Česky Krumlov, Czechia

[peteb]

I'm hoping to visit this small town in Czechia in late September. I can't find any trains except IC533 once a day from Prague/Ceske Budovice and vice versa. Is this in fact the only train or are there local trains which haven't yet loaded on planners? Be grateful for any advice. I see there are buses quite frequently if no other trains run.

 

[Segedunum]

Almost everything is operated by GW Train Regio which doesn't appear in some planners like the Interrail one. The Můj Vlak app has it in though - I can see replacement buses in September but closer to Nove Udoli, while Český Krumlov to Česke Budejovice is unaffected.

The timetable PDF is also available here (Česke Budejovice to Černý Kriz): https://www.gwtr.cz/en/sumava/timetables/timetable#modal-file-3-0

 

[30907]

The core service is 2-hourly and it is a pleasant run; be aware that the station is up a hill from the (bus station and) historic centre.

 

[Flying Snail]

Almost everything is operated by GW Train Regio which doesn't appear in some planners like the Interrail one. The Můj Vlak app has it in though - I can see replacement buses in September but closer to Nove Udoli, while Český Krumlov to Česke Budejovice is unaffected.

The timetable PDF is also available here (Česke Budejovice to Černý Kriz): https://www.gwtr.cz/en/sumava/timetables/timetable#modal-file-3-0

GW Train Regio are also not valid with Interrail.

 

[MattSGB]

To summarise, you can connect at České Budějovice for the local train to Český Krumlov. It runs roughly every hour during the day, but in the evening there are only a couple of trains. If you need to buy a ticket separately, you can use the Můj vlak app costing a little over £5 (which seems surprisingly steep for the Czech Republic).

Český Krumlov is an absolutely stunning fairy tale town, you should have a great time there.

 

[stadler]

To summarise, you can connect at České Budějovice for the local train to Český Krumlov. It runs roughly every hour during the day, but in the evening there are only a couple of trains. If you need to buy a ticket separately, you can use the Můj vlak app costing a little over £5 (which seems surprisingly steep for the Czech Republic).

Český Krumlov is an absolutely stunning fairy tale town, you should have a great time there.

The fare from Ceske Budejovice to Ceske Krumlov is just CZK40.00 (£1.42) for a single. Not sure what that fare is you are looking at as it costs nowhere near that much. No need to use apps. You can just buy the ticket onboard the train. Those trains have a ticket machine onboard.

 

[Segedunum]

The fare from Ceske Budejovice to Ceske Krumlov is just CZK40.00 (£1.42) for a single. Not sure what that fare is you are looking at as it costs nowhere near that much. No need to use apps. You can just buy the ticket onboard the train. Those trains have a ticket machine onboard.

I can't even replicate a price that high on the Můj Vlak app - it's 78kč on there (£2.76).

The disparity however between that and the fare you're quoting will be down to the fact that the 78kč one is the 'OneTicket' tariff while the cheaper one will be specific to the operator or regional transport authority. So, that 78kč will get you on a GWTR service or the daily IC service.

Sometimes Můj Vlak will sell at both tariffs (though it'll automatically suggest the cheapest) and other times it just has the OneTicket one. It can even cope with the different validation behaviours (eg. Ustecko Kraje tariff tickets won't become visible until departure time and function like mTickets).

OneTicket is however a useful option to have as it came about as a result of the network being carved up when the regions started awarding contracts to private operators. It isn't always the cheapest option but means that a through fare is always available no matter how many operators are involved, and that you'll be able to use any operator along that line of route, including in the form of a Day/Week pass for the entire country.

 

[MattSGB]

I can't even replicate a price that high on the Můj Vlak app - it's 78kč on there (£2.76).

The disparity however between that and the fare you're quoting will be down to the fact that the 78kč one is the 'OneTicket' tariff while the cheaper one will be specific to the operator or regional transport authority. So, that 78kč will get you on a GWTR service or the daily IC service.

Sometimes Můj Vlak will sell at both tariffs (though it'll automatically suggest the cheapest) and other times it just has the OneTicket one. It can even cope with the different validation behaviours (eg. Ustecko Kraje tariff tickets won't become visible until departure time and function like mTickets).

OneTicket is however a useful option to have as it came about as a result of the network being carved up when the regions started awarding contracts to private operators. It isn't always the cheapest option but means that a through fare is always available no matter how many operators are involved, and that you'll be able to use any operator along that line of route, including in the form of a Day/Week pass for the entire country.

My mistake, it remembered my last booking and quoted for two adults! The fare is the same as you quoted.

 

[peteb]

Almost everything is operated by GW Train Regio which doesn't appear in some planners like the Interrail one. The Můj Vlak app has it in though - I can see replacement buses in September but closer to Nove Udoli, while Český Krumlov to Česke Budejovice is unaffected.

The timetable PDF is also available here (Česke Budejovice to Černý Kriz): https://www.gwtr.cz/en/sumava/timetables/timetable#modal-file-3-0

Many thanks

To summarise, you can connect at České Budějovice for the local train to Český Krumlov. It runs roughly every hour during the day, but in the evening there are only a couple of trains. If you need to buy a ticket separately, you can use the Můj vlak app costing a little over £5 (which seems surprisingly steep for the Czech Republic).

Český Krumlov is an absolutely stunning fairy tale town, you should have a great time there.

Ok many thanks!

The core service is 2-hourly and it is a pleasant run; be aware that the station is up a hill from the (bus station and) historic centre.

Useful to know, thanks

GW Train Regio are also not valid with Interrail.

Ok, noted, thanks.

 

[NCT]

I can't even replicate a price that high on the Můj Vlak app - it's 78kč on there (£2.76).

The disparity however between that and the fare you're quoting will be down to the fact that the 78kč one is the 'OneTicket' tariff while the cheaper one will be specific to the operator or regional transport authority. So, that 78kč will get you on a GWTR service or the daily IC service.

Sometimes Můj Vlak will sell at both tariffs (though it'll automatically suggest the cheapest) and other times it just has the OneTicket one. It can even cope with the different validation behaviours (eg. Ustecko Kraje tariff tickets won't become visible until departure time and function like mTickets).

OneTicket is however a useful option to have as it came about as a result of the network being carved up when the regions started awarding contracts to private operators. It isn't always the cheapest option but means that a through fare is always available no matter how many operators are involved, and that you'll be able to use any operator along that line of route, including in the form of a Day/Week pass for the entire country.

I've only just learnt about the OneTicket, thanks!

Looks like the Czech Republic is the only EU country that's implemented rail liberalisation properly.

 

[Golghar]

https://www.esac.cz/en/schiele-and-krumlov/

Český Krumlov is associated with the Austrian expressionist painter Egon Schiele and was one of his favourite subjects.

 

[nwales58]

I've only just learnt about the OneTicket, thanks!

Looks like the Czech Republic is the only EU country that's implemented rail liberalisation properly.

Off-topic, but not the only. OneTicket covers multi-operator including on the same section, though that bit is less common.

One place to buy all the tickets for a multi-operator journey with all journey planners covering train+bus across the entire country, which CD and others in Czechia do well, is not uncommon: norway (eea) sweden and with some ticketing limitations germany austria … Resplus tickets in Sweden are even supposed to sort out reservations and connections when one leg is late (though I have not experienced it in practice).

Czechia regions‘ integrated all-operator fare systems for local transport are good too, in parts.

 

[NCT]

Off-topic, but not the only. OneTicket covers multi-operator including on the same section, though that bit is less common.

One place to buy all the tickets for a multi-operator journey with all journey planners covering train+bus across the entire country, which CD and others in Czechia do well, is not uncommon: norway (eea) sweden and with some ticketing limitations germany austria … Resplus tickets in Sweden are even supposed to sort out reservations and connections when one leg is late (though I have not experienced it in practice).

Czechia regions‘ integrated all-operator fare systems for local transport are good too, in parts.

I wasn't familiar with Nordic countries, thanks.

I'm not sure I'd agree with Germany or Austria. They get away with it by having most of their country being national operator or PSO, but 'true' Open Access operators are frozen out of the system. Westbahn not being in point-to-point inter-available tickets causes problems at interchange nodes where the Westbahn is the first connecting train.