one more thought - either way we will end up Budapest for 3 or 4 days. does that impact whether we should see Prague/Vienna or Krakow first?

My concern would be finding rooms if you don't speak Polish and Czech, but maybe you do.

You won't be able to do the Poland trip in a week as it's 7 hours from Krakow to Zakopane but it's uphill the whole way so it might take you 2 days to get there, a day to see the area, and a day to come back to Krakow. You'd never fit in the gorge as a side trip plus Auschwitz and the Salt Mine and see something of Krakow.

I thought the scenery in southern Czech Rep was much prettier than in Poland although I loved Krakow much more than Prague. There seemed to be quite a few good bike trails in Moravia.

I don't think you'll see that much activity on the road between Vienna and Prague but I went in the spring; perhaps there are more tourists/cyclists in the summer.

The sights in Poland were amazing - the Salt Mine and Krakow were wonderful. I don't do concentration camps so I can't speak for Auschwitz and was not impressed with Zakopane at all.

<< does that impact whether we should see Prague/Vienna or Krakow first? >>

Yes it does as the train service from Krakow to anywhere except Warsaw is really bad. You could take a night train or the Orangeways bus but you'll have to investigate transporting your bikes.

actually in both cases we are planning to go with van support - so we will get transported part way each day as needed
sounds like zacopane is not so great
and we were thinking of taking an overnight train from krakow to prague - but that is not a good line?

A lot of people like Zakopane but I was underwhelmed. Many many Polish people love it, I think because most of Poland is flat and that area is in the mountains. I guess if you're planning to ski or hike it would be a good place to go but I'd hate to make that type of bike ride and be disappointed. The bus was 2+ hours each way so it's a difficult day trip if you're thinking of doing part of it by bike.

The area is rather pretty but the town is filled with junky souvenir stalls and cheese stalls - smoked sheep cheese and every stall has the same cheese. The wooden architecture is interesting. I thought there were many other areas of Europe that were prettier. The ride there on the bus from Krakow was nothing special.

There's one night train with no changes that takes 9 hours, 41 minutes and makes 16 stops. You're liable to wake up at each stop. A friend took a night train from Krakow to Budapest and there was a lot of train car exchanges that were very loud. Only you can judge how you sleep on night trains. This train does take bikes but you need to reserve. Not a big deal - you can do this when you get to Krakow.

Go to bahn.de and view the train schedules.

Krakow to Prague requires a change, doesn't it? Not a good night train route. The train route winds around foothills so much that it effectively adds two hours to the equivalent car trip.

Disagree re: Krakow v. Prague - no question Prague > Krakow. Seemed like Krakow needed another coat of paint.

<< I don't do concentration camps>> dunno what this means . . .

Anyway, you can go to Auschwitz and see Auschwitz, which is essentially now a museum of Nazi depravity and Birkenau, which is a monolith and horrendously creepy. Outside Prague is Terezin, which has its own history of horror and tales of willful ignorance (three words: Red Cross inspection).