You can go to bahn.de for train schedules. There's also the Orangeways bus.

http://www.orangeways.com/en/

Both sites will give you schedules and duration. The bus site will also give you prices. Czech and Polish trains are very expensive but it takes a long time to get anywhere from Krakow by train.

I would definitely fly to save time.

I'm interested in seeing what responses you get to this question. I would also like to go to Krakow but it seems very time consuming to combine it with most other places. bahn.de says it's 8 hours Krakow to Prague. Doesn't sound like fun. I usually fly easy jet and they have flights from Krakow to Paris and several places in the UK. I checked skyscanner a while ago but it looked like it was quite expensive to go most of the places I was interested in combining with Krakow.

isabel - please do go to Krakow; I'm totally in love with it and I think it's the most wonderful city. It's worth the hassle.

I flew from there to Frankfurt one time since the train was about 20 hours. The second time I took the train to Warsaw and flew home from there.

Sometimes Lot or Lufthansa have special fares.

For answers to train questions check out these IMO suprb sites - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com.

There is an overnight train between Krakow and Budapest and I believe between Prague and Krakow. Though it is a 6 hour day train trip it does show you the real Czech Republic and Poland in between - things you would not see if flying where you only see a couple of big cities.

Yes www.bahn.de - German Railways seb site that I find the easiest and best to use for all European train schedules confirms there is also an overnight train rolling between Prague directly to Krakow, which I also echo to me was the absolute highlight of Poland - if had to chose between Warsaw and Krakow, hands-down the ancient royal town of Krakow with Wawel Hill castle, a sweet main square that is one of the best in Europe IMO and day trips to the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mines (UNESCO World Heritage site you can tour and also Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is not the cup of tea some are looking for but which I found so so moving and disturbing.

I've gone between Prague and krakow a couple times, but it isn't easy as there isn't a fast train with a fairly direct route. If you accept that, you can plan a train trip in your vacation combined with some other things you may want to do. Otherwise, if you jsut want to get between the two points, I think you'd have to fly. I don't know what flights are available or if they are direct, there might be some on Czech Air or LOT, etc.

Once I took the train from Prague down to Olomouc in Moravia and spent about 2 days in that town, but I wanted to see more of the CR. From there, the train to Krakow isn't that bad, maybe 5 hours (there is a good train coming up from Vienna that goes to Krakow, you have to catch it in Prerov, as I recall, which is a short train ride from Olomouc. I didn't want to do an all day train trip.

The second time I went from Prague up to Dresden (good trains, not far), spent several days there and then took the train from Dresden over to Wroclaw in Poland, spent another few days and then finally to Krakow. Polish trains are very slow so the train from the border of Germany to Krakow was fairly long, but I did want to spend time in some other towns in Poland, I loved Wroclaw.

So it can be done but it is a long trip, you have to decide what your goals are. you can check www.whichbudget.com or whatever for airline fares.

Thank you all for your responses.....so far there doesn't seem to be a single answer, but I do hear that Krakow is a great place to visit.
I will check some of the schedules and sites offered.....J

I took the night train from Krakow to Prague. There's a photo of my ticket at http://tinyurl.com/eym5b. The train departed at 22h14 and arrived circa 07h00 the next morning. It wasn't the best night train I have been on but it was safe and comfortable. For more information on night trains see http://tinyurl.com/y57vft. You have to sleep anyway and the cost of the night train bunk is probably less than you are going to pay for a bed in either city, unless you are staying in hostels.

Note that the Prague train station is a nest of panhandlers. Keep your valuable close.

Last year I was going from Krakow to Budapest in a group of 4. We paid 1300 PLN total per private mini-van with private English speaking driver. I know train may be cheaper, especially in case of 2 people but no comparison in standard and duration time - it took us around 6 hours and we saw the Tatra mountains and landscapes of Slovakia with a short stop on the way - I recommend you considering such option

I like the idea of hiring a private driver from Krakow to Budapest. How did you find one? Did you go to Eger? Thanks, Jan

Due to the train routing, the driver option is not bad. The terrain and the resulting train routes from Prague to Krakow makes the train line circuitous, which adds to the travel time, and the convenience is low because many of the options require transferring at Katowice. Buses are slow because they're buses. If you can do Prague to Krakow in 6 hours by car, that's far shorter than your other options and not terribly longer than a flight (1.5 hours plus transport to airport plus check-in plus luggage collection plus transport to city center for hotel).

Here's a driver that has been recommended on this board.

http://www.tour-service.pl/

6 hours by private car and less than two hours more by train for assumingly a fraction of the cost - gain a couple of hours and pay hundred bucks more or more? figure in the tip to the driver in the fare.

The fastest train is 10 hours making it 4 hours more by train. The cheapest way is the bus.

For another private car option you can contact:

martachm7@gmail.com

Marta is a tour guide (whom I used in Krakow) but her husband is a driver.

The fastest train is 10 hours making it 4 hours more by train. The cheapest way is the bus.>

If talking about Prague to Krakow the first three trains I check on www.bahn.de all take less than 8 hours, including one at 7.5 hours - so it is less that two hours more by train it seems.

I was talking about Krakow to Budapest.

Is there any way to know about train schedules in May? I want to know if I can count on there being a train every night--Prague to Krakow, Krakow to Budapest? Is Eger on the train route from Krakow to Budapest or is it better to do Eger as a separate day trip from Budapest? Jan

I always use bahn.de to look at all train schedules. That way you don't have to go to country-specific sites.

Eger is not on the line from Krakow to Budapest.

There's no notation stating that the trains do not run daily.

You can see the May schedules but there may be slight changes as you get closer to your departure date. You can check times now to get an idea of departure/arrival times.

Not to be harsh on you but you've now been told 4 times what site to use to see train times. Is there a problem using the site? Something you don't understand? Can we help you use the site so you can be self sufficient?

HI; Several years ago, with help from this forum,
I went by train (solo) I from Prague to Krakow. I enjoyed the
train ride very much. I bought the ticket right in town.
The train arrives in Krakow right near the old town (but
no elevator or escalator). The scenery was very nice and
I met a young couple who were very nice and the trip went fast. I also took the train from Krakow to Warsaw and then the night train from Warsaw to Vilnius. From St Cirq I
learned about BETS and ever since, I use Byron to make all
my train travel arrangements. Since I travel solo, I enjoy
train travel and arrange to stay within walking distance to
the train station. Krakow is one of my favorite european cities, and everyone is very friendly. Have a great trip. Johanna

Is there any way to know about train schedules in May? I want to know if I can count on there being a train every night--Prague to Krakow, Krakow to Budapest?>

Well schedules for May may not yet be loaded and if they are not on www.bahn.de, the easiest pan-European train schedule site I have seen and always use then just put in a dummy date beforehand and you can be 99% sure the same train will be running the same day of the week in May or will not be running the same day if it is not running now (though it is often the reverse - fewer overnight trains in winter than in spring and summer) - those two trains should run every night with the possible exception of Saturday nights all year. But do try www.bahn.de and report back if you have problems.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query2.exe/en?ld=96249&seqnr=10&ident=aw.021776249.1357233970&rt=1&OK#focus

see if you can get this to work - May schedules show up and both those trains seem to be running every night.

Pal - I've already given the OP this information, above.

Yes adrienne but I thought I would give the exact schedule page that perhaps she/he could not locate - www.bahn.de is great but for novices not always easy to figure out. But yes you did thoughtfully inform OP about www.bahn.de a few times, which I had not noted when I gave above link.

Cheers

Pal - bahn does not give you the page that you linked to; it never has. It directs you to a page telling the user to create a new search. Check out your link if you don't believe me.

adrienne - funny after I posted that link and it took I clicked on it and the exact page for Krakow-budapest came up and now you are right - just a new search. Weird. Thanks for pointing that out!

Pal - I think perhaps the info to the particular page was cached on your computer so it worked for a short while for you. Whenever I've tried to give a specific link for bahn.de (using the preview button for my post) it never worked.

It seems that the OP has lost interest in this thread.

adrienne again thanks for the tip - I'll remember next time!

Pal - glad I could help - Happy New Year!

We have hired a driver. Thank you for your recommendations. We also have used the bahn.de website for other legs of our trip. Jan O

Can you tell us who you hired and why you chose a particular person/company? Why wouldn't you want to share information?

We took the night train from Prague to Krakow a few years back and it was fine. Not luxurious but comfortable and safe. It arrived in Krakow pretty early so the biggest challenge was staying awake while awaiting our apartment rental checkin.