We're planning to rent a car in Frankfurt, and travel in Europe for 2 weeks. Our itinerary is still at an early stage of planning (so far we have only Prague and Denmark on our wish list), but my question is, first 2 weeks of May, can we consider it as low season, no need to make advance reservations for hotels, motels or any other kind of accommodations (I heard Europe has some very nice hostels)? This can make our trip SO much more relaxed and enjoyable....

Thanks.

hi mamamia,

step one [if I may] get a map! you will see that Prague and Denmark lie in entirely opposite directions.

in 14 days, you can have a very nice trip going north from Frankfurt, or one going south, but IMHO, not both. so it's Denmark and the north, or Prague and the south, but not both.

if you stay out of the major cities, and if there are just two of you, in May you should be fine busking it. but if you want actually to stay in Prague, or, say, Copenhagen, then i would think that reservations are essential.

rather than just looking at hostels, in Germany you might consider staying in B&BS ["Zimmer Frei"] which are usually spotlessly clean and vey reasonable.

if you want to drive in the Czech replublic, do check that your german -hired car will allow this. to avoid this, you could fly into Prague, spend a few days there, then get the train to say, Dresden, hire your car there, and return it in Frankfurt before your flight home. there should not be any great drop-off charges for return within the same country. this would also allow you to book your first few days, and then leave you free to wander where you will.

have a great trip!

We're 4, us oldies and 2 daughters in their early 20s, so I already assume that - unlike in the US where 2 queen beds are common - in Europe rooms are much smaller...... Yes, the B&B idea is charming.

I went to Google map checking Frankfurt to Prague -- 5 hours drive, and FRA to Copenhagen -- 9 hours. So in my view having both itinerary is not out of reach for a 2 week stay in Europe.... Correct me if I am wrong....

As to rental cars having an issue with Czech republic, I did notice that thing on one rental site, but wasn't aware ALL German rental companies have this limitation.... But thanks for making this note, annhig..... We may take the train to Prague, and follow your advice as to return to Dresden....

Most rooms in europe are for 2 people - with one double bed. If you are looking to put 4 people in a room you really should arrange this in advance - or just count on 2 rooms. (I would do the latter to get another bath.)

Can you fly into Prague and out of Copenhagen (or vice versa)? It's called an open jaw flight.

Open jaw is also called multi-city on airline websites.

Isn't an open jaw flight more expensive?

mamamia - open jaw should not be any more expensive than the round trip ticket.

i agree that as you will most probably need two twin rooms wherever you go, booking ahead might be better than going on spec. that said, we travelled like this with our two kids several times in France and Germany, and only once had a problem getting the rooms that we needed, and that was when there was a transport strike on in Paris.

If you start in Prague and end in copenhagen you could do both, but you'll be doing more travelling than if you just concentrate in one area. also, if you hire a car in Dresden and drop off in Denmark, you're likely to be liable for high drop-off fees. you could still have a very nice trip if you restricted yourselves to northern Germany.

As the HOURS go by, things CHANGE.....

We decided we will be landing in FRA, we really want to visit Prague, and then drive south to see the French Riviera.

Since rental companies don't like us driving to Prague (some limit the kind of cars allowed, some charge more for the rental, some just say no), we'll probably get on a train from FRA to Prague, spend couple days there, take the train back to Germany (Munich?), rent our car there and start driving south thru Switzerland (been in Switzerland couple times), cross the Alps into the Italian (been in Northern Italy, lovely Italy) and into the French Riviera, and back to FRA via another route...

...We have 2 full weeks.... Knowing Europe's Autostrada network being so efficient, I think my plan is workable...

Using Google maps (may God bless Google, indeed), checking driving times between say Munich and Nice (9 hrs) or Nice to Frankfurt (10 hrs), I'd say this is not a crazy plan.....

....Or am I missing something?...

Correction: Taking the train FRA-Prague is VERY expensive and VERY long, so back to the car rental idea. We'll have 2 contracts, one for FRA to Prague, then go back thru another office location in Germany and get a new contract for the remainder of our trip.