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HELP!!! 7 nights and 8 days in Austria and Prague!

HELP!!! 7 nights and 8 days in Austria and Prague!

Old May 12th, 2014, 08:59 PM
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HELP!!! 7 nights and 8 days in Austria and Prague!

Need help!! Me, wife and kid (4 yrs old) are planning a trip to Austria and Prague towards the end of July this year. We land in Vienna on a Friday morning and leave Vienna the next Friday night, giving us 7 nights and 8 days. The following is the tentative itinerary:

Fri - arr Vienna@9 am. Visit Vienna attractions.
Sat - leave Vienna for Prague@ 12pm. Arrive 5 pm (spend an hour at Brno on the way). Evening in Prague
Sun – Visit local Prague attractions. Leave Prague for Salzburg@ 2 pm (spend an hour each at Cesky Krumlov and Linz on the way). Arrive Salzburg @ 8:30 pm
Mon – Day for historical attractions. Visit Salzburg local attractions. Do we need to cover Cable-Car Untersberg?
Tue - Day for the great outdoors. Visit Hallstat, Gousasee lake and Gosau Village + can you recommend any other places with great views/small hikes (doable with the kid)?
Wed - Leave Salzburg for Grossglockner High Alpine Road and then reach Innsbruck@5 pm. Do I need to cover Zell Am See on the way to Grossglockner? Also is Grossglocker High Alpine Road, worth the effort? It is taking almost one full day.
Thu - Innsbruck attractions - Please suggest 'must-do'
Fri - Leave Innsbruck for Vienna@1 pm. Reach Vienna aiport@6:30 pm Can we leave at 11:30 and do Kitzbuhel on the way? Considering that it is a 15 min deviation from Oberdorf on the way back to Vienna for Innsbruck?

Need advice on:
1. Above is doable or very hectic?
2. Whole of Austria is so beautiful and has lots of cable cars/montain railways/ski lifts. Need advice on which 2 cable cars/mountain railways, I can fit into my schedule.
3. We would like to go for 2 or 3 small hikes (doable with the kid).
4. Any ‘must-do’ sights that we are missing.

A note on us:
1. Our interests are outdoors, great views, hikes etc. We are not very much keen on museums, but would appreciate historical buildings and architecture.
2. Will drive around in a self drive - rented car.

Any advice is welcome!

IndianinDubai
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Old May 12th, 2014, 09:06 PM
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Are you kidding?

An HOUR in Cesky Krumlov and various other towns?

You're going to be exhausted from moving around!

Pick three cities at most, maybe even just two. If you "open jaw" - fly into one city out of another instead of round trip flight - you can avoid the car and just do it all by train.
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Old May 12th, 2014, 09:10 PM
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Thanks for the reply Andrew. Open jaw is not an option as tickets to/from Vienna are booked. Shall drop the small towns then and do Vienna, Prague, Salz and Innsbruck. What say?
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Old May 12th, 2014, 10:44 PM
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This itinerary is a forced march. You have a child with you and have made no allowances for time to feed your child or to stop for health breaks.

An example: Prague to Salzburg takes 5.5 hours with no accounting for delays due to road works, traffic, random traffic checks, or stopping for any reason. You're allowing 6.5 hours for this trip including 2 hours to stop in Cesky Krumlov and Linz. If you mean an hour to walk around these towns you've not accounted for getting off the main road into the towns and finding parking. You cannot possibly do this in 6.5 hours.

You do not have 8 days on this trip; please count your time again. If you arrive in Vienna at 9:00 (I guess you're arriving by plane) then you will be on the road around noon. the last day you're driving back to Vienna. You have 6 days plus 2 half days which is 7 days.

I would visit Vienna, Salzburg, and Hallstat during this trip. There is more than enough for you to do and you'll be able to have some time for hiking and other activities.
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Old May 12th, 2014, 11:19 PM
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I would skip Prague, 1 evening and one morning is really nothing at all. If your main interests are hiking and outdoors, do only the Austrian Alps with a day in Vienna. You'll get to see many historical buildings too.
You can have a look at my pag e here on Austria : http://ashwinbahulkar.wordpress.com/...ia-and-prague/
I did gosau and Halstatt on 2 different days. Doing them in one day is not possible. You could skip Untersberg in favor of Halstatt (rudolfsturum) or Five Fingers(Dachstein).
Jennerbahn near Berchtesgaden(an hour from Salzburg) is great too.
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Old May 12th, 2014, 11:30 PM
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adrienne's suggestion of Vienna, Hallstaat and Salzburg is perfect. You'll have more than enough to see and do with that itinerary.

With a small child in Vienna, I would suggest a day at Europe's oldest zoo at Schonbrunn, with lunch at the Zoo or the Tirolean gasthaus on the grounds. Take an evening horse carriage ride through the city; both you and the child will enjoy it. The Prater, Vienna's amusement park, makes for a pleasant afternoon, too.

If it's a hike with views you desire that's manageable even with small children, in Vienna take the 38A bus to Kahlenberg, then walk down into Grinzing (it's about a two hour walk-pack a water bottle and sunscreen) for a late lunch at a wine tavern. The 38A bus or 38 Tram will easily connect you with the InnerStadt (where I presume you're staying.)
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Old May 13th, 2014, 01:02 AM
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Thank u all for your feedback. Based on your suggestions, I propose the following changes. Sat morn train to Prage. Sun night bus to Salzburg.arr in Salz on Mon morning and then take rent a car. Mon and Tue nights in Salz and Wed and Thu nights in Innsbruck. Please suggest what all can be done. That's a better way to look at this.
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Old May 13th, 2014, 03:34 AM
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You're putting a 4 year old on a 6 hour bus ride in the middle of the night? Arriving at 5:00AM. A 4 year old needs more than 6 hours of sleep. Then you're going to drag him/her around all day? Can you check into a hotel right away?

Why have a rental car if you're staying in Salzburg?

Why do you want to go to Innsbruck when you don't know what there is to do there? What's attracting you to Innsbruck?

Since you don't seem very interested in Vienna, why not go directly to Prague. Pick up some food and beverages for the train ride and spend Friday evening in Prague. The train ride will give you time to recover from the flight.

Then take a train to Salzburg and Innsbruck and end in Vienna since you're flying home from Vienna.

It doesn't seem that you're giving any thought or plan to this trip. Please think about what you're doing.
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Old May 13th, 2014, 04:23 AM
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FYI: fourfortravel lives in Vienna, so she has v.good suggestions on what to do in Vienna with a child.

You seem bent on going to Prague even as a couple of posters have suggested to skip it with your time frame. With 8 days, and with a small child, if you concentrate only on Austria, you can practically have it all: splendid Alps, beautiful lakes, charming castles, scenic drives, wonderful cities, impressive history etc.
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Old May 13th, 2014, 06:28 AM
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Great! Thank you all for your advice. Pardon me for my immaturish planning. I am dropping Prague and doing only Austria by train!
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