My husband and I are US citizens planning our first trip to the Czech Rep. We have 7-8 days beginning Sept. 20. Is their plenty to see within a day's trip from Prague? If we were to stay in one other city, do you recommend Dresden, Berlin, Salzburg, or other? (We do not want to stretch ourselves too thin.) Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Jude

Hi Jude,

Four days to see Prague and 3 days of day trips is a great vacation.

We stayed at the Pensione Dietzenhofer.

http://www.abaka.com/Czech/Dientzenhofer/

Prague to Berlin by train about five hours (through Dresden)and no changes. Prague to Salzburg by train between 8 1/2 and 9 3/4 hours and between 2-4 changes depending on train chosen. If you want a REAL contrast between two cities, I suggest the Prague-Berlin combo.

For proximity and a great town I'd pick an overnight in Dresden. You could see and do a lot in a couple of days there and the train connections are pretty convenient. Berlin is farther away and a much bigger city to tackle. I think you'd feel cheated if you dashed up there for 2 days.

Prague is one of my favorite cities, and I've spent a week just in Prague twice within the last five years. I think there is plenty to see, obviously, as I still want to go back.

Others feel differently, I know I've seen posts on here from some folks who don't like it that much or say it's only worth a couple days, so I don't think you can predict as there is no consensus. I am personally very interested in Central/Eastern European history, classical music composers and literature, and performing arts, but other aren't so it depends. I would go to Prague just for the classical music, opera and ballet.

There are definitely enough day trips for you that you shouldn't get bored, however, even if you wanted to go elsewhere. I liked Kutna Hora and Cesky Krumlov, and wanted to go to Telc and some other places but didn't have time. Karlovy Vary is popular, as well as a few castles and Terezin. One great thing about Prague is they have a very highly developed bus day tour business, with several good companies and their rates are extremely cheap for entire day trips. Why don't you take a look at their web sites to see how you feel about them. My new favorite is Prague Sightseeing Tours, but I also used Martin Tours. There is one other wellknown company, also. It's easy to find them as they have kiosques at Namesti Republicky metro stop and near Wenceslas Square:

http://www.pstours.cz/
http://www.martintour.cz/sight.htm

I can't advise on the others. I've been to Salzburg and it's great. I haven't been to Dresden but think that would also be quite enjoyable. YOu can actually do that as a day trip from Prague, but you spend a lot of hours on the train.

You could do Prague & daytrips and use almost the whole time. I love Berlin as it has so much to offer: history, culture, nightlife, etc. 4 and 4 would be doable as they are not that far apart. Dresden is nice if you want to spend more time in Prague. It is worth a couple of days.