2 wks Oct Frankfurt, prague, budapest
 

Hey all,

Husband and I (30 somethings) are planning a trip to Frankfurt/ Ramstein to visit a friend this fall, and would like to add in Prague + Budapest. (We also have an acquaintance in prague). We are interested in historical sites/ cathedrals and some downtime/ casual exploring in between. We are looking to fly into Frankfurt, possibly out of Budapest or Prague (to save the additional travel time back to frankfurt to fly home). Thinking of train between prague and budapest.

Our questions:
1) better to go frankfurt --> prague --> budapest, OR frankfurt--> budapest--> prague?

2) best mode + route of travel to get from W Germany to either prague or budapest? thinking car or train, as my husband isn't a great flier. How is it to drive there? I've read some companies are particular about bringing rentals into czech?

Preliminary Sample itinerary
Day 1) prep day, fly out of CA US
Day 2) arrive Frankfurt, get settled
Day 3) recovery day, maybe light local sightseeing in ramstein area
Day 4) ramstein/frankfurt
Day 5) ramstein/ frankfurt/ or maybe day trip from here
Day 6) perhaps start travel towards prague?
Day 7) arrive prague, settle in
Day 8) prague
Day 9) prague
Day 10) prague-->budapest train?
Day 11) budapest
Day 12) budapest
Day 13) budapest
Day 14) fly home from budapest
Day 15) home/unpack/sleep...

Thoughts??

Prague-Budapest is a long train ride but there is I believe an overnight train - anyway - same for Prague but no overnight train I believe (check there could be) - anyways great rail sources: www.bahn.de/en - schedules and details for all European trains and booking discounted tickets on trains involving Germany.

From Frankfurt you could go to Munich or Nurnberg area (Rothenberg) and take trains or buses (quicker) to Prague.

Oh I do like the idea of Nuremburg as a stopping/launching point on way to Prague or Budapest- thank you!

Nurnberg is significantly closer to Prague time-wise at least to Prague - buses oddly are faster than trains - can be booked on www.bahn.de/en and are really cheap if booked far in advance - even cheap as walkups compared totrains which take a roundabout route to Prague so are usually slower.

folks looking for remnants of Third Reich will find the most extensive remains a few miles south of town via S-Bahn train - there you find some Nazi stadia, including the one the Fuhrer once famously reviewed goose-stepping SS troops from a box overlooking the Parade area- the parade grounds were fully restored in recent decades (I visited twice- and the first time years ago and the parade pieces of marble or such was overgrown with weeds - the next time about 10 years later the Parade Grounds and stadia, etc were pristine clean. There is an interpretation center documents the often ghoolish historyof the place.

Wondering how you were considering getting to Ramstein - did you know it's about 120km from Frankfurt? There are trains but they will take about 2+ hours, so you should probably decide if you will stay somewhere like Frankfurt or Mainz for the first 24 hours when you are jet-lagged and then travel to the Ramstein area and let your friend take over as tour guide - s/he will know what is best to see in the area. Or will you arrive in Germany early and take a train directly to the Ramstein area, and sleep it off there?

You might be interested in another thread on the forums at the moment on Frankfurt / Mainz, which might have some information for you.

Lavandula

Our good friend is living near Ramstein and will be our transport between Frankfurt and Ramstein area ;)

Oh, great - well, I would let them be your guide in that part of the world. Using Ramstein as a hub there would be heaps of day-trips (Speyer, Mannheim, Kaiserslautern, Heidelberg, Hirschhorn, Baden-Baden...). Enjoy your journey!

Lavandula