The Country
Having only visited Bratislava I was suitably impressed by how clean the place is and just how many old buildings there are gracing the roadways with their stylish look. The old town in Bratislava is simply a must see.
Train Travel
Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK) operate the national rail service, throughout Slovakia; also offering many cross border trains into neighbouring countries. Slovakian Railways timetables are available on their site to download as PDF’s. You can also plan your trip online.
A comprehensive list of both passenger and freight operators in Slovakia can be found on the helpful Railfan Europe website’s Slovakia page.
Train times and Tickets
Booking tickets for travel within Slovakia can be done at most ZSSK stations and you can also book ZSSK tickets online. If you only require reservations for either Interrail, Eurail or railway staff passes then this can be done via phone to the DB office in London.
If choosing to use an Interrail pass, either for just within Slovakia, or to pass through Slovakia, all the relevant details on the passes, including the different types/lengths of validity available, can be found on the InterRail website.
For those travelling from outside Europe then the Eurail Pass is your ticket to Europe, details of which can be found on EU Rail’s website.
Finally travel in Europe can be made a lot simpler by using the very, very, helpful smartphone app courtesy of Eurail. This app is available both online and offline and is always up to date (well it has been for the countries I’ve used it in; including for any planned engineering works); for me it was an essential part of my travel in Europe. This app is linked to the Hafas system, which countries like Germany, Austria & Switzerland use for their train planning online tool. Eurail has done what the individual countries haven’t though and made it available offline.
For the Rail Enthusiast
A comprehensive list of Slovakian Locomotives by their respective railway system can be found on the Railfaneurope website’s Slovakia page. This also explains a bit the various operators of the network and how they have amalgamated over the years.
A simple map of the ZSSK railway system is available on their website. A detailed map/atlas of the Slovakia & Czech Republic Railway Systems is available from European Railway Atlas.
I’d planned this trip to coincide with the planned charter that was expected to be an SBB Re6/6 from Luino to Schaffhausen, which would also have linked in nicely with the BLS Heritage Extrazug that was running Burgdorf – Brig – Burgdorf on the same day. As luck didn’t have it, for the second time Read the Rest…
As has been the case for the previous two years, we were both off at Christmas again this year and so made plans to head out of the UK for it. With there being a rerun, albeit with a difference, of the MAV Nostalgia Christmas Nohab outing from Kelenfold to Tapolca, we tied our plans in with Read the Rest…
With a big trip to Scandinavia coming up, starting in Berlin, what better way to get there than by flying out to Poland having a day in Warsaw, where I’d never been, then overnight to Bratislava for a day there then overnight to Dresden for half a day there before meeting my wife in Berlin; Read the Rest…
This is an extract from a multi-country report to read the full report use the following link: Multi Trip (France – Switzerland – Luxembourg – Holland – Czech Republic – Slovakia – Hungary) July 2014 A trip that started out a lot more simplistic than it actually ended up but did have two purposes, the Read the Rest…
As has been the case for the previous two years, we were both off at Christmas again this year and so made plans to head out of the UK for it. With there being a rerun, albeit with a difference, of the MAV Nostalgia Christmas Nohab outing from Kelenfold to Tapolca, we tied our plans in with Read the Rest…
This is an extract from a multi-country report to read the full report use the following link: Multi Trip (France – Switzerland – Luxembourg – Holland – Czech Republic – Slovakia – Hungary) July 2014 The trip was in two parts, the first bit being solid trains and the second bit being a relaxing week, Read the Rest…