Eurail Blog - Travel Europe by Rail » Poland

Daytrip from Krakow – Auschwitz

Eurail webmaster — Mon, 31 May 2010 07:45:29 +0000

An unforgettable experience. Few words can adequately explain being there.

Save yourself the price of a tour trip, and take the local train from Krakow to Auschwitz yourself. The train ride to “Oswiecim” takes just under 2 hours.

And from the “Oswiecim” station, you can easily walk the 15-20 minutes to Auschwitz. Any local can point you in the right direction, or from exiting the station, go straight along the street that is perpendicular to the station, and follow this street past a park and straight on until you see the entrance across from a bus stop.

Train Tip: Better yet, if you are using a Eurail Pass, go to Auschwitz on your arrival day or departure day from Krakow, and you will be traveling on the same travel day as your arrival or departure. You won’t be using up another travel day for this daytrip.

Info for visitors: auschwitz.org

In Krakow

Eurail webmaster — Sun, 30 May 2010 11:06:15 +0000

Krakow is a majestic city, with the one of the largest main squares in Europe and incredibly preserved remnants of a medieval city.

I’m a fan of small, concentrated museums, and thought that the Apteka Pod Orlem museum did a wonderful job of explaining the grim rise and fall of the Jewish ghetto in Podgorze, a neighborhood of Krakow over the Vistula River. The archival English video presentations are jarring. And the stories of the pharmacist owner and his shopkeepers who aided the Jewish inhabitants are moving.

Across the main avenue and under a small pedestrian bridge is Oskar Schindler’s former factory. At the moment, there’s not much to see except for the Factory Sign bearing his name, as the building is being renovated into a museum.

Budapest to Krakow

Eurail webmaster — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:59:15 +0000

I make my way from Budapest to Vienna to catch the night train from Vienna to Krakow. In Vienna, taking the tram from Westbahnhof to Sudbahnhof, I meet a Brazilian woman who is traveling across Europe.

We arrive at the ticket counter in Vienna Sudbanhof around 9:30pm. We each have a Rail Pass, but we know that we will need a supplemental ticket for the night train. The ticket agent tells us that no beds can be reserved on this train after 7pm. He explains that we have to purchase a bed supplemental ticket on the train. We think he says “40 Euros,” and the Brazilian woman says “forget it, I can sleep in a seat, I don’t need a bed.”

We lose each other in the rush of people boarding the night train. On board, I’m delighted to learn we misheard the station agent: a bed supplemental ticket is only 14 Euros. I think that I’ll find the Brazilian woman and tell her the good news, so I start walking through the train wagons to find her. I never do. But these wagons are packed with people, and I learn that the wagons will separate overnight, some heading to Moscow, some Prague, and some Poland. I’m lucky my wagon isn’t very full. My compartment has only one man from Madagascar.

Train Tip: Strongly consider booking a bed reservation on Eastern European trains in advance. I can’t explain the 7pm cut-off rule, but know that it exists. Some of those wagons were quite full, and if are you are expecting a bed, it’s better not to be disappointed. On boarding these night trains, look on the outside of your wagon near the entrance door for a printed destination sign, and ask a train agent to be certain. Mine spoke good English. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than waking up in the wrong city.