15 days in Europe

Old Oct 5th, 2017, 08:55 PM
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15 days in Europe

Heading to the UK (visiting family and friends for Christmas/New Year), and then to Europe for 15/16 nights. 2 adults, 3 adult children. My tentative thoughts are... Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Berlin (?4 days in each), although my husband also wants to squeeze in a couple of days skiing - so maybe one option needs to be kicked out. Any thoughts or suggestions??? or are there any better suggestions to consider?
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Old Oct 6th, 2017, 04:51 AM
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Trains are great once in central Europe - for lots on them - www.seat61.com - great advice on booking own discounted tickets online; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. Skiing - knock out Berlin and head from Vienna to western Austria for lots of primo ski resorts like Kitzbuhel, Sant Anton, Innsbruck, etc and go to Munich via one of them-trains again are the way to go -especially in winter with perhaps dicey road conditions.
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Old Oct 6th, 2017, 05:17 AM
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First, map out the travel times. Then, prioritize what you want to see. Keep in mind that during the holidays there are reduced hours and closures, and shortened daylight hours, as well.

Day 1 UK to Budapest.
Days 2-4 Budapest
Day 5 Budapest to Krakow
Days 6-9 Krakow
Day 10 Krakow to Prague
Days 11-14 Prague
Day 15 Prague to Berlin
Day 16 Berlin (unless you cut elsewhere)

For skiing you'll have to head into the alps and drop a destination from your list. We spend several days between Christmas and New Years at a favorite resort west of Innsbruck for winter wandering and cross-country skiing, and booked the last available suite at our preferred place early last month.

You have lots to think about. Happy Planning!
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Old Oct 6th, 2017, 06:26 AM
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Yeah, you're not going to be able to do Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Berlin AND skiing. You'll need to clip a destination or two and the easiest option is Berlin. You can fly UK to Budapest, then go northwest to Prague, then to the mountains in southern Poland for ski time, then to Krakow and fly back to (US?) home from there.

PalenQ's plan means hitting two cities that are not on your list.
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Old Oct 6th, 2017, 06:55 AM
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PalenQ's plan means hitting two cities that are not on your list.>

Was suggesting that because of wish for two days of skiing.

Maybe Zakopane near Krakow has snow skiing at that time of year?
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Old Oct 6th, 2017, 11:41 AM
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Thanks for suggestions - I will study further, but definitely looks like a city has to go
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Old Oct 6th, 2017, 11:46 AM
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or are there any better suggestions to consider?>

At that time of the weather in central northern Europe can be dreadful - why there?

Well skiing of course but that could be done in Switzerland - fly to Zurich hit the Alps for a few days then beeline to Italy and much much nicer weather - you could actually sit outside in caffe and be comfy many days. And days are longer than in dark, often dank northern Europe.

French ski resorts may have direct Eurostar trains from London (have had not sure now but easy to do via change in Paris) and then over to Italy or down to Spain.

Anyway weather to me seems a big deal but if not to you you itinerary as set is nice. Krakow 4 days a bit too much even with day trip to Auschwitz nearby - again check on Zakopane, a ski resort I think not far from Krakow by train or of course car.
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Old Oct 6th, 2017, 06:01 PM
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We're coming from Australia so want to do a real winter for a change, hence the Eastern European options. Good suggestion re Krakow - maybe I could cut that one down to 2/3 days which frees up another day for skiing. The reports on Zakopane are good...
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Old Oct 7th, 2017, 01:57 AM
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Hi,
No problem with me, absolutely , I am not sensitive but on some other forums, especially TA, lots of people even expats would be rather annoyed by reading East Europe for Prague, Budapest or Krakow. This is Central Europe
OK, back to winter:
Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Krakow normally get very little snow if any at all. It can be cold, like it was last winter in Budapest for more than 2 months (extremely unusual cold), but without a SINGLE snowflake. Just very bad, dry cold.
Zakopane usually has snow, sometimes even very decent quantities, but sometimes there is only some light snow and they have to use snow cannons instead, so not that real snow experience.
Definitely go for Austria or Switzerland if skiing is on your must do list.
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Old Oct 7th, 2017, 05:39 AM
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Yet they call the railpass valid in Poland, Austria, Hungary, Czech R and Slovakia the European East Pass! I think we may think of that as eastern Europe from a propspective of EU Europe and that would be eastern but yes Central Europe is technically more correct.
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Old Oct 7th, 2017, 11:05 AM
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As I have said, I am NOT sensitive at all concerning the name. But MOST of the population of those countries DO NOT like (better say HATE!) being called East Europeans and technically we are in the center of the Geographical Europe, definitely not in the Eastern part of it
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Old Oct 7th, 2017, 11:04 PM
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Since this topic has derailed, pun intended...

"Yet they call the railpass valid in Poland, Austria, Hungary, Czech R and Slovakia the European East Pass! I think we may think of that as eastern Europe from a propspective of EU Europe..."

Well, not quite. RailEurope's European East Pass from the website: "Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia share more than their neighborhood, they share the European East Pass." I think RailEurope just didn't know where to put Austria when they made their classifications.

As for the EU, they developed the NUTS classification (insert jokes...) ("for the French nomenclature d'unités territoriales statistiques), is a geocode standard for referencing the administrative divisions of countries for statistical purposes.") based on economic factors. I don't believe the EU classifies its members by geographical location.

Living in Austria, I would not identify the country as Eastern Europe, at all, either. Central Europe, yes, But according to a British friend, "the Balkans begin at Passua," so there's a new classification to consider.
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Old Oct 8th, 2017, 04:38 AM
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Your friend is a rather "UNIQUE" person (I tried to be as diplomatic as possible!) if he says: "the Balkans begin at Passau,"
I've seen and heard the wildest things, but this quote beats them all dead in a second
You definitely always learn something...
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Old Nov 8th, 2017, 07:41 AM
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In my opinion a good idea might be visit on the Amber Sky Ferris Wheel. A huge Ferris wheel makes it possible to experience the city pleasures, look at the historical Downtown, the amber stadium of Gdansk, the shipyard with historical cranes, moraine hills and even the distant Hel peninsula from a completely new perspective. For people who visit Gdańsk for the first time it is great opportunity to see the whole city with ease: http://visitgdansk.com/weekends-in-gdansk . What else do you need?
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Old Nov 8th, 2017, 07:46 AM
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And the Eastern European Railpass valid in Hungary, Austria, Poland, Czecha and Slovakia really covers Central Europe - I think the Eastern Europe references belong to the Cold War Era when those countries except Austria were in eastern Europe as opposed to western Europe- the old East Bloc.
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