meganpwalker514

We arrive in Prague on October 20 where we meet our daughter who is studying there for the semester. She has the next full week to travel with us. We need to beck in Prague to meet the rest of our family on October 28. Our plan is to see Prague from Oct-28 for 3-4-5 days. We then have time to travel until we need to back in Prague for an early November 6th flight out. Our wish lists of countries /cities include Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest, Switzerland, we would also consider Berlin....Preference would be to travel by train but will consider flights if needed. Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks

PalenQ

Train info sources - www.bahn.de/en - German Rail site with schedules for all of European trains; www.seat61.com - great resource on booking your own tickets - especially discounted ones -online; www.budgeteuropetravel.com -lots of rail itineraries all over Europe; www.ricksteves.com.

Berlin and Dresden would make a nice trip - train goes up lovely Saxon Switzerland en route to Dresden and then onto Berlin.

Switzerland is a whole day by train ride so maybe fly and that time of year is off-season with some lifts, etc closed and generally funky weather for hiking.

PalenQ

Our wish lists of countries /cities include Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest>

So you have two separate several-day travel periods from Prague.

Train to Vienna and Salzburg and back to Prague via Cesky Krumlov could be nice.

Then maybe after going back to Prague do Berlin?

As northern European weather can be cool and dank at that time consider flying to say Italy - Rome and Florence for nice weather.

meganpwalker514

OK Thanks--Kids want to see countryside so i am also considering Salzburg with a night in Garmisch and skip Vienna?? thoughts on Budapest over Berlin? My husband would rather keep travel to trains but still considering....what about Venice as an option in Italy? thanks for your insight

PalenQ

OK Thanks--Kids want to see countryside so i am also considering Salzburg with a night in Garmisch and skip Vienna??>

The Sound of Music Country just east of Salzburg would make a nice stay - buses go there from Salzburg. Stay a night in say St Wolfgang for beautiful countryside - Garmisch too of course.

Lakes District:

https://www.google.com/search?q=aust...w=1745&bih=864

PalenQ

But the countryside may be less whatever than cities at that time of year. Can be cool and gray - cities always lively - rural areas especially resorts can be quite empty.

meganpwalker514

ok thanks great insight--I appreciate your help

Andrew

Personal preference here, since you seem to be looking for subjective answers: I loved Prague, didn't fall in love with Vienna (but found it pleasant), and found Budapest intriguing and interesting, if not particularly charming. (Budapest is bigger than Prague - or more spread out, anyway.) But Vienna is quicker to get to by train.

You could throw in a detour to Cesky Krumlov - neat little town in Czech Republic south of Prague - on the way to Vienna. You can get to Cesky Krumlov by train but would probably want to take a shuttle service on to Vienna. Alternately, you could drive from Prague to Cesky Krumlov and stop in a few other pretty towns in southern Czech Republic and return the car in say Brno, then take a train to Vienna. (Usually expensive to rent a car in one country and return in another.) You can dig up my trip report from 2012 where I drove the other way - from Brno to Prague via Cesky Krumlov. I found driving pretty easy outside of the cities.

I found Salzburg charming and beautiful. Not sure how to get there by train in a timely fashion from Prague, but maybe you can.

How about Krakow? You can get there by train and bus, but it's not a quick ride. But you can do it in about six hours with one change from train to bus. Really a lovely city with a ton of history.

Berlin is huge and spread out but obviously with its share of history too. Unlike Krakow (which was largely spared much damage during the war), many of Berlin's historical spots were leveled during the war.

Man_in_seat_61

Prague to Vienna or Salzburg or Budapest starts at just €19 ($23) at Czech Railways www.cd.cz - you print your own ticket.

Budapest to Vienna starts at €13 at Hungarian Railways www.mavcsoport.hu

Vienna to Salzburg is €27 if you just hop on any hourly Westbahn train from Vienna Westbahnhof and pay the conductor. www.westbahn.at

Vienna to Budapest starts at €19 at Austrian Railways www.oebb.at

PalenQ

Man in seat 61 who posts above has invaluable tips on booking those discounted train tickets on his commercial site- www.seat61.com.