Please critique my itinerary to Prague, Krakow. Budapest. Vienna and Salzburg in 15 days July/Aug 2006

Hi C,

I think that Krakow is an outlier, that it makes your visit more rushed than it need be, and arriving at 06:00 is ungodly.

However, if you really want to go, it looks like a good plan.

You might want to consider 2 nights in Hallstat and 2 in Salzburg.

Have a nice visit.

Helen:

My family and I took a very similar trip in July 2005. We started with 2 nights in Prague (including jet lag from NYC), spent a week in a castle outside Vienna, then 2 nights each in Salzburg and Zell am See, then wrapped it up with 4 nights in Munich. Based on our experience, you may want to reduce Salzburg by 1 night and add 1 night to Prague. We found Prague to be a beautiful, livable, enjoyable city. Salzburg was great - don't get me wrong - but one more night in Prague would have been very nice. There is a nice restaurant with good food and great views half way up the funicular train toward the Petrin Tower (a 1/5 scale Eiffel Tower). When in Salzburg, I strongly recommend Bob's Sound of Music tour. It is in a minivan instead of a huge bus, and our guide was fabulous. And because of the smaller size tour, it's not just a SOM tour - the guide also shows you other places and discusses other events as well. We stayed in the Sheraton Salzburg Hotel (a nice less expensive alternative to the more expensive hotels in the Old Town, it is just the other side of the river from the Old Town). Friends did tell us that the Goldener Hirsch was top rate (and it's right in the middle of the Old Town). I also strongly recommend visiting the beer garden in a old monastery on the Old Town side of the river in Salzburg. Our guide (a local) gave us that tip, and it was a true "native experience." I speak a little German from high school (25 years ago) but all 4 of us managed to communicate well enough to order beer (in a large ceramic mug cooled by running water), pick out food, and sit underneath the shade of very old and very large chestnut trees. Have a wonderful time! If you are interested in the restaurant in Prague or the beer garden in Salzburg, leave me a post and I'll look through the receipts!

If you have any interest in one of the traditional bath houses in Budapest, they're worth a visit. I went to the Gellert and loved it. Art nouveau splendor and a once in a lifetime experience.

Thank you all for your quick reply,

Ira, Krakow is a must as I realy do want to visit Auschwitz, however, you have addressed the one problem I had - arriving in the early hours of the morning. I can change my route and fly into Krakow and out of Prague but the flight times are no as good. That might be better but will take an extra day or two (I will humour my mum and see if she will look after my dog for an extra few days).

I like your suggestion about spending a night in Hallstatt but it can only be 1 night as it is Mozart's year (love him to bits even if he did hate Salzburg)and do want to visit some of the wonderful concerts that are taking place in Salzburg.

Dave, Thank you for your suggestion of Bob's SOM tour will look that up. Sadly I hate beer (I am a wine drinker) but the beer garden sounds great. Do please give me the name of the restaurant in prague.

Guy, Gellert looks great - hate to sound a prude but is it single sex? Wouldn'd care if I was 30 years younger!

Revised Itinerary

3 nights Krakow

Night train to Budapest

2 nights Budapest

2 nights Vienna

1 night Hallstatt

3 nights Salzburg

Night train to prague via Munich

3 nights Prague

What do you think?

Thanks
Helen