Traveling in Slovakia: Train Schedules and Ticket Costs-UPDATED
Less than a day after I finished writing my previous blog post about looking for schedule information for traveling in and around Slovakia, the main website that I recommended changed the functionality of their site. I went through the site again and updated my steps to explain how to find travel scheduling information for public transportation. The “Tariff Calculator” is no longer available on the new site but frankly, it’s not needed. The ticket cost is displayed along with the search results.
I’m providing the information in these blogs to help those who are looking for information on train schedules (mostly between any of the following cities: Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest) and also, how much tickets cost. From my own personal experience traveling through Europe I know that having this information ahead of time can be crucial to travel plans, or sometimes more importantly, for the traveler’s peace of mind.
I get all of my travel scheduling information from one website: www.cp.sk. Here’s how you find public transportation schedules (train and bus) to destinations in and out of Slovakia.
To provide and example, I’ll pretend that I want to travel from Bratislava on September 27 (a Saturday) to Poprad.
Now, to find schedules and costs, follow these steps:
1. Go to www.cp.sk. The home page for Cestovné poriadky-Travel Schedule displays.
2. On the bottom right of the page, click the British flag to switch the language to English.
3. In the Timetable field, “trains + buses” is selected by default. To change this selection to trains only, or another type of transportation, click the arrow to the right. A drop down window opens allowing you to select other options.
It is probably best to leave this selection at its “trains + buses” default because for many destinations within Slovakia, the bus travels where the train does not. Buses reach more destinations in Slovakia than trains do. Also, buses go often between Vienna and Bratislava, for example, and the travel times and/or locations of the bus stations may be more convenient.
4. Type in the appropriate locations in the From and To fields. In my case, I’m typing in Bratislava as my departure and Poprad as my destination.
5. Type in the correct departure date and approximate time you plan to travel. My date is 27.9.2008 and for time, I’ll say 08:00 since I want to see all departure times after 8am.
Note: Time is displayed in 24-hour numbering.
6. Select the Departure button to show times for when you would like to depart.
7. Click Search to get your results.
A list of results will display in order by time. Scroll down to see the longer list of schedules. Click Next -> at the bottom of the page to see additional results.
From the left to right of the screen, the data displays as follows:
- From/Interchange/To – The departure and arrival locations are listed as well as the names of the train stations. This can be important if there is more than one train station in either of your locations (for example, Bratislava has more than one train station).
Below this information is the length of time the journey takes, the distance in kilometers, and the cost of the ticket (not including reservation).
- Arr and Dep – Here are your arrival and departure times. Scroll down the page to see more results.
- Connections – An icon of a train or bus is displayed along with the number of the train or bus that is scheduled for that particular journey (the number is more for administrative purposes and you won’t need it). The link is interactive and if you click it, it will show you the entire schedule for that train or bus. For example, it could be that your train originally began in Berlin and is continuing on to Budapest but you are only getting on and off from Prague to Bratislava. Sometimes it’s nice to print out the train’s itinerary so you know when the scheduled stops are along the way.
This Website seems to be a useful tool not only for national and international connections, but the site also provides schedules for local city/town transportation.
Play around with the site and see how else it can assist you with your travel plans.
