:

• If I travel from London to Berlin by daytime trains (Eurostar to Brussels, ICE train to Cologne Hbf and then another ICE train to Berlin Hbf), am I likely to run into any delays and/or cancellations. I'm asking after reading stories about how chaotic travelling long distances on DB can be. I'm tempted to get the Nightjet sleeper from Brussels to Berlin for this reason (I'll be travelling on a Saturday when the European Sleeper doesn't run).

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I've done this trip by day trains a few times in recent years, and it's generally fine. As other posters have mentioned, Brussels -> Köln is the bottleneck. I've been late into Berlin a couple of times but both times less than an hour. I always take the 20 minute transfer option in Brussels, it feels risky but it has always worked for me. It's worth using seat61 to research mid-platform shortcut from the Eurostar platforms to the rest of the stations to save a few minutes.

Drsatan said:

• I'm planning on travelling to the Tatra mountains by getting the train from Krakow to Zakopane and then the bus from there. At the moment there is an Intercity service leaving Krakow at 0913 and arriving at Zakopane at 1146. Is this likely to be delayed, seeing as the train starts its journey in Warsaw?

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It's a bit of a bumbling route so I wouldn't be surprised by delays, but the 10 minutes of time sitting around in Kraków Głowny allows some recovery. The biggest difficulty with this route is that it is slow and winding and so most people take a faster, cheaper bus from Kraków to Zakopane, and from that point of view it's not treated as an important one.

When you get to Zakopane there will be a series of small, dodgy-looking minibuses taking you to each of the "trailheads" at the foot of the mountains (e.g. Kuźnice, Morski Oko, and the various Dolina (valleys). These minibuses are actually all fine and fully regulated fares etc and even have timetables, but it's hard to find English-language information about them. They are ideal for tourists and hikers accessing the national park, unlike the city bus routes which just go around town and are for the locals. It took me a couple of visits to Zakopane to pluck up courage to use the minibuses, but they are well-used and very useful.

Drsatan said:

• The European Railway timetable says there's one Flixbus every day from Zakopane to the towns on the Slovakian side of the Tatras. Does anyone know if any other buses cross the Tatras? I've read elsewhere there are buses to the Slovakian border from where you can get another to the skiing towns, but can't find any timings online.

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The best way to cross the Tatras is not to start in Zakopane - there's a big line of mountains in the way! Flixbus, for example, goes more often (and much faster) from Kraków to Slovakia (e.g Tatranská Lomnica) direct (east of the High Tatras) than going first to Zakopane and then having to work around them. I wouldn't rely on the local minibuses to connect with each other at the border (e.g. at Łysa Polana) because there's not really a plan B if the second bus doesn't turn up or if you can't find the unmarked bus stop.

Drsatan said:

• I've never been to the Tatra mountains - where would you recommend staying?

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Zakopane is great, it's the mountain resort town for the whole of Poland and has good minibus connections to all the parts of the national park that you will want to do day hikes from (as above). The Slovakian side is much, much much quieter than the Polish side - they have a lot more mountains elsewhere in the country! - and they don't have the same ampetheatre effect that Zakopane benefits from so they have a series of spread-out much smaller villages and towns. On the Slovakian side I recommend staying somewhere along the east-west "Tatra Electric Railway" between Starý Smokovec – Tatranská Lomnica if you are hiking, since it's half-way up the hillsides and it's the best way of moving laterally along the range to try different walking routes heading north into the range.

I would second the recommendation to stay up on the TEZ not down in Poprad.
I've not crossed from/to Poland, so take the following with caution:

Unfortunately, the scenic rail connection Muszyna-Stara Lubovna is summer weekends only, but as an alternative to the long-distance buses you could - if feeling adventurous and up for a 15-min walk - head for Lomnica-Zdroj on the line to Krynica-Zdroj, walk along the roadside footpath into Mnisek and Popradom and pick up the local bus to Stara L at the post office. (I googled the timetable - SX only though!)
TIP: Slovak buses don't show on Googlemaps, but streetview will show you the bus stop!
(You could risk the Lysa Polana connection if you can find times, it looks to be a typical couple of border shopping outlets, and the walk is much shorter).

BTW free travel for seniors in SK is from age 62, but on fast trains you have to pre-book or pay full fare.

Thanks for your replies everyone.

I planned on travelling by train from Krakow to Zakopane after reading an article in the Guardian about it - but based on what you've posted (like problems with connecting buses) I'll go on the coach around the Tatras. I'd rather not risk arriving in Zakopane and missing the once-a-day Flixbus because the train from Krakow was late.

@30907 - thanks for the advice regarding the summer weekends-only cross-border service from Muszyna to Stara Lubovna. The website I've found here https://www.egtre.info/wiki/Border_Crossings:_Poland_-_Slovakia says this service runs up to 1 September 2024 - unfortunately I'll be travelling after then.

@dutchflyer - unfortunately, I'm under 65 (considerably!) so senior discounts won't apply to me. I'm considering if it's worth buying point-to-point tickets or getting an interrail pass if there's another sale. London St Pancras to Berlin is expensive - looking a month or two in advance on raileurope.com most one-way fares are from £150 to £200+.

Drsatan said:

Thanks for your replies everyone.

I planned on travelling by train from Krakow to Zakopane after reading an article in the Guardian about it - but based on what you've posted (like problems with connecting buses) I'll go on the coach around the Tatras. I'd rather not risk arriving in Zakopane and missing the once-a-day Flixbus because the train from Krakow was late.

@30907 - thanks for the advice regarding the summer weekends-only cross-border service from Muszyna to Stara Lubovna. The website I've found here https://www.egtre.info/wiki/Border_Crossings:_Poland_-_Slovakia says this service runs up to 1 September 2024 - unfortunately I'll be travelling after then.

@dutchflyer - unfortunately, I'm under 65 (considerably!) so senior discounts won't apply to me. I'm considering if it's worth buying point-to-point tickets or getting an interrail pass if there's another sale. London St Pancras to Berlin is expensive - looking a month or two in advance on raileurope.com most one-way fares are from £150 to £200+.

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The Slovakian side of the Tatras is cool, interesting Electric Narrow guage railways and at least one cable car up into the high mountains. I stayed in a massive communist era hotel in Tatranska Lomnica; the SOREA Titris, back in 2019. £50 a night, clean and comfy, had a great time. Quality of food and customer service was variable, and the older staff spoke zero English, but thats all part of the fun! Highly recommend.

dutchflyer said:

My exp is on PKP that delays are not that common.

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Not like Germany but FWIW EC107 today, sat at Krakow Gl, left 15’ late, 22 down at Bohumin.

Was SBB Panoramawagen though.

Ant1966 said:

I stayed in a massive communist era hotel in Tatranska Lomnica; the SOREA Titris, back in 2019. £50 a night, clean and comfy, had a great time. Quality of food and customer service was variable, and the older staff spoke zero English, but thats all part of the fun! Highly recommend.

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A couple of years earlier I overnighted quite cheaply in the fin-de-siecle Grand Hotel Praha, a long way uphill from the station - comfortable but my room desperately needed renovation. From current prices I hope it has been