From Zagreb to Budapest by Train

Glavni Kolodvor Train Station Zagreb

The early morning walk to the Glavni Kolodvor train station in Zagreb was pleasant despite the fact that it was 4AM in February. We were a little hesitant concerning the safety of walking at such an ungodly hour, but the owner of the hostel we stayed in assured us it would be absolutely safe. He was right. Our walk was pretty uneventful. There were a few people walking on the streets who seemed to pass us by without even a second glance. We took the 4:56AM train from Zagreb to Budapest. It was a 6 hour train ride. We almost didn't make it on to the train because we got on the wrong train! Luckily, we realized it just in time and ran towards the right train before the doors were closing.
We slept through most of the ride and only woke up for passport checks. The passport check took longer for the hubby because he was carrying a temporary passport and the customs officials spoke very minimal English. To my recollection, this is how the passport check went: we handed over our passports (U.S. and Canadian temporary). Mine was stamped immediately. The customs officer handed my husband's passport to another officer, they made some calls, they asked us something we didn't really understand, we replied by saying something they didn't understand, they made more calls, asked yet another customs officer, and eventually the hubby's passport was stamped. That wasn't so bad. Another short nap later we were pulling into Keleti station in Budapest. For more on Budapest click here.