This is going to be a marathon 11 hour journey. I must say the Polish transport system is great but not easy to enquire about. The people on the information desk simply don`t give out information! Not helpful at all. I found a Flexibus `on line` which would have been perfect, no changes etc but couldnt find out where to reserve seats or where the bus left from. So, we ended up getting the train. Or two trains to be precise. A regional train to Katawice which stopped at every rabbit burrow on the way, then a 90 minute stopover and finally an intercity to Budapest. It was a long journey but far from boring. The scenery changed all the time. Acres of sunflower, linseed, wheat being harvested, vineyards, mountains then vast plains. I can honestly say the time flew. 

The regional trains are better than a Gatwick Express and the Intercities are even better yet.

You can`t book seats on a regional train, but you really must on an intercity.

The regional train was pretty empty once everyone got off in Krakow business park. On the intercity we had been booked seats in a compartment (like a very modern version of our old slam door trains). This is great, but you need to put your luggage on an overhead luggage rack. Frankly one of our bags weighs a ton, so it is not going up there. Although the carriage was not full, one lady was not to happy about this and tutted all the way to the Czech Republic.

Our journey took us through 4 countries in the 11 hours. Poland, Czech Rebublic, Slovenia and finally into Hungary. Some nice student lads got on in Bratislava and joined us till we all got off in Budapest. I think they were German but I am not sure, as they had a great sense of humour. (Bit synical here, Germans are not well known for their sense of humour are they?) Anyway, they were nice guys and helped us off the train in Budapest like we were precious old people.........which of course we are!