Most likely named after the Hungarian born, King of Poland, Stephen Báthory, rather than the Hungarian serial killer Elizabeth, is the EuroCity Báthory. The once a day train starts its journey in Terespol, the Polish border station with Belarus, and runs direct to Budapest western station (or ‘Nyugati’ in Hungarian).

This train is one of the true international railway services in Europe, traversing three borders and four countries on its thirteen hour trip serving stations in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary en route. At one time, this would’ve been five countries, with the train starting its route just over the Polish border in Brest, Belarus – but this is no longer the case.

Myself and a friend were booked to take this train from Warsaw to Břeclav, the latter serving the Czech town but also situated near the border with Austria and Slovakia. Our plan was to change trains there to a RegioJet train to Vienna, however, on this specific day, our trip didn’t go to plan. I’ll explain more below.

At the moment, from the Polish capital, the train departs from the Warsaw Gdanska station while track work takes place on the east-west rail line through Warsaw Central station. Warsaw Gdanska station is used as a reserve for such track work, however, the four track station is limited in facilities compared to its central counterpart.

Here is the route map for the trains full trip from Terespol to Budapest:

Onboard the EuroCity Báthory

The EuroCity Báthory is formed of carriages exclusively of the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV-START) – at least for the full journey from Terespol to the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

The train conveys carriages for different routes in its formation en route, with carriages of the Czech Railways (České Dráhy) running from Terespol that are detached at the border station of Bohumín, destined for Czech capital of Prague. At the same station, the EuroCity Báthory couples carriages from Przemyśl, near the border with Ukraine, for the remainder of the journey to Budapest.

It’s worth stepping off the train at Bohumín whether you are a train fan or not. Here the train is scheduled to stop for thirty-seven minutes detach and attach these carriages and replace our PKP Polish Railways locomotive in lieu of a ZSSK Slovakian Railways one for the remainder of the journey to Budapest. It’s a train lovers paradise here with passenger trains of different companies, but also it was a good chance to stretch our legs on the long trip.

It’s worth noting that the EuroCity Báthory does cross into four countries on its journey, however, as all countries concerned are part of Schengen there are no passport/ID checks on the train.

First Class Accommodation

First Class on the EuroCity Báthory is made up of only one carriage on the train. This is an open saloon carriage rather than one with compartments that you find in abundance in eastern Europe. First Class gets you a larger seat at a tables of four and two and that’s about it. The price difference was minimal and actually worth it in my opinion.

A nice touch is that upon entering Czechia, the conductor came around with a complimentary bottle of water. A service offered in First Class on Czech InterCity trains – and great to see this applies to international EuroCity trains too.

As it happened, we unwisely took this trip on the Saturday of the Polish Labour Day holiday weekend. The train was packed full from Warsaw as far as Katowice with many passengers standing. The train then quietened in First Class but remained busy in Second Class until at least Hodonín – a good reason to book First Class if it’s within your means.

Second Class Accommodation

Second Class accommodation is formed of a variety of different carriage types. There was one compartment carriage with six seats in each, in addition to three carriages with seating in an open saloon with a large section for bikes in one. As mentioned above, the Second Class carriages appeared to be busy for most of the journey at least.

Dining Car

A real asset on the EuroCity Báthory, as with many long distance trains in Eastern Europe, is the on-train Dining Car. This is also a carriage owned by MÁV-START, which means that catering services are provided by Hungarian railway service provider, Utasellátó. Dining is therefore mainly a Hungarian affair, whether you travel within Poland, Czechia, Slovakia or Hungary with hearty dishes on offer including goulash soup and chicken paprika with dumplings. Utasellátó also cater for more universal tastes on their extensive Dining Car menu, including burger and fries which I tried on the Corona InterCity. This time I opted for goulash soup followed by roast pork with letcho and potato rings. Highly recommended!

The spacious Dining Car has fourteen tables and can seat forty-two people. This is open to everyone on the train and finding a table is on a first-come-first-served basis. We ate early, at least by Polish standards, at noon having had an early alarm, and at this time there were still half of the tables available. This did get busier later on at around 14:00 which seemed the most popular time for lunch.

Hello Hodonín – an unscheduled break of journey

Unfortunately, on the day, there was track work that wasn’t advertised at the time of booking, which meant that the EuroCity Báthory had its schedule changed to not call at Břeclav, where we had planned to change trains for Vienna. We were proactively informed of this by the Polish conductor shortly after departing Warsaw. As Břeclav is in Czechia, and not Poland, he directed us to speak to the Czech conductor for alternative travel arrangements once she swapped places with our Polish conductor at the border station of Bohumín.

Armed with instructions from the helpful Czech conductor hand written on some Czech ticket paper roll, we alighted the EuroCity Báthory one station earlier, at Hodonín, and took a regional train soon after to Břeclav.

Part of the fun of long distance rail travel is passing through towns and cities you wouldn’t have heard of, never mind getting off the train at one of them. Although we had no time to visit the town, it was nice to break our journey at Hodonín briefly and take a look at the station complete with its own bar.

Scenery

The scenery on this trip isn’t much to write home about so take a good book. The highlight, it seems, would be later in the trip on the Slovakian-Hungary border travelling along the Danube – but that’s one for another trip report!

Conclusion

There was nothing gruesome about a trip on the EuroCity Báthory! The train may take all day but it’s a relaxing way to travel across four countries – all the countries concerned are part of Schengen which therefore means no passport / ID checks take place at all. The Dining Car was the real highlight of the trip with its vast menu. First Class is highly recommended for this journey, mainly due to how busy Second Class was. This may be different at other times, however, especially as we were travelling on the weekend of a Polish national holiday.

Booking and Fares

Tickets for journeys on the EuroCity Báthory are available at the respective railway companies’ websites. Where you book depends on the journey you’re making and which country your journey starts and finishes at – you can usually book at either the origin country railway’s website or the destination’s. For example, if you’re travelling from Warsaw <> Budapest this can be booked online at either the website of the Polish Railways (PKP InterCity) or the website of the Hungarian Railways (MÁV-START). Simply choose the cheapest and print your ticket at home.

InterRail and EURail passes can be used on the EuroCity Báthory with the requirement to purchase a reservation in advance for a nominal fee. This can cost as little as 1,00€ depending on the country and the stations travelling to/from.

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This Travel Report was first published in August 2023.

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