kimharp

My husband and I have several unplanned days at the end of September, sandwiched between a vacation in France (ending in Paris) and a week on business in Brno, Czech Republic. Since we've already seen a lot of both France and Czech Republic, we are thinking of renting a car and driving so we can see more of Germany, which we haven't done much of. Any recommendations for where to spend a long weekend between the two cities? We can leave as early as Thursday and need to be in Brno by Sunday night. The obvious answer would be Octoberfest but I don't think we could get a hotel at this late date, and my husband did that last year. I was also thinking of Hallstatt Austria.

Any advice?

Andrew

Have you been to Poland? You could fly via easyJet fairly cheaply from Paris to Krakow and train your way back to Brno without renting a car. Krakow is a wonderful city.

I'd love to see Hallstatt - almost did a few years ago while in Austria but wasn't able to fit it in. I'd recommend at least a quick stop in Salzburg if you can put that on your route. With only three days (barely) to get to Brno, you'll spend one of them just driving, though. If you don't mind the long drive and the likely expensive one-way drop charge for the rental car, though, I'll bet it's quite doable.

adrienne

I would have agreed with Krakow since I totally love this city but it takes a whole day to get to Brno from there (I've done it in the opposite direction). And there is no point flying into Brno as the airport is a wasteland with few flights (I've been there in the morning when there was nothing open - fortunately there was a police woman walking around who helped me).

Perhaps Vienna or Salzburg. Haven't been to Hallstat but it looks charming. I would not drive as you'll spend too much time getting to your destination. Plus the huge drop off charges Andrew mentions.

kimharp

Thanks so much for the input Andrew and Adrienne! We did visit Krakow several years ago--I'd love to see it again but hadn't considered it for this trip. Salzburg might be a good bet. I don't know much about it...

Yeah, I know the drive is long and potentially expensive, but we don't mind a road trip. We're also up for an easy flight, but as Adrienne mentioned, the options flying to Brno are not great. That's what got us thinking about just renting the car and driving. We will also need to get back to Paris (for our flight back to the US) at the end of the following week, so we could potentially just rent the car for the entire time.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I will look into Salzburg.

kelvin_sse

You can stay in Salzburg and have a day trip to Hallstat, do not miss Hallstat if you can as it is picturesque village. I've just done this trip early this year.

You can take a bus from Salzburg to Bad Ischl and then switch to another bus towards Hallstat. Total travel time from Salzburg to Hallstat should be around close to 2 hours maybe. You will pass by some small and charming villages like St. Wolfgang along the way.