Above: The
Ploče-Mostar-Sarajevo-Zagreb train,
just arrived in Zagreb. It's only 10 minutes late
even after
it's long journey from Bosnia...
Above: The Zagreb-Sarajevo-Ploce train
has just 3 fairly basic carriages, one ZFBH
(Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia), one ZRS (Republic
of Srpska), and one HZ (Croatian). This is a
compartment in the ZFBH car.
The famous bridge at Mostar...
Photo courtesy of Simon Russell
Scenery from the Sarajevo-Mostar-Ploče train...
Photo courtesy of Simon Russell
A train journey across Europe from the UK to Sarajevo is
a real adventure, yet it's safe, comfortable and affordable.
There are two basic options, via
Zagreb or via Budapest.
You can pick up a daily train to Sarajevo from either of
these great cities.
Travel from London to Zagreb
as shown in the London
to Croatia page. You leave London by Eurostar in
the afternoon, take the overnight City Night Line sleeper
train to Munich, and a EuroCity train next day to Zagreb.
The journey across the Austrian Alps and along the Sava
river in Slovenia & Croatia is very scenic.
A train leaves Zagreb daily at 08:53 arriving Sarajevo
at 18:05, Mostar at 20:43, Ploče at 22:18. The train has 1st & 2nd class seats, but
no buffet or restaurant car, so take your own supplies
of food, water and wine or beer. It's a very
scenic journey!
If you're
going all the way to Ploce, note that due to engineering
work, buses replace trains for the last short section
between Capljina & Ploce from 14 June 2010 for about 3
months (latest reports in July 2010 suggest the bus may
now only replace the train between Capljina & Konjic,
they may have finished work between Konjic & Ploce)
Alternatively,
there is an overnight Zagreb-Sarajevo train which has
seats but now no couchette car so is not the most
comfortable or civilised option. It leaves Zagreb at
21:25 and arrives Sarajevo at 06:39 next morning.
Ploče, Mostar, Sarajevo ► London (via
Zagreb)
A train leaves Ploče daily at
06:20, Mostar at 07:36 & Sarajevo at 10:27 arriving Zagreb at 19:45. The train has 1st
& 2nd class seats, but no buffet or restaurant car, so
take your own supplies of food, water and wine or beer...
If you're
joining this train at Ploce, note that due to engineering
work, buses replace trains for the first short section
between Ploce & Capljina from 14 June 2010 for about 3
months. In fact, latest reports in July 2010 suggest
the bus may now only replace the train between Konjic &
Capljina, they may have finished work between Ploce &
Konjic)
Spend the night in Zagreb.
Travel from Zagreb to London as shown on the
London
to Croatia page. You leave Zagreb in the morning
by EuroCity train to Munich, travel overnight by City
Night Line sleeper train, and catch a morning Eurostar
back to London the next day.
There is also now an overnight
Sarajevo-Zagreb train, with seats but no sleepers or
couchettes. It leaves Sarajevo at 21:20 and
arrives Zagreb at 06:42. However, I wouldn't
risk the connection with the 07:00 train from Zagreb to
Munich.
Traveller Neil Edwards took
the train from the UK to Sarajevo in 2008: "The
three of us who made the train journey from London to
Sarajevo can confirm that it was certainly a great
experience and worth the effort if you can spare the
extra travelling time. The Zagreb-Sarajevo daytime
train isn't the most decadent, modern or rapid of trains,
though in a way this adds to the charm. There's no buffet
car although a chap with a small pull-a-long trolley tried
to sell us small bottles of fizzy drink on a number of
occasions. It's a long journey and you will need
supplies for the 9-10 hour journey. Don't expect to
pick up anything decent for the trip at Sarajevo station,
there are a couple of kiosks nearby but you can only get
fluids and chocolate. Ah, and as for bathroom
facilities, go early on as they quickly become flooded or
soiled!
Traveller Phillip
Mullen took
the overnight train from Zagreb to Sarajevo in October 2008:
"There was no problem in buying the ticket from the
International travel desk at Zagreb Glavni Kolod (main
station), where a return cost me the equivalent of £40
including a couchette for the outward journey [Note:
There are no longer any couchettes on this train]. The
train had only a few passengers on it, and being so empty I
had the whole 6-person compartment to myself and was settled
down and sleeping by 10pm. I was woken twice during
the night by border guards, the first time around 11pm when
they hammered on my door , which locked from the inside for
security, as the guard had told me. I waited just a little
too long to open up because I'd been warned about beggars!
Oh well, they were a bit irate! The second time was
around midnight and I'm not sure what that was for, but they
seemed fairly content after glancing at my passport.
As I recall the train arrived on time in Sarajevo, around
6:30am. It was not possible to book a couchette for my
return journey at the ticket office in Sarajevo train
station, and I was prepared to sleep in a seat on the way
back to Zagreb. But I boarded the the train 20mins before
it was due to leave, found the guard and asked for a
couchette. He didn't speak much English, but he mentioned a
fee of €10, which I thought was a bargain for a night's
rest! Whether this was an official fee or a perk-of-the-job
I don't know, as no receipt or alteration to my ticket was
made, but it seemed a modest sum."
Travel from London to
Budapest via any of the options shown in the
London
to Hungary page.
The InterCity train 'Drava' leaves Budapest daily at
09:45 arriving Sarajevo
at 21:09. There are 1st & 2nd class seats. A
restaurant car is available until Pecs, reached at 13:00,
but take your own provisions and even a bottle of wine or
a few bottles of beer. It's a very
scenic journey!
Sarajevo ► London (via Budapest)
The InterCity train 'Drava'
leaves Sarajevo daily at 07:02 arriving Budapest at 18:14. The train has 1st
& 2nd class seats, and a restaurant car is attached at
Pecs (around 15:00), but take your own supplies of food,
water and wine or beer. Enjoy the scenery!
Travel from Budapest to London via any of the options shown on the
London
to Hungary page.
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
Summer 2010 edition (June to December 2010)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at
www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
You
should take a good guidebook. I think that the Lonely
Planets and the Rough Guides are easily the best for the
independent traveller. Both guides have plenty of
background historical and cultural information, plus lots of
practical information. You won't regret buying one of
these guides!
My own book, an essential handbook for train travel to
Europe based on this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", was published in June 2008 with a
new edition in April 2010, and
is available from Amazon.co.uk with shipping worldwide.
It's
easy to book hotels online to go with your train tickets.
Just use the search box below. This links to
www.hotelscombined.com, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms, Opodo, Venere,
Asiarooms and many
others) to find just about the widest range of hotels with the cheapest rates on the net. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide.
If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget the hostels. For a dorm bed or an
ultra-cheap private room in backpacker hostels in most
European cities use
www.hostelbookers.com.
Travel insurance & health card...
Get travel insurance..
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance.
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a pre-paid euro currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency MasterCard, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' MasterCard.
Find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget the hostels. For a dorm bed or an
ultra-cheap private room in backpacker hostels in most
European cities use
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, see
If you live in the USA or Canada, see
