Reserving a seat or buying a dog ticket
In progress…
https://www.seat61.com/dogs-by-train.htm is the best place to start, to find up to date train travel and overall dog travel advice.
I’ve found the sweet blog about traveling dog Schnitzel full of useful dog travel tips, including public transport. See www.travelnuity.com
General dog-friendly European country overviews from someone who uses public transport (with a small dog): gigigriffis.com/least-dog-friendly-countries-europe/
Romania
On the train from Budapest to Timisaora the Romanian ticket inspectors were not interested if I had a booking. They were positive about me staying on the train for station I’m not booked for (Baile Herculane) and didn’t ask to see my dog ticket (issued in Hungary). So I’m guessing that unless trains are busy the compulsory booking thing is a bit fluffy, especially with some conductors.
Equally their border police (who boarded the train after the border) didn’t ask me for my dog papers, but I showed them anyway. When you pay through the nose for an AHC and carry it everywhere you want it to be worth it 😅
On the next train, on to Bucharest, I couldn’t reserve a seat as the supposedly open all day ticket office at Baile Herculane on a sunny May morning looked like it had been padlocked shut for months. So I couldn’t buy a dog ticket either.
We got on the train anyway, it’s not like you let them go by when there are only 2 or 3 a day. The ticket inspector pointed to the dog after doing my Interrail ticket, yet he didn’t ask me for my reservation. Interrail tickets in the app say the route and time of the train so that may look like a booking.
He pointed in a concerned way at Baspie dog clearly talking about him. I thought he might be saying about a muzzle. But I looked suitably non comprehending. He then said ‘ticket dog’ so I explained that the ticket office had been closed, but he didn’t know what I was saying and went off. A while later a more forbidding looking older guy came along and asked to see my ticket. He held my phone and made a job of scrolling through the ticket page on the Interrail app. I guess he was trying to find where it said dog. He gave up after 5 minutes or so, said “thank you” and left. Having a ticket in English is therefore rather a bonus as it provides ambiguity.
I wouldn’t have minded being asked to pay a dog ticket or a reservation fee. I learnt that it is best just to get on the train in Romania, as they don’t seem keen to enforce rules if you have a valid ticket.
Hungary
Travelling between Bratislava and Budapest I didn’t have a dog ticket or a reservation (neither are needed in Slovakia on that train). No one Hungarian seemed to mind when checking tickets though.
For trains within Hungary or out of Hungary you do need a dog ticket. In the basement of Budapest Kelati station you have to take a number in the ticket office and wait your turn. Allow plenty of time.
When at last my number was called, they seemed to think I could take a dog on a sleeper to Bucharest if I booked the whole compartment, though I wasn’t filled with confidence. They also thought it counts as first class and so my second class Interrail ticket wouldn’t have counted. It is about 125€ for a sleeper to yourself inc ticket between the two capitals on a 16 hour journey. Reasonable compared to the rest of Europe.
However for a day hence there was no single sleeper availability, so I didn’t get to test out sleeper with a dog to Romania. It seems that even in off season it is best to book at least a week or two in advance if you want a single or twin sleeping compartment.
Austria
Dog tickets are compulsory but easy to buy from a multilingual machine, or the train conductor at a pinch. The machines are on most platforms and around stations, even minor ones.
Railway Dog 