PortoCampanha
Traveller
6 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Hi there, railccs.
I have plenty of doubts regarding this route. In this website I found out that the train that does this route directly goes through Zagreb, then stops one hour and a half or so, and then follows to Ljubljana.
However, in the DB website, this same connection appears as two different trains: One Budapest - Zagreb and then Zagreb-Munich.
I am not interested in connections via Austria.
This suggests the following questions:
Scenario 1: Do I need to change trains in Zagreb? If so, and if i need reservations, can I reserve a seat in advance (in Budapest)?
Scenario 2: If it is the same train, can I hop off in Zagreb, take some photos and then come back one hour later without problem?
Thanks in advance!
PortoCampanha
Traveller
6 comments
Sorry, it seems like I posted this in the wrong section without noticing.
:os
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej!
No, you do not have to change trains. There are two coaches running through from Budapest to Ljubljana (one dining car and one 1st and 2nd class compartment car; a third 2nd class open plan car runs during the summer); the wagons are attached to the Zagreb - Munich night train in Zagreb. You can stay in your coach or exit and have a walk around the station. I can recommend the Hungarian restaurant car running on that train. ;)
The train from Budapest to Zagreb does not require a reservation; however the night train from Zagreb to Ljubljana does. I am not 100% sure whether you will need a reservation for Zagreb - Ljubljana when travelling on the coaches coming from Budapest, or not. I dont think you do but you might check locally at Zagreb - you have plenty of time to do so. ;)
Flo 8)
PortoCampanha
Traveller
6 comments
I will ask in Budapest as well. And I will make sure I sit in the right cars as well (I assume not all the cars do the Budapest Munich route, correct me if i'm wrong) :D
Thank you very much, very helpful.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
No cars do Budapest - Zagreb - Munich! ;)
The cars from Budapest that get attached to the night train to Munich in Zagreb run only to Ljubljana.
It'd be great if you could give us some feedback on how your trip went. Thanks.
PortoCampanha
Traveller
6 comments
But do all the cars running from Budapest go to Ljubljana or only some of them?
As for the feedback, I will try to remember :D ... still a month to go though.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Only some of them. The last three coaches of the train.
PortoCampanha
Traveller
6 comments
Hmm ok.
Many thanks, very helpful info!
PortoCampanha
Traveller
6 comments
Hi there!
Finally I remembered to come back here. Sorry for the delay.
As for this doubts I had, everything went good. The cars in Budapest Deli had the information where they were going to: some to Zagreb and some all the way to Ljubljana. Also some were from the croatian railway company and others from the slovenian company. So no problem, I didn't even had to ask anybody. Instead, people were asking me. LOL.
It was an epic journey. Train overpacked, scorching hot... true InterRail stuff. It took me half a day to travel from Budapest Deli (I got out at about 13:00) to Ljubljana (arrived there at 1:00 in the morning or so). In the middle of this tha stops on lake Balaton and some boring border checks to get in and out of Croatia. Didn't manage to check out Zagreb, unfortunately. The train arrived late in Zagreb and I could'n sort out when it would go to Ljubljana so I decided to stay on the car.
As for the interrail, it was my first and I'm already looking forward to the next one. It's THE experience.
Thanks for the help, guys!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
Thanks for coming back and sharing your experience!
This year the situation has bettered a bit, there are now two daily trains Budapest - Zagreb, one of them still with through carriages to Ljubljana plus an extra train Budapest - Maribor with connection to Ljubljana. :)
Glad to hear you liked your trip, hope your next one is going to be awesome as well!
Flo 8)
PortoCampanha
Traveller
6 comments
I'm glad there are two trains now. They really needed to do something. I've never seen anything like that train. It looked like an indian train or something. People laid down in the aisles, we had to be extremely careful no to trample other people. And almost everybody was going to Zagreb, most of them to the croatian coastline in the following days. The Zagreb - Ljubljana section was normal, with the train not overpacked.
I obviously don't know how it was in the other days (probably the same chaos), but I'm really glad they did something and I hope they keep those trains running during summer.