Overnight train Vienna to Warsaw

See http://www.seat61.com/RailShop.htm - an excellent resource for all train travel matters worldwide.

Please note that buying from one of the agencies mentioned on that page will include a significant markup.

You might want to directly contact Austrian Railways by phone at +43/5-1717 and inquire about prices. The problem is that international prices are difficult to calculate due to costs shared between national carriers, so usually this information is not available online. Should be no problem to order the tickets by phone and have them mailed to you to the US.

Austrian railway page online: http://www.oebb.at/en/index.jsp

Thanks!

It's very odd -- I can find the direct train mentioned in my OP when I go to the OBB site, but they won't give me prices (probably due to what you said in #1, which I didn't realize... thanks!) When I go to RailEurope, the only trains they give me are ones with two connections -- they don't list the direct overnight train at all.

The seat61 RailShop says it can't sell me tickets between those two cities.

So I guess my only option is to phone Austrian railways. Do you happen to know if they speak English? I don't speak any German other than "please" and "thank you"! :-)

I'm quite sure that they will connect you to someone speaking English - if it doesn't work out, drop a line here and I might call them for you as I speak German. But you'd have to try yourself first! ;)

BTW: I doubt that you'll be able to buy a ticket that soon, so you might only get general quotes. Also inquire about when the tickets will be available.

Anyway: I don't think the train will be booked out quickly, so you don't have to hurry.

There are numerous discounts, but there is a ticket on-line calculator called "jizdenka", www.jizdenka.cz.

Accordning it, the regular, non-discounted couch price is 63.40 Euro - which is a freaking expensive for that trip. Don't forget, even a regular Breclav-Warszawa ticket is a mere 34.20 Euro, but it could be done for even less.

Best of all: Budapest-Warszawa (essentially the same train, it is joined by Vienna-Warszawa in Breclav) is a mere 29 Euro. It's a special price, but there is no on-line reservation, so that special won't be sold out on-line.

So essentially it is cheaper to go to Budapest first, buy the 29 special (it's rarely sold out, even to Praha!), the sleeper is cheaper, too.

Finally: don't forget, the train tariff in Europe is very assymetrical: same trip starting from "East" is usually MUCH cheaper.
In other words: fly to Budapest, buy one round-trip to Vienna (29 Euro the round-trip) and after returning, buy 29 Euro special to Warszawa.

The cheapest city in Europe to fly into (and from the States you get a free day in London) is Belgrade, fly with Virgin Atlantic, change to JAT in London. We did the same for years and saved a lot. The entire airplane ticket is issued by JAT consolidators and it beats anything you can get on-line. Our source of the tickets was mishatours, www.mishatours.com, (800) 272-5811,

Once in BEG, keep in mind, the one-way ticket to Budapest is 15 Euro, r/t is 26 Euro. Buy the ticket to Warszawa or Vienna in Budapest.

It's much easier than you think and keep in mind two things:

1) The average salary (income is more!) in some Central European countries is in the range of $500/month - before the tax. People still travel. That means, the tickets are cheaper than you expect.
2) many people don't have internet, so it's not being sold on-line.

Forget buying anything related to European rail travel in the States. It will be a major rip-off. For regular, non-discounted prices make yourself familiar with www.jizdenka.cz (switch to English!). It is very powerful, but you need to know the train routing to get the exact price, sometimes even so-called "multipliers".

Here is a good FREE map, one of the most useable I know:

http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/maps.php

Thanks! Even knowing the approximate 63 euro price is VERY helpful, to give us a ballpark figure.

The deal is that I'm traveling with my mom, grandma, and aunt. It's kind of a three-generation "heritage trip" to see Warsaw, where my grandparents are from, and Vienna, where my mom was born and spent part of her childhood. We're all flying into Vienna, spending some time there, then traveling to Warsaw and then on to visit all the relatives all over Poland, and then flying back to the U.S. from Warsaw.

Anyway, to get from Vienna to Warsaw (we just need a one-way ticket because of our travel plans), my grandma and aunt are insisting on flying, which is costing them more than $300. And yes, I've spent a lot of time checking all the budget airlines, and there isn't anything between VIE and WAW that doesn't involve going through London or Dublin.

I told my mom that instead of paying for a flight, maybe the two of us can take an overnight train -- I did this a lot when I was a "kid" (in university) traveling through Europe, because it saved you one night's hotel bill. At the time, we slept on seats in regular coach, but for this trip I would want to splurge for some sort of bed (couchette or sleeper). So anyway, compared to a $300 flight, even if the sleeper compartment costs 100 euros, we're still saving a ton over flying, and I think it'll be a cool experience for my mom.

So yeah, it's probably more expensive to go from Vienna to Warsaw without switching in Budapest, but I'm willing to pay the extra to avoid the hassle factor for my mom's sake.

So #4, when you say forget buying this ticket in the states... if we arrive in Vienna on Friday and find a local travel agent and buy this overnight train ticket for the following Tuesday (five days later) there should be availability? The timing is the first week in June.

Thanks again, everyone, for all your tips!

Normally yes because - as said - the couch is considered to be "expensive". And Warszawa is not that hugely popular. You will buy most likely an entire T3 cabin which would cost arount 100 Euro for all three of you. So if you don't really care to save, than expect the entire adventure to be 100 Euro/person sleeper included.

Airplane will be much worse choice, not just because it costs more, but also because of all stress involved - and you will lose one day guaranteed.

T3 cabin is very adequate and I hardly can imagine, you won't get any accommodation if you are flexible (couchette or sleeper or maybe plus/minus one day).

Going through London or Dublin is just plain crazy, IMO.

Forgot to say: "local agent" in Vienna is the State Railway agency, OEBB or ÖBB

the price is set-a new as per 14/12-for a whole year-and My guess was too to be somewhere between 60/70 eur. For EAST-europeans thats very expensive-for most westerners just ''normal'' For that price you can buy till the very last minute. Reservations do not open untill 2 (maybe 3) month before travel. For a couchette (liegewagen) add about 15 eur/way/pp. Simple+daft easy rough estimate: about 10/11 EUcts. per km- for 2nc cl. full fare seat-so you USAers only have to set the mind to use kms and no miles. If you stay the few days in Wien anyway before-dont panick about agents and ''sold out'' and the like-simply go to station a few days before and arrange it all. And in SOME systems this ''train'' does not show up-as its not a ''train'' some cars=-wagons shunted between trains.

Thanks so much, everyone! I'm such a plan-ahead type of person (especially in this case because I'm planning for my mom, who's never traveled, and I want everything to go well) that it will be hard to wait to book until we get to Vienna, but it sounds like that'll be fine and I just need to relax until then. I don't care whether we get a sleeper car or couchette, as long as there's some kind of bed available for the night train to Warsaw.

People on this branch have been so kind and helpful. I really appreciate it.