Hi,
My son will be studying in prague and we will visit for 8 nights in November. He will have already traveled to Budapest and Vienna so we were thinking of something new.
Thinking 3-4 nights Prague and then not sure...
Need some recommendations:

Poland and Germany are both possibilities but I need some guidance...love luxury hotels and history!! Dont want to spend too much time getting between places as we have short trip. I am open to any suggestions.
JJ

Krakow would be an obvious choice - if you can do an open jaw flight into Prague out of Krakow to fly home. You can get from Prague to Krakow via train and bus in under six hours in the daytime...or take a night train and go direct (I've never tried a night train - doesn't seem like my cup of tea).

If you must fly home from Prague too, then you have less time of course, so maybe places closer by will make sense e.g. Dresden, other towns in Czech Republic like Cesky Krumlov, etc.

Closest with a lot of history is Dresden. You'll find luxury, history and world-class museums.

I don't think there are any direct flights to Krakow. If there are that would be my first choice. If I can't arrange then maybe dresden and then Berlin. Stay in Dresden 1 night and Berlin 4....thoughts?

Depending on the dates of your travels, Vienna's Christmas markets generally begin in mid-November. I know you have previously visited Vienna, but perhaps the sparkle of the Christmas markets might be reason to return. Likewise, Christmas markets may be opening in Prague.

Berlin would be my next suggestion given your travel parameters. One night in Dresden might not be enough, depending on your interests; plus, there's always time lost with the logistics. Adding a night to Dresden might shortchange Berlin, too. Four or five nights in Berlin would allow plenty of time to enjoy the city.

I don't think Krakow is at all an obvious choice as it isn't that easy to get there from Prague. It takes all day. It fits other criteria, though.

That leaves Germany, of course, such as Dresden and Berlin easily. If one really doesn't care about spending a day in transit, sure Krakow is great.


It's hard to advise without knowing any parameters, such as how long travel is acceptable and WHERE one has to leave from. If from anywhere, that's a lot different than having to return to Prague (I hope not). Heck, you can fly from PRG to Paris or London or Amsterdam on Easyjet, a budget airline, in a couple hours.

It's going to take you a few hours to get anywhere by train/bus from Prague. Krakow is only a few extra hours more than going to Dresden or anywhere else nearby (as I said, six hours train+bus) and in my opinion very worth it - if you can fly home from Krakow instead of flying home from Prague. If you must fly home from Prague, then Krakow is probably not practical. You could in that case just rent a car in Prague and drive to Krakow, though, too, then drive it back.

Of course, if you want to fly somewhere instead of taking trains or buses, you can take a plane anywhere in Europe, really. Because I enjoy train travel, I don't mind long train rides. I think less than half of the ride to Krakow is on a bus (change in Ostrava I think).

Dresden and Berlin would be a nice week - mostly in Berlin which of course reeks of history as does Dresden. Book trains in advance at www.bahn.de/en for discount fares. Sites with great info on trains and where to go -www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com (check out their online European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of other possibilities by rail. Cars not good in large cities and driving could get a little dicey if weather turns icy.

FWIW, I would consider 3 or 4 nights on the short side for Prague. Are you sure that amount of time will give you the chance to see / experience the things that draw you to it?

I took the night train from Prague to Krakow, in a private sleeper. It was comfortable enough, if not luxurious. It made sense to me since I'd read that the route is not especially scenic and taking the train during the day seemed like a waste of time.

You get awakened in the middle of the night to show your passport when the train crosses the border.

I actually took it RT as I had flown in and out of Prague.

Krakow is a lovely city.

I agree that Krakow is lovely. I don't think it unreasonable to want to spend 4 or 5 nights there. Depends on your interests....

4-5 nights in Dresden in November...no way.

I would take a train to Berlin.
Great museums , galleries, the Opera , etc..to hide from the
lousy weather. Many luxary hotels to chose from .

Again, I agree that Berlin is fantastic -- and easily worthy of 5 or 6 nights, IMO.

Our son was going to school in Warsaw. We went there for three nights, then Krakow, then took the overnight train to Prague. Since you mention luxury hotels I have a feeling the overnight train is not for you. Since you mention history you might want to consider Warsaw for a minute. It was a much more interesting city than we had anticipated.

Munich too is a reasonable train or bus ride away.

For a trip of 1 week, pairing Prague with either Dresden or perhaps Munich makes more sense to me than anything else I've seen mentioned on this thread. JMO.

We had to make the same decision. We chose Vienna as we had not been, but Munich would have been our second choice. My friends who live overseas once commented that their trip to Poland in the off-season had very, very cold weather. You might check a temperature table before you decide for sure on Krakow.

Not sure how comfortable you are renting a car. As a completely different thought, you could visit Brno (a city) and some Czech towns. There are the famous ones, but also consider the less-known winery region near Mikulov and the two great castles of Lednice.

I looked on seat61 and it looks like the train to Munich is about 5 hours. That's most of a travel day. You could instead easily fly to another city in Europe. It appears from your prior posts you've been to London or Paris. What about Rome or Madrid? Both have a lot of history and luxury hotels. You could fly home from that location, which would save you travel time at the end.