On to Cesky Krumlov:

What an amazing town! It is so picturesque -- the narrow cobblestone streets and the castle area were fun to explore. The castle and orange roofed village looked straight out of a fairy tale. Our hotel was off the main square, where a fair was set up, along with live entertainment.

At night, in a different area, there was another band playing – heavy metal, punky type music. We bought some food/drink and enjoyed listening to this band as well, even though we had no idea what they were singing about.

For lunch, we ate at a restaurant right on the river near the bridge going to the castle. You can rent rafts/tubes to float down the river and even though it was a tad cool (68 degrees), there were people drifting by. That would be nice to do in the summer.

The castle tour is fascinating and not to be missed. They have many original furnishings, paintings, etc. in the rooms. The ballroom/Hall of Masques was amazing – tromp l-oiel paintings on all the walls. We also walked up the picturesque tower for a wonderful view of the town and the river. The castle complex is quite extensive, and is surrounded by a moat. But…the moat didn’t have water – it had bears! I thought my husband was joking when he told me to come look at the bears – they had two live bears wandering about. After the castle bears died, they were made into bearskin rugs, and many rooms in the castle featured a bearskin rug.

Museum of Torture – it seems many small towns in Europe have similar museums. I wouldn’t say this was anything special – there were some horrible looking implements and many prints of horrible punishments. There were also some dioramas with haunted house looking scenes.

We enjoyed the rural/village scenery between Vienna and Cesky Krumlov. Between Cesky Krumlov and Prague it was not quite as scenic – although several wooded areas looked very pretty. Some towns in the Czech Republic we drove through had that very ugly Communist block style architecture. There wasn’t ugly architecture in central:

Prague

Please hurry with your Prague report, we'll be there on Thursday!

You went away during baseball season???

Kidding, of course. I can't wait to read your impressions of Prague, which has been moving up my list for a few years.

Leely2 - we didn't consider that when we made our plans, and in Aug., we wondered what we were thinking. Thankfully the Phils clinched before we left. (And, too bad we weren't in Europe for the last 2 playoff games.)

On to Prague:

Prague is a beautiful city. We stayed near Old Town and loved wandering around the Square, across the Charles Bridge and up and down the many narrow side streets.

Old Town Square – large square surrounded by great architecture. We stopped to watch the Astronomical clock and its figures that move.

Charles Bridge – there were always lots of people here. The bridge is lined with statues and artists and musicians.

Prague Castle: We purchased the complete tour, which allowed access to nearly all areas of the castle. St. Vitrus Cathedral (with Mucha’s stained glass windows) was pretty. I was surprised how much I liked the art collection in the National Gallery adjacent to the St. George Basilica. I liked the paintings by several Czech painters with whom I was not familiar. The narrow Golden Lane was especially interesting – each of the tiny houses had artifacts from back in the day. Some of the houses were so tiny. We learned that Kafka once lived here. Nearby was the dungeon. The complete tour ticket also gave access to the Story of Prague Castle museum, which had some interesting displays and period costumes.

If you take the #22 trolley, you save yourself the climb up to the castle from the bottom of the Charles Bridge. Tickets can be purchased at newspaper/tobacco type stores and from kiosks (for the kiosks we used, you needed coins).

Vrtbovska Garden – this was a pretty Baroque Italian style garden tucked off a busy street. It had several terraces, sculptures, a room with beautiful frescoes and a nice view from the top.

Church of St. Nicholas – very pretty Baroque church with great ceiling paintings.

Jewish Quarter – we purchased a ticket to allow us entrance to several synagogues. One had an exhibit of artwork that survived from the children prisoners at Terezin. The Jewish cemetery, with its’ headstones piled on top of each other, was an interesting site. There are over 12,000 (!) tombstones.

Municipal Hall – this is a beautiful Art Nouveau style building. We didn’t take a tour, but did wander up and down the staircases to get a feeling for what some of the interior looked like.

Walking along the river at night – this is a great thing to do – the castle, bridges and other buildings are lit up and it is a nice walk.

St. Wencelas Square/National Museum – we liked the walk along the shopping district up toward the museum. There was a fair with food stands set up here, too. This area is not as quaint as the one surrounding Old Town, but I liked exploring several of the bookstores along this street – many of which had a nice selection of English titles. We peeked into the Hotel Europa.

HOTELS:

I would recommend highly each of the hotels we stayed at:

Vienna: Best Western Hotel das Tigra

This was located on a quiet street only a 5-10 min. walk from all the sites in the Inner Ring. It was an excellent location close by to most of the sites, but quiet. Our room was nice and the breakfast was good (and included).

Cesky Krumlov: Hotel Konvice

This historic hotel is located a block from the main square and is such a nice change from the typical hotel room – it had wooden ceilings and definitely didn’t look like the Holiday Inn. We were located in a room facing the street and we were a bit worried about the noise – as the band in the central square that evening was quite loud. We shut the windows and it was remarkable how that blocked all the noise (and that band was loud).

Prague: Hotel Paris

This was a pretty hotel in a great location – about a 5 min. walk to Old Town and next to the Municipal House. There was a transit underground stop next door and a grocery store and mall a block away. Our room was very nice and the (included) breakfast was excellent. The hotel also had a nice gym and a sauna/steam room. We got a 10% discount for booking for 3 nights on-line.

Thanks for your report, karens. How many days did you spend in each city?

karens, we will be in Vienna in a week (our third trip), so I was very happy to read your report, and write down some of your recommendations. We are hoping to take a day trip to the Wachau Valley, so I appreciated your comments.

Did you prefer one city to the other? If so, why? I understand this sort of thing is very subjective, but I've always heard such mixed reports of Vienna--some love it, some are left cold--that I've never really put it up top of my "need to visit" list.

karens,
I enjoyed reading your report. I've been to Prague twice & absolutely love it! My daughter studied there for a semester 8 years ago, which is why we first visited Prague. We stayed at Pension Dietzenhofer, located in Mala Strana. For some reason, we never saw the Vrtbovska Gardens. Did you read about them in your guidebook or just happen upon them? We never made it inside Church of St. Nicholas either. Guess we have to return to Prague!

On our last trip 2 years ago, we rented a car & traveled throughout CR. We spent 2 nights in Cesky Krumlov & love that city, too!! We didn't want to tube down the river because we saw so many people capsizing, but we did go on a wooden raft down the river; that was fun!

Did you prefer Prague over Vienna or vice versa? I haven't been to Vienna yet, but I do hear mixed reviews, as leely 2 mentioned.

GETTING AROUND:

I initially made a reservation for a car rental. I was aware of the expensive drop off fee – the plan was to rent a car from the outskirts of Vienna, drive to Melk to visit the Abbey, and then to Cesky Krumlov, where we would spend a night. We would then drive to Prague.

AutoEurope quoted us $335 for 4 days, and a $200 one way drop off fee. Expensive, yes, but I made the reservation. A week later, I received an email from AutoEurope informing me that were would also be an additional cross border fee of $100. I contacted the Avis location in Vienna directly to ask about the one way fee, and was told that they do not charge a fee for this. I emailed AutoEurope about this – they acted like I hadn’t said anything and just re-stated that there would be a cross border fee.

So, now the car is insanely expensive. I contacted our hotel in Prague just to see if they offer parking. They did – it required a reservation and was $47 a day (!!) As if I needed any further encouragement, I cancelled the car reservation.

Thank goodness. For less than half the price of the car, we had private transport from the airport to our Vienna hotel, a shuttle from Vienna to Cesky Krumlov, and then from CK to Prague, and a taxi from Prague to the airport. This was super convenient and we didn’t have to deal with any parking or driving issues (especially in Cesky Krumlov – where I didn’t even realize you had to park in an area outside the main area, and in Prague where the language is really confusing – not to mention how challenging it is to drive in an area of compact , one-way streets, and many that don’t allow cars. Also: we wouldn’t have needed the car in Prague, so it would have sat in a very expensive garage).

Here’s how we got around:

Vienna airport to the center of town: At the airport, there is a store front with taxi service for 35 Euro into town, that was labeled “approved by the Vienna airport”. This was a good price – to get into Vienna by public transport, in my understanding, would be 8 Euro (each) on the train, and then we’d have to transfer to a subway. This was much faster and much more convenient.

Vienna to Cesky krumlov: We used CK Shuttle Service. We booked a group transfer, which I think could include up to 6 people, for about $100 for the two of us. As it turned out, we were the only ones, so we got a private transfer. The drive typically takes about 3 hours.

(I did try to look into a public transit option, but it was inconvenient to get to CK – I think it would have taken 2x as long by public transit v. driving. Also, we were leaving CK on a Sunday, and the only option I saw had us getting into the transfer station at 2:55pm, and the connecting bus left at 3:00pm. That was way too close for comfort – we would have had few transportation options on a Sunday if we missed the connection).

CK to Prague: We used Prague Airport Shuttle, and we booked a private transfer for about $200. (We never travel like this typically, but I figured we were saving so much money on not renting a car that I chose this convenience). Our driver was a really nice guy originally from LA who has lived in the Czech Republic for about 20 years. The drive took less than 3 hrs.

Prague to airport: We also used Prague Airport Shuttle for this: fee was $35. I had read a lot about unscrupulous cab drivers in Prague, so I was more comfortable pre-booking this shuttle with this agency.

I would recommend all the shuttle/cab services we used.

Hello, all.

Vienna v. Prague. Hmmm. I liked them both. Both were very walkable, attractive cities. Prague, IMO, has more narrow streets and wonderful architecture to wander around, soak in and gawk at. Vienna has better art. The Kunsthistoriches Art Museum was wonderful - one of the best I've been to. I also really enjoyed seeing that Bosch in the Academy of Fine Arts. Without those art museums, I probably would not think of Vienna as highly. There seemed to be more touristy sites in Vienna (we didn't even get out to Schonbrunn) and the Wachau Valley cruise was a real highlight, too.

We were gone for 9 days and our itinerary was basically: Vienna - 3 days; Prague 3 days and Cesky Krumlov 1.5 days. I am really glad we included Cesky Krumlov - it was a really great and scenic small town, and it was nice to see some of the Austrian and Czech countryside going to and from there.

A common tourist itinerary for this neck of the woods seems sto be Vienna-Budapest-Prague, and I do think that would make an excellent trip. I haven't been to Budapest, but have read nice things about it. I'm glad we didn't try to include it on this trip - we would have been way too rushed, and I wouldn't have wanted to give up the Wachau Valley and Cesky Krumlov for another city.

kwoo - how nice for your daughter! I did have a pocket guide to Prague (from Fodors!) We had finished exploring the Prague Castle area, and I checked the book to see what other sites might be on that side of the Charles Bridge before we crossed the bridge to head back to the hotel. That's how I discovered the Vrtbovska Gardens. We had just visited the Church of St. Nicholas - which was only a block away from the gardens.

Karens, what a great report. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I have been to Prague and Vienna, and loved reading about both cities. I'm glad you had such a good time.

Topping, for later.

Karens, which company did you use for your river cruise of the Wachau Valley?

Good report. Lots of useful information.

Snowcat2 - we used Citirama.

Plusses:

We got picked up right at our hotel (drop-off was at the Opera House)

Price was, I thought, very reasonable: 61 Euro.

The river ride was scenic, and we had a nice tour of the Melk Abbey.

I would have liked to stop in Durnstein or at least in Krems.

Snowcat2, you don't need to do a tour.

You can buy a combo ticket at the train station. You take the train to Melk, tour the abbey, have lunch, etc. before taking the boat back to Krems and switch to the train in Krems for the ride back to Vienna.

Cityrama certainly not the best or least expensive way for the Danube- Melk Abbey tour--

look here - boat docks are adjacent to each other and both firms with similar schedules.

The ddsg ship - normally the Prinz Eugen has a larger upper open deck for watching the scenery - this probably the most beautiful area of the Danube with fine old villages , castle ruins and many terraced vineyards.

www.ddsg-blue-danube.at

www.brandner.at

inclusive price less than 50 euro - you make your own schedule and can include time in Dürnstein and /or Krems.

The combi ticket includes - train Vienna to Melk
time of your choice.

admission to Melk Abbey -

boat trip from Melk to either Dürnstein or Krems

train from Krems to Melk.
( about 1 every hour)

for added information on various sights and activities

www.stiftmelk.at

www.wachau.at
www.duernstein.at
www.krems.at

The boat dock is directly in Dürnstein - this a small historic village -
easy to take locsl bus drom Dürnstein directly to Krems rail Station- then onward back to Vienna

In Krems , the boat dock is abot 3 kilometers from the train station- taxi, local bus or sightseeing trasin available with different schedules.

From Dürnstein to Krems is 7 kilometers +-

This makes for a great and varied day trip - especially with the option of spending more time where you wish.

This is rasily done on your own without problems getting lost etc.

Karens: I'm bookmarking this report as I've been wanting to take a hiking vacation between Vienna & Prague for sometime. Your report will help me plan my time at both ends. Many thanks for your insights.

The DIY is really a better way to go and cheaper too.

You can buy a boat ticket from Melk to Durrstein and get off at Durrstein.

In Durrstein, I first hiked up to the castle where Richard the Lionhearted had been kept a prisoner and then along the Danube for the 7+ km to Krems. Beautiful and easy hike, just follow the river.

Train back from Krems to Vienna.

Thanks for the report, karens! Great area of the world to explore!

thanks for the nice trip report- bookmarking

Great report! Saving it for my own trip someday.

You enjoyed a nice trip karens. We have enjoyed Prague and Vienna...each special in different ways. Yes, do take in Budapest someday.

In Prague we sought out the little Mucha museum. Castle and cathedral great despite uphill climb. Did you attend any of the ensemble concerts here and there? One was in St. Maartins in the Wall church. We had lunch at Golem next door to Meisal Synagogue. Several trips out into the country, such as Nosalov for a polka party and to Dvorak country home.

Vienna does have lots to see. We walked from Sofitel Hotel to Hofburg Palace, Fine Arts Museum, Hofberg, Schoenbrunn Palace, Bellvedere Palace not far away also. Yes, saw Vienna woods & Baden, also Lipizzar horses and more.

Brief summary www.fodors.com/community/europe/back-from-central-europe.cfm

Bill in Boston

Bookmarking, and thanks!

Bookmarking

Great report, Karen and it will be wonderful for planning my upcoming trip.

we are going to Prague in September. Bookmarking. Great info, thanks very much.