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How to book for train (seat reservation) from Vilnius (Lithuania) to Krakow (Poland) (april ’23)

  • 26 February 2023
  • 10 replies
  • 1353 views
J
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  • Right on track
  • 8 replies

April/May we will travel through Europe.

 

One of the routes we are planning to do is Vilnius to Krakow. I’m figuring out how to book a seat reservation for this train. (for April 25 – connection: Depart 12.10 Vilnius (IC 143), 1 transfer in Mockova Arrival 23.39 in Krakow)

 

We do have a 2 month pass so remarks about taking a bus instead are not very relevant.(although for Talinn-Riga and Riga-Vilnius we will take the bus)

 

There is a daily connection leaving 12.10 and arriving 23.37 with 1 change in Mockava (LT). See seat61 whichs is trusthworthy and valuable info. https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/warsaw-to-vilnius-by-train.htm

 

He also indicates tickets can be booked 30 days in advance. I checked the ltglink website and this is correct. (I found out when booking online a ticket for this train you cannot choose Interrail as a discount so I think a seat reservation through the Lithuanian website isn’t possible)

 

To check how to book I used several dates in the oncoming 4 weeks so I know how to when tickets are released.

 

But I can’t find out how to book.

 

1) According to the interrail plan your trip on the website (I know - which is not complete and very reliable) this route needs seat reservation for both connections V-M and M-K. (orange colored) Once you clicked I got this message: It looks like parts of this journey can’t be booked with us even though they require reservations. We suggest you search for alternative train connections. Try filtering your results by deselecting high-speed trains from the ‘train type’ filter above./ Seat reservations unavailable

It seems no price offer is available right now. It is possible that all pass holder seats are sold out. Please check 'More information' and try other ways to book this seat reservation, or buy a separate full fare ticket to board. You need to buy a seat reservation to board.

 

I checked all days oncoming month – so I don’t think the reason is sold out

 

2) Checking the alternative ways of making a reservation.

Website Polish railway -> won’t work online because of international connection I guess. The only discount option I got is for a child.

 

3) Website OBB – I only got the possibility to get a reservation for the section Warsow – Krakow(and this involves an extra chance in warsow to IC 5310 and thus arriving 30 minutes earlier in Krakow but I prefer to stay in the train and arriving at 23.39. For the complete journey with IC 143 I got the message “ a technical error occurred”

 

  • Could somebody explain how to book this seat reservation online?

 

We will arrive in Vilnius on Sunday 23 in the afternoon so we can spend some time to go to the station (but rather spend the time in sightseeing Vilnius) and try to make a reservation but I’m worried if this train is fully booked.

  • Does anyone have experience or validated info I can safely wait with seat reservation until we have arrive in Vilnius?

 

Thanks for you help

 

 

 

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Best answer by rvdborgt 26 February 2023, 22:24

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R
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This reservation can't be booked online.

You may be able to book a reservation from Trakiszki on the PKP IC website - domestic reservations are normally possible there. Otherwise at any Polish ticket office or (probably) in Lithuania.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
M
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If you are before in Germany, you should be able to book it at a ticket office there.

Otherwise also some rail agents might be able to book it.

Via DB the reservation is 4,5€, directly via LTG it is 5€ (as some agents do).

Reserved seat will be on both trains the same.

according to some reports this connection is used quite well now. In September when I used the „old one“ it was almost empty.

D

In Lithuania seat reservation is possible only in train or ticket office, it costs €5 and valid for all route, for example Vilnius-Krakow.

The main problem is that different companies (Lithuanian and Polish) appointed a limited number of seats for international passengers in their trains (about 90 in total) and sometimes all tickets are sold a few days before the journey.
But the real number of train seats is larger and used for local transfers. So one of the options would be to buy a seat reservation for a Lithuanian train from Vilnius to Mockava and Polish from Trakiszki to Warsaw/Krakow. Tickets are always available on the same day

 

R
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Userlevel 7
Badge +9

But the real number of train seats is larger and used for local transfers. So one of the options would be to buy a seat reservation for a Lithuanian train from Vilnius to Mockava and Polish from Trakiszki to Warsaw/Krakow. Tickets are always available on the same day

Am I correct in thinking that a seat reservation is not mandatory in the train between Vilnius and Mockava?

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
D

 

But the real number of train seats is larger and used for local transfers. So one of the options would be to buy a seat reservation for a Lithuanian train from Vilnius to Mockava and Polish from Trakiszki to Warsaw/Krakow. Tickets are always available on the same day

Am I correct in thinking that a seat reservation is not mandatory in the train between Vilnius and Mockava?

Officially it is mandatory (seat reservations - required) in Vilnius-Mockava train, but the staff often allows you to travel without it. On the other hand, all seats are numbered and you just will need to stand sometimes.

J

Thanks for your input. 

I did ask Polrail for a quote for this traject: they could offer the reservation (already before 30 days before travelogue) but charged over 10EUR a person which I think was relatively expensive compare to normal price ticket.

So I took the chance to wait until we are in Vilnius. 

But not a complete 100% gamble: I made an online reservation for the Polish part of the traject (Trakiszki to Krakau which cost 1 zlty per seat). 

So for the Lithuanian part we will see what will happen. 

C

So I took the chance to wait until we are in Vilnius. 

But not a complete 100% gamble: I made an online reservation for the Polish part of the traject (Trakiszki to Krakau which cost 1 zlty per seat). 

So for the Lithuanian part we will see what will happen. 

I'm also planning to travel the same route this summer. 

Could you please elaborate on how it went? Was it possible to reserve a seat from Vilnus to Moscava on the spot?

Also, I see that you still managed to book an online reservation from Trakiszki to Krakau. But I am confused what happens between Moscava and Trakiszki..

I would be very thankful to hear how the journey went.

J
  • @rvdborgt - I haven’t asked explicitly but I do think for the part Vilnius- Mockava a seat reservation is mandatory. We went to the train station the day before we had to take the train and paid EUR 5 per person for the seat reservation. The lady was very kind and made a print (instead of the normal receipt for domestic travel) of the reservation. In the train we were asked to show it. And the way they asked, I think if we hadn’t one, they would have made a problem of it. 
  • Make sure you write down the destination - the lady heard Warsaw instead of Krakow (due to my prononcation I guess;.) ) so we had the reservation to W. But because I also had the reservation for the Polish part, this wasn’t a problem for us. 
  • We had a 1st class pass - but the train Vilnius - Mockava has only 2nd class (and is quite a cramped seating, little space for big luggage but friendly personal - they came to explain the delay in person. ) And for the part M-Poland you have a reservation but no seat number. So from that perspective it is worth to pay the 1 zlt and make the seat reservation for the polish part. 
  • @cipis - Between Mockava and Trakiszki is a little bit grey area. Because we had a seat reservation for T to Krakow in 1st class, we already sit there from M onwards. The conductor was wondering if this was ok (how did we got a seat there since it was not possible to book online for that part) , but he checked our ticket in the interrail app and for him this was ok. 
  • I hope this will help you and have a nice trip. 
C
  • Make sure you write down the destination - the lady heard Warsaw instead of Krakow (due to my prononcation I guess;.) ) so we had the reservation to W. But because I also had the reservation for the Polish part, this wasn’t a problem for us. 

Thank you so much for the previous answers! I really appreciate the quick response! Really cleared things up for me.

But I am wondering about this part. Did you mention your destination to the Lithuanian ticket office (Krakow), even if you had already reserved the seats online (Trakiszki to Krakow)?

Because I now understand that you have to reserve the seats from Vilnus to Mockava in person and Polish train route part online, yes? And show both my pass QR code to the train conductor and the specific seat reservations (in both Lithuania and Poland)?

Excuse my confusion, this is my first time

interrailing and the app hasn't been any help to me for this specific train route😅

Oscar van Oorschot

I have a similar problem. I want to travel from Vilnius to Krakow tomorrow and just went to the train station. All trains for the next days are sold out. It's however still possible to purchase a regular ticket on the PKP website. I also made a seat a reservation for Trakiszki-Krakow and I pray I won't get fined or kicked out

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