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I've looked at the various threads here and can't find clear/definitive answers. I've emailed info@slovakrail.sk without reply. The Slovak rail websites seem to have conflicting and/or out of date information alongside being poor machine translations
So.....can someone please answer this - we're intending to travel in the autumn of this year, so there's no urgency!
I will be aged 70 and I am a UK citizen with UK passport (DoB June 1955).
My wife will be aged 69 and is an Irish EU citizen with Irish passport (DoB June 1956). Which discounts and/or tickets are available to us for rail travel in Slovakia and how may these discounts & tickets be obtained?
My interpretation is that your wife can get free transport because she is over 62 and an EU citizen, but she will need to register at a ticket desk and get a travel card. The form is on the website but it is only in Slovak. You are not eligible for this but you can get very heavily reduced 70+ tickets. You just need to show your ID (passport) with your ticket on the train.
You just need to find a helpful person at the ticket counter. Bratislava main station doesn't always have the most helpful staff attitudes.
Zero fares are not available on IC trains (the faster and more comfortable type) and the 70+ reduction is lower on these trains. Only local and regional trains (Os and REX) can be boarded for free using the travel card without a ticket. For other trains I believe you need a zero-fare ticket for that train. Only 2nd class is covered, although there is a 25% reduction in first class for the 70+ passenger. Reservations will be subject to a fee.
On the subject of reservations, be aware that mainline trains towards Košice can often be very busy as people commute away from Bratislava at the end of the week, and then return at the end of the weekend. If you are travelling at a busy time don't expect to get a short-notice reservation at the ticket counter. For the peak times you may need reservations days before travelling, especially if you hit a public holiday. Those trains that attract people who only live in Bratislava for the working week can be horribly busy. Don't be tempted to board a peak Ex train on the mainline without reservations.
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I forgot to say... I think you can obtain these tickets on the zssk website, but in the case of your wife, she still needs to obtain the travel card in-person. Just enter the correct age bracket, choose the 62+ or 70+ Railcard option and make sure that you only select the 100% discount checkbox for your wife. You can then add a reservation.
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The ZSSK website is available I in English and I have booked on it loads of times, but it sometimes slips back into Slovak and you end up with the dodgy machine translations. If it does this just close the page and start again choosing English (browser translators won't stand a chance translating things like the Railcard selection options).
Bratislava did my wife's card at the International counter very straightforwardly and in English - I got mine a couple of years earlier at Banska Bystrica Mesto after the main station couldn't oblige, with considerable (language) difficulty.
Worth noting that free travel tickets on Ex-trains can sell out on (or before?) the day.
BTW - I wonder if our passes are still valid despite Brexit?
I have this card also-but not used it the last 3-4 yrs-say since Covid ended. Visited also SK since then-but in transit on a IR-Pass. Forgotten where I got it-probably also B-lava, but it was just a few weeks after they started this scheme long ago-and it still had the novelty of ´ǵee-the foreigner also knows it and we can help!´
You+wife of course, ALWays need to get another free ticket for the ride planned. EXCept on the Tatra mountain trainlets, there just show card when there are checks.
There is an UNLIMited supply for them on the all-stops REGIOnal trains.
There are QUOTA=limited nrs of such tickets issued, for all R-trains=rychlik=fast.
And as above; the very few IC/EXPR-trains, supposed to run on a commercial base=to make money, have way more restrictions. And its indeed more of a weekend-commute system plus that mainline services are not that very frequent-usualy ev 2 hrs.
Additional: 70+ can also get very cheap fares on the REGIONal buses: 20 or 25 ct for every 50 Kms started. Though such drivers selling tix will not be used very much to non-SK-or perhaps CZ-passes etc. and are highly unlikely to speak anything else as slovak. There are also discounts on the urban systems, TRAMs in Kosice and Bratislava, but thats more aimed at those living there and holding alll-year passes. These may indeed be from 65-and then much more from 70.
It might be tempting to also visit HU to the south-as this also has FREE transit-whole country, all and since last yr again for anyone >65, it was restricted to EU for a few yrs, but -and that is taken very strict there!- holds ONLY for purely domestic trips-NOT for their portion of INTernational-where as SK does allow.
In CZ nearby you get half fare on trains, no further card/pass needec and free transit in most=not all, cities, from 70 mostly. Praha is the best known and most widely used example-just show ID when there are checks.
Also: of course this forum will for most cases sooner-or sometimes later, find the right answer and someone who has done it. In general such Qs are very often also on a general touristy forum like TA=TripAdvisor-and some times already in their FAQ or other basic info. I would advise you to also take a peek there. IF it is now limited to EU (or if it even was that since start) I really do not know.
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On egtre.info - useful site giving basic info on all EUR railways, it is said that this allowance did NOT end with UK leaving EU=Brexit, but did came later-2023. From then on restricted to those living IN SK (and then of course holding some form of official registration, nationality from whatever) and all EU-citizens (so even if they live out of that EU!?). It is unclear how the situation is for those from UK already holding such a card, (I am not @home now-so cannot check what is on that card), I do not know if that card shows more as name-ID nr etc. MY assumption would be that holders of that card will get the free travel there is no expiry date on it, so also no REcheck after a period.
Tip/hint: IF applying for such a card, bring a passpt-sized foto. Some tell even a normal print from a picture on the fone will do, again unconfirmed-or maybe depending on willingness of staff.
Other reports all tell they were very generous with free travel for UKRaynians when the war there started and many refugees entered. But perhaps there was another measure taken for them.
Thanks all - as I suspected it's very complicated and I'm not being dim. If anyone tells me that UK rail cards are complicated then I'll point them to these replies
Thanks all - as I suspected it's very complicated and I'm not being dim. If anyone tells me that UK rail cards are complicated then I'll point them to these replies
I can 'get by' in German but I'm guessing that my near-fluent French won't be much use! I generally try to learn a few words of the local language when I go away - it's only polite.
I can 'get by' in German but I'm guessing that my near-fluent French won't be much use! I generally try to learn a few words of the local language when I go away - it's only polite.
I've got a brief acquaintance with Russian, from a sixth form course long ago.
But I discovered this was a bit tricky when I visited Ukraine (pre-invasion).
But at least a comprehension of the Cyrillic alphabet helped (also useful in Bulgaria/Serbia).
Similarly Slovak is close but not that close to Czech.
I've got a brief acquaintance with Russian, from a sixth form course long ago.
But I discovered this was a bit tricky when I visited Ukraine (pre-invasion).
But at least a comprehension of the Cyrillic alphabet helped (also useful in Bulgaria/Serbia).
Similarly Slovak is close but not that close to Czech.
Czech and Slovak are very similar and often interchangeable. Czech has a (relatively unimportant) extra grammatically case and a nicer alphabet but vocabulary has massive overlap. I speak basic Czech and have no difficulties using it in Slovakia. The biggest problem I experience is that a good portion of the service staff are Ukrainians, whose get extremely confused trying to understand Czech, in Slovakia, spoken by a foreigner!
Anyway, in recent decades it is usually not too difficult to get by in Slovakia with English, especially people aged 20 to 40 years, who may well have lived in the UK at some point, or have watched loads of American trash movies and YouTube. Bratislava and Košice speak more English, as you would expect. The older generations all learnt Russian at school, but the younger generations speak mostly English or alternatively German as second languages.
Basic hello, thanks and goodbye will do - Dobry Den, vďaka (shortened from dakujem, pronounced da-ka), dovi (shortened from dovidenia, pronounced do-vee)
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