I went on an interrail trip together with my boyfriend for almost the entire month of September. During this interrail we traveled through Europe by train. We had 6 travel days in total during that interrail. I want to write about all those 6 different routes in different posts on this blog. I already told you about our first travel day, second and third travel day. Today I’ll continue with our fourth travel day. On travel day 4 of our interrail, we went from Bratislava to Warsaw by train. I’ll tell you about the different route options, the costs, the journey itself and more.
The Route Options
When it comes to traveling from Bratislava to Warsaw, there is only one good option if you’d ask me: a direct train. You have two different options for this direct train because there’s a night train and a daytime train. The daytime train leaves at 10:57 in Bratislava and arrives in Warsaw at 19:34, a trip of 8 hours and 37 minutes. This was the option we took. The other option is the night train. It leaves Bratislava at 22:06 and arrives in Warsaw at 08:56. A trip of 10 hours and 50 minutes, longer than the daytime train. We chose the daytime train because we would have to use up two travel days of our interrail if we chose the night train.
There are more route options, but for all those options you have to transit once, twice or more often. I only listed the options here with no transits, as I think that is most comfortable.
Prices and tickets
We had an interrail ticket for 5 travel days, which we bought for 200 euros. This makes every travel day cost us 40 euros. I thought that was cheap. But it turns out you can book this train much cheaper. I found out on the website of seat61.com, that if you book a ticket from Budapest to Warsaw (which passes Bratislava) via the Hungarian railway company, you pay somewhere along 20 to 27 euros if you book in advance. That is insanely cheap! If I ever make this trip again, I will choose this option. A 9 hour journey for just 20 euros…
This price only accounts for the daytime option. If you book a night train, fares start at 74 euros. If you want a bed too, you pay an additional fee (depending on the amount of people you share a compartment with). Therefore, I would not recommend getting the night train. Traveling during the day is more fun anyway, the view is great and the ride is relaxing. I would only take the night train if you’re in a hurry. Then it’s a time-effective option.
Reservations
This was the first train ride during our interrail during which our reservations were useful. This train was very busy and people kept getting off and on the train. I was happy with our reservation because this way we could stick to the same seats for 9 hours. If you like an adventure, you can skip the reservation, because the reservation itself was never checked. However, I would not recommend it during this trip because I think you’ll have to switch seats a lot. I think we paid 12 euros per person for this reservation.
Our experience
This day, day four of our interrail, was the first day without delay. The train ride went perfect. There was construction work in Warsaw, so we did not arrive at the main station but at a smaller station in the city. But that was fine. I loved this trip because we did not have to transit. You just get in the train in the morning and get to relax and chill all day. Read some books, play some games. We were seated in a 6-person compartment, so that was a little tight sometimes. But here are also wagons with regular seats, two by two on each side. You just have to be lucky to get those I guess. But I didn’t mind the 6-person compartment. There’s wi-fi and there are sockets on the train.
This is a great route for a train ride. Simple, no transits, cheap, beautiful and relaxing.
Yours sincerely,
Romee