1 Month honeymoon to Czech, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary
Hi all,
I will be getting married this december after which I am planning a Eurotrip for my honeymoon. We are planning to visit Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. We will be visiting these countries for the first time so any help would be highly appreciated. We also had Slovenia in the list but took it out as couldn't plan an itinerary around it. I have been doing a lot of research these past few weeks to find out what the top destinations in these countries are and how much time should be allocated to each. Please find below the itinerary that I came up with. I would highly appreciate it if you guys could let me know if I can improve on the below. 11th September – Prague 12th September – Prague 13th September – Prague 14th September – Prague 15th September – Prague 16th September – Cesky Krumlov 17th September – Cesky Krumlov 18th September - Salzburg 19th September - Salzburg 20th September - Salzburg 21st September - Vienna 22nd September - Vienna 23rd September - Vienna 24th September - Vienna 25th September - Brno 26th September - Brno 27th September - Brno 28th September - Bratislava 29th September - Bratislava 30th September – Bratislava 1st October – Lake Balaton 2nd October – Lake Balaton 3rd October – Lake Balaton 4th October – Pecs 5th October – Pecs 6th October – Budapest 7th October - Budapest 8th October - Budapest 9th October - Budapest 10th October - Budapest I want thinking of doing some day-trips from Prague( Kutná Hora, Karlštejn Castle and Karlovy Vary), Vienna (Nothing confirmed yet, Please suggest), Brno (Nothing confirmed yet, Please suggest) , Bratislava (Not sure but was thinking of Devin castle etc? Please suggest) and Budapest(Please suggest). I want to see as much of these countries as I possible can without making it tiresome. I obviously want my honeymoon to be as relaxing as possible but I also want to make sure I see as much as I can as I don't think I'll be able to visit these countries again. We are planning to move via public transport. We both don't drink so vineyards etc will be of no interest. I would be very grateful if you guys could help me improve this itinerary and possible give your suggestions as to how I can make it better. Highly appreciated! |
First - I don;t think your order makes much sense - you seem to be bouncing around. Suggest getting a good map and looking at the train schedules between cities (going first to Salzburg, then back to Vienna and then Brno doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
Second, you are going in winter and will have very short days, cold, sleet and/or snow in places that can delay travel. You need to be sure you have appropriate wardrobes including warm coat, hat, scarf, gloves, warm lined winter boots with non-skid soles, warm pants and sweaters. Salzburg is the only place you will be in near the Alps - are you planning on winter sports near there? Or just want to see the city (that won't take 3 days unless you head up into the mountains). |
Mid September to mid October will not be winter. I visited Poland at the end of September & the beginning of October and the days were warm, short-sleeved shirts in the day, a light jacket in the evenings (if you get cold easily then a fleece vest or warmer jacket). The outdoor cafes had blankets and propane heaters. This is a great time to travel.
Rethink Brno. I was there for a day and thought it was boring and the main square was not the prettiest. I can't imagine 3 days there. The main thing of interest for me was Tugendhat Villa (outside Brno), designed by Mies van der Rohe but sadly it was closed for renovation when I was there. Unless Karlštejn has changed, there's not much inside the castle. Again, there are better places in the Czech Republic. Add Melk Abbey for a Vienna day trip. Would you consider renting a car? Driving in the Czech Republic is very easy and you could see many smaller towns rather than taking day trips from Prague. You could pick up the car in Prague and drop it in Brno and then go on from there. If you decide to do this do not drop the car at the Brno airport. Drive into town. The Brno airport is a ghost town (I know from experience). Nothing is open, no car rental agencies, no information, no arriving nor departing flights. If you keep Brno in the itinerary I would change the order to Prague Brno Bratislava Budapest Salzburg Vienna Again, getting a car in Austria would enable you to see the countryside. From Salzburg, consider a trip to Hallstat (you can get there via public transport). << We both don't drink so vineyards etc will be of no interest. >> This gave me a chuckle (call me quirky) - how many people actually go to vineyards on vacation, even if they drink? |
Sorry -
OP says they are getting married in December and then going on honeymoon. I assumed the dates listed were wrong. But perhaps they are waiting until 9 months are the wedding to do the honeymoon? |
I thought they were waiting for their trip since the months were so clearly spelled out and they could not have confused December with September as September ends with day 30 (rather than 31 as December would).
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In general, your allocation of time for the places that I've visited (Prague, Salzburg, Vienna, and Budapest) makes some sense to me -- at least once re-ordered. ;-) But it really depends on your interests. For example, as a lover of art, I found 5 full and very, very busy days in Vienna insufficient for my interests -- and that time didn't include any time for day trips other than Schoenbrunn.
I also think you are wise to aim for public transportation. IME, having a car would be a decided disadvantage in many of these locations. Congratulations and best wishes! |
nytraveller,
Apologies for the confusion, the marriage will take place on the 6th of September and we will then head out in a couple of days. It was a mission for me to sort out the order. I will be getting a Schengen visa from Czech Republic so I will have to start my trip from Prague. I need to make sure my last stop is one of the main cities as I will be flying emirates. I tried making a map on google to the best of my ability making sure I don't spend long hours on the train/bus. If you guys can suggest a better plan to move from one city to another, I'll happily alter my itinerary. adrienne, I just read a few articles online which suggested Brno which is why I added it to my itinerary. I can take it out from the list if there are better places to visit. I would be very grateful if you could suggest some and I would then start researching those areas. I will add Melk Abbey for a day trip from Vienna as per your suggestion. Thank you. I don't think I'll be very comfortable driving in a foreign country, have never done it before but if you think that will make a major difference to my trip, I will do it. Should Hallsat be a a day trip from Salzburg or should I spend a few nights there? Re the vineyards bit, I read a lot about vineyards and areas with famous breweries where they serve the best wine and beer respectively while doing my research so thought best to point that out before someone spends their valuable time informing me about one of those! :) Thanks again adrienne! kja, I will definitely add Schoenbrunn as a day trip from Vienna. I now have two day trips from Vienna (Melk Abbey and Schoenbrunn). Thanks guys. I feel as if those two would be enough and I should spend the rest of the time exploring Vienna itself. |
Schoenbrunn is not really a day trip outside Vienna. It can easily be reached by the city's underground train transport. And I believe there is also a direct bus route.
Do leave enough time to explore the grounds as well as see the palace. |
I will definitely keep that in mind. Many thanks!
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Hallstat is a very small town. It's a couple of hours from Salzburg so an overnight would be good.
I've not been to Bratislava but you might want to research it more and reconsider 3 days there in favor of less time. There's another palace in Vienna - Belvedere, different from Schoenbrun. Each would take about 3 to 4 hours at most. As stated above, Schoenbrun is not a day trip but just on the outskirts of the city proper. Regarding the car - you should do what you're comfortable with but driving in a foreign country is not much different than driving at home. You don't say where you're from but the only part that might be a problem is if you normally use a right hand drive as in the UK, etc. I'm from an area with lots of traffic and stressful driving so the country roads in Europe are a pleasure for me. Use this web site for calculating train distances. You can only book with this site for trips to, from, and within Germany but it's the easiest to use to see duration and departure times and any transfers. http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml |
I'm from Pakistan and here we have right hand drive. Apologies for not mentioning that earlier.
So from what I have gathered above: Prague - 5 Nights with day-trips to Kutná Hora and Karlovy Vary Vienna - 5 Nights with day-trips to Belvedere, Melk Abbey and visiting Schoenbrun Salzburg - 3 Nights (Still not sure about this one) Cesky Krumlov - 2 Nights Lake Balaton - 3 Nights in Siófok with trips to Tihany Penilsula and the city of Balatonfüred. Budapest - 5 Nights (still not sure about which day-trips to make) Have taken out Brno (Day trips to Telc and Oloumoc) and Bratislava for now as didn't get a lot of good reviews from you guys. Can you guys please tell me what the best route would be for me? Cesky Krumlov is right on the border with Austria which is causing the main problem! Can you guys also suggest other possible cities/towns to visit? I can easily add 5 more days I prefer spending at least 2 nights. Having a base city then roaming around to avoid the hassle of shifting hotels. If you guys feel I should add/remove days in some city, please let me know. Thanks again for all your help! |
The plot thickens...you never mentioned Telc! It's a wonderful small town with the prettiest square I've seen, although there's not much to do there. It's a long trip from Brno, not a day trip. You should stop there between Cesky Krumlov en route to Oloumoc, if you go this route.
With 2 trips out of Prague you should add an extra day here. It's an interesting and beautiful city. Even if you don't do a lot of sightseeing it's a wonderful place to walk around and look at all the building facades with their interesting decorations. You could do Prague, Ceske Budejovice, Cesky Krumlov, Salzburg, (perhaps Linz), Vienna, etc. Bratislava is only an hour from Vienna so if you add an extra day in Vienna you can take a day trip to Bratislava. That would eliminate the need to pack up and change hotels. Just outside Cesky Krumlov is a monastery that was very interesting and pretty. Tours are mandatory but they gave tours quite often. You'd need a taxi (perhaps there's a bus) to get there as it's way too far to walk. You can read about my Czech Republic trip and you may get some ideas about what to see/do. There's also a link to photos. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm |
From what I understand, the must places to visit in Czech Republic are Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Telc and Oloumoc. Brno is in the middle of Telc and Oloumoc so one can even stay there. What I'm confused about is what route to take?
5/6 nights in Prague Telc and Oloumoc I understand are not places where you would want to spend the night and owing to their location, you can stop by during the day and leave in the evening for the next destinaton 2 nights in Cesky Krumlov with a trip to the monastery you talked about. I can research about the best way to get there Brno I would ideally like one day to experience So it gives me two options: Prague - Oloumouc - Brno - Telc - Cesky Krumlov OR Prague to Cesky Krumlov - Telc - Brno - Oloumouc You suggested going to Salzburg after Cesky Krumlov so I think doing route one makes more sense but what do you reckon would be the best way to do it? If I leave Prague in the morning and go straight to Oloumouc and then head out to Brno in the evening. Spend the night there. Experience Brno the next day and spend that night in Brno. Next morning I can leave for Telc in the morning and then take the bus in the evening and head to Cesky Krumlov? Then I can go to Salzburg? What do you guys reckon? |
<< Telc and Oloumoc I understand are not places where you would want to spend the night >>
I loved Telc so much that I had planned to stay 1 night but stayed for 2 nights. The best way to set up an itinerary is to firmly decide where you are going then plot the best route according to train/bus times. |
Thanks a lot for your help.
I have changed my itinerary a little bit to make it easy for me and see as much as I can. Please advise on the below: Date: City: Area: Country: Day trip: 11th September Prague Czech Republic 12th September Prague Czech Republic Day trip to Karlovy Vary 13th September Prague Czech Republic 14th September Prague Czech Republic Day trip to Karlstejn Castle 15th September Prague Czech Republic 16th September Prague Czech Republic Day trip to Kutna Hora 17th September Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic 18th September Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic 19th September Cesky Krumlov Czech Republic 20th September Cesky Krumlov Czech Republic 21st September Salzburg Austria 22nd September Salzburg Austria Berchtesgaden 23rd September Salzburg Austria Cable car Untersberg 24th September Hallstatt Salzkammergut Austria 25th September Hallstatt Salzkammergut Austria 26th September Melk Wachau Valley Austria 27th September Melk Wachau Valley Austria Cruise on the Danube down to Durnstein and Krems 28th September Vienna Austria 29th September Vienna Austria Schonbrunn 30th September Vienna Austria Belvedere 1st October Vienna Austria Hofburg palace 2nd October Vienna Austria Bratislava 3rd October Siofok Lake Balaton Hungary 4th October Siofok Lake Balaton Hungary 5th October Siofok Lake Balaton Hungary 6th October Budapest Hungary 7th October Budapest Hungary Szentenre 8th October Budapest Hungary 9th October Budapest Hungary Esztergom 10th October Budapest Hungary I also have an alternate plan where I miss Ceske Budejovice and do one night in Olomouc, followed by one night in Telc and then head to Cesky Krumlov. What do you reckon? Any other changes you think I should make? Thanks again! |
Ceske Budejovice and Cesky Krumlov are less than an hour apart. Why not stay in one of them and take the train to the other for the day.
I think you can do the Abbey and cruise in one day. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rom-vienna.cfm |
With all those day trips, you aren't leaving much time for the cities themselves. But maybe that's your preference.
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