My husband and I are visiting in February. We'd like to take a train from Prague to Munich. What's the best way to do this? Buy when we get there or ahead of time? How much should we expect to pay and how long does it take to get there? Thank you.
There are three direct trains a day, one in the morning, two in the evening / night. WIth two of them, it takes 6 hours, the nightly one takes 8.30. I suggest you buy you tickets and seat reservations in advance. You may also wish to use bed coaches, which are available in the evening trains. See http://www.vlak.cz/ConnForm.asp for connections, it also has German and English version.
Thanks! I think we'll take the night train. Is there a way to pay/reserve ahead of time and receive confirmation? The website (even in English) is hard to understand. I think I am "holding" a reservation but I don't see anywhere to pay for it or to give our names to reserve it. Any ideas?
That is just a pre-reservation. You have to go to some CD station equiped with the reservation system (they do not say how many these offices are, but I think you can find them in most bigger stations). There you present the prereservation ID, pay and get your tickets, seat tickets etc.. Some instructions in English - http://www.cd.cz/static/eng/onlineservices.htm
I had priced tickets back October for a train between Prague and Vienna. The price on the Eurorail web site for reservations was about $160 USD, I decided to wait. I ended up buying a one-way ticket (at the Prague train station) to Vienna for right at $30 USD, with reservation. Then, I bought a return ticket (at the Vienna train station) for right at $50 USD. There was nothing hard about making these arrangements! I saved about $80 USD!!! Just go online and print out the train scheduled, its simple. If you do a lot of research before your trip, it will save you a lot of time and money. I'd guess that the trip will be less then 5 hours. You can't see the country side riding the night train. Paul
When my wife and I are in Prague, we often go on the train to visit somewhere. Very often we go to Čáslav by train. If you use the idos.cz site in English you can work out the bus or train you want and print the timetable. Show this to the station clerk if English is a problem, and learn one or two basic words in Czech: like the words for "return" "single" "seat reservation" "platform" (or use a phrase book). We have always found it very easy to use the trains and buses. We never go on tours, we prefer to make our own way. Mělník, Nelahozeves, Křivoklát, we have been on our own. We once got the train from Prague to Liptovsky Mikulas is Slovakia, paying single each way (which worked out cheaper buying at Slovak price to come back) Last year we got the bus from Prague to Český Krumlov, and while there, used local buses to Rožmberk, and Holubov for sightseeing. All information we got from idos.cz site. Hope this helps.
