There have been many problems since the beginning of this year with the connection to the Polish reservation system. That train is unlikely to be full so long in advance. The best is to ask at a ticket office that sells international reservations. Or call DB (pick up at a DB ticket machine).
There have been many problems since the beginning of this year with the connection to the Polish reservation system. That train is unlikely to be full so long in advance. The best is to ask at a ticket office that sells international reservations. Or call DB (pick up at a DB ticket machine).
It’s honestly so confusing. Thank you for your advice! Currently I’m trying to call with NS International (The Netherlands) so hopefully they’re able to help me further.
There have been many problems since the beginning of this year with the connection to the Polish reservation system. That train is unlikely to be full so long in advance. The best is to ask at a ticket office that sells international reservations. Or call DB (pick up at a DB ticket machine).
It’s honestly so confusing. Thank you for your advice! Currently I’m trying to call with NS International (The Netherlands) so hopefully they’re able to help me further.
Do let us know if they offer reservations for that train.
Also, there have been reports that NSI is asking a booking fee for pass reservations but their information page says there should not be any booking fee if what you are booking is not available via their website or ticket machines.
There have been many problems since the beginning of this year with the connection to the Polish reservation system. That train is unlikely to be full so long in advance. The best is to ask at a ticket office that sells international reservations. Or call DB (pick up at a DB ticket machine).
It’s honestly so confusing. Thank you for your advice! Currently I’m trying to call with NS International (The Netherlands) so hopefully they’re able to help me further.
Do let us know if they offer reservations for that train.
Also, there have been reports that NSI is asking a booking fee for pass reservations but their information page says there should not be any booking fee if what you are booking is not available via their website or ticket machines.
Sadly my call with NS International didn't clear up much. They couldn’t book the trip for me but were kind enough to give me a Polish number that should be able to help me. But when calling the number I get the choice to continue in English or Polish and after I made the choice the call disconnects. It’s +48523325781
A Polish friend said it would be hard to book tickets online in Poland and I can see now why haha
If you'll be in Germany or Austria before Poland, you can book by phone via DB or ÖBB and collect your ticket there.
DB: +49 30 2970 (German) +49 30 311682904 (English)
ÖBB: +43 5 1717
10 November is low season though and on a Thursday. The train in not likely to be fully booked so you should be able to bok at the first Polish ticket office you come across.
If you'll be in Germany or Austria before Poland, you can book by phone via DB or ÖBB and collect your ticket there.
DB: +49 30 2970 (German) +49 30 311682904 (English)
ÖBB: +43 5 1717
10 November is low season though and on a Thursday. The train in not likely to be fully booked so you should be able to bok at the first Polish ticket office you come across.
UPDATE: I just looked at seat61 for some advice and they recommended a reliable ticket agency called PolRail (booking.polrail.com). I was just able to make the reservation without any troubles! The website works much better than Polish Intercity and is completely in English. We’re able to pick up the tickets at our hostel in Warsaw but there were a variety of options to choose from.
Thank you for thinking with me, I appreciate it :)
Hi… how did things end up booking through through polrail.com? I’m running into a similar issue with the eurorail site and wondering if polrail is the better way to do it.
Hi… how did things end up booking through through polrail.com? I’m running into a similar issue with the eurorail site and wondering if polrail is the better way to do it.
What train (route, date, departure time) are you trying to book?
Dates are somewhat flexible, but trying to get to Warsaw from Hamburg on March 22 or 23, with most likely a changeover in Berlin. If that doesn’t work, I’m thinking of going to Prague first from Hamburg and going Prague to Warsaw around March 25.
Hi… how did things end up booking through through polrail.com? I’m running into a similar issue with the eurorail site and wondering if polrail is the better way to do it.
What train (route, date, departure time) are you trying to book?
Dates are somewhat flexible, but trying to get to Warsaw from Hamburg on March 22 or 23, with most likely a changeover in Berlin. If that doesn’t work, I’m thinking of going to Prague first from Hamburg and going Prague to Warsaw around March 25.
Dates are somewhat flexible, but trying to get to Warsaw from Hamburg on March 22 or 23, with most likely a changeover in Berlin. If that doesn’t work, I’m thinking of going to Prague first from Hamburg and going Prague to Warsaw around March 25.
Reservations for Hamburg-Berlin are optional and can be made via tickets.oebb.at for €3.
Reservations for Berlin-Warsaw are mandatory and are best made at a ticket office, e.g. when you get to Germany. Price should be around €4. 22 and 23 March should not be busy dates so booking a few days in advance should be fine. You can also call DB and collect your reservation from a DB ticket machine.
Reservations for Hamburg-Berlin are optional and can be made via tickets.oebb.at for €3.
Reservations for Berlin-Warsaw are mandatory and are best made at a ticket office, e.g. when you get to Germany. Prive should be around €4. 22 and 23 March should not be busy dates so booking a few days in advance should be fine. You can also call DB and collect your reservation from a DB ticket machine.
Thanks. The DB site and the Eurail reservations site say Berlin-Warsaw trains are booked solid (except for overnight which doesn’t work for us) which is why I’m confused. Polrail.com shows only lists 2 trains listed while the others show trains running every few hours. So could the sites not be harmonized, or be inaccurate? Maybe I’m missing something or it would be just better to call.
Reservations for Hamburg-Berlin are optional and can be made via tickets.oebb.at for €3.
Reservations for Berlin-Warsaw are mandatory and are best made at a ticket office, e.g. when you get to Germany. Prive should be around €4. 22 and 23 March should not be busy dates so booking a few days in advance should be fine. You can also call DB and collect your reservation from a DB ticket machine.
Update: I called Bahn and Polrail, and they both said the timetable is not yet available for international trains to/from Poland after March 12. This explains why the booking sites are not harmonized and no tickets/reservations are available. The Polrail rep said they can’t predict exactly, but the new schedule should be available in about 2 weeks. I also called PKP, but I don’t speak Polish and they didn’t have any English speaking folks available. Anyways, thanks for your help.
The Eurail website has had problems with reservations in/to Poland for more than a year now, so what it says it not relevant. It is also unlikely that the trains are already fully booked. Bookings open 60 days in advance and it's not high season at all.
On the DB website, you cannot make reservations only for trains to Poland. And I know from experience that for normal bookings it will show a price, and in case of a fully booked train to Poland, it will only fail at the payment stage, because the mandatory reservation is not possible. So you can't draw any conclusions from whatever you see there.
There seem to be engineering works going on those days around Warsaw though. The trains from Berlin are diverted to Warszawa Gdańska station. You can see that in te Polish timetable planner:
http://rozklad.sitkol.pl/bin/query.exe/en
These changed timetables are not visible yet on the DB or Eurail website and as long as that is the case, any reservation attempt will fail. So just wait for a bit.
Dates are somewhat flexible, but trying to get to Warsaw from Hamburg on March 22 or 23, with most likely a changeover in Berlin. If that doesn’t work, I’m thinking of going to Prague first from Hamburg and going Prague to Warsaw around March 25.
Reservations for Hamburg-Berlin are optional and can be made via tickets.oebb.at for €3.
Reservations for Berlin-Warsaw are mandatory and are best made at a ticket office, e.g. when you get to Germany. Price should be around €4. 22 and 23 March should not be busy dates so booking a few days in advance should be fine. You can also call DB and collect your reservation from a DB ticket machine.
I would make the reservation for both trains via DB, so you pay only 4,50€ for the hole leg. Or do you pay extra for train with compulsory reservations @rvdborgt ?
All trains from Germany to Poland do have a special mandatory passholder reservation tariff of 4 € for the relevant train which sets them apart from other trains. Otherwise it would indeed be 4,50 € 2nd class or 5,90 € 1st class per direction, but not here.
Reservations for Hamburg-Berlin are optional and can be made via tickets.oebb.at for €3.
Reservations for Berlin-Warsaw are mandatory and are best made at a ticket office, e.g. when you get to Germany. Price should be around €4. 22 and 23 March should not be busy dates so booking a few days in advance should be fine. You can also call DB and collect your reservation from a DB ticket machine.
I would make the reservation for both trains via DB, so you pay only 4,50€ for the hole leg. Or do you pay extra for train with compulsory reservations @rvdborgt ?
Compulsory reservations are extra and payable per train.
Thank you so much for this tip about polrail. → I think this should included in the list with alternative booking ways.
I just made a reservation for the nighttrain Krakow-Budapest for April 28 with them. We have to pick up tickets in Krakau (zlt 30) (alternative: send with UPS to our home but this would cost half the price of the reservation themselves) so will have to see if everything will be ok.
At first I tried to make this seat (actually bed) reservation through the Interrail website. I got this connection in the results but when try to book I got the message “prices unavailable”.
On the OBB site I got “ticket not available” (also not for earlier dates and I first check without Interrail discount/if normal tickets are available)
I think they are also usefull for the Vilnius-Krakow route about I asked a question on the forum. If this turns out to be helpful, I will answer my question by myself there.
Krakow-Budapest can be booked online via cd.cz by the way.
It seems like the Polrail website doesn't work anymore for me. So, if anyone else is still looking for a seat reservation for the Krakow - Budapest line, you can indeed use the cd.cz website to purchase a seat reservation for ~€3,00. Thanks @rvdborgt for the tip!
This is our first time using Interrail...