My parents and I are planning a trip to Poland and Prague shortly (June) and given the limited time to plan this I need to hit the ground running to make this work, and would like some advice.

The facts - none of us have been to these locales. My parents are 70 years old, and there are the occasional health and mobility concerns.

We plan to take 2 weeks for this trip, so I am requesting advice in terms of what order to visit the 3 cities to start with. I will also be looking at information for traveling between cities. I have been to Europe about half a dozen times, and getting myself on the right train with luggage has gone alright. Doing it with my parents (insert my mothere's deer in headlights look here) and luggage can be a challenge. For that reason, we hired a private driver from Vienna to Budapest last time, which they really appreciated, but I don't know if that is in the cards this time.

Thank you!

I don't see any, non-stop, cheap flights for you journey. I would fly into Prague and out of Warsaw. Private car, Prague to Krakow is about six hours drive time and another hour or two for stops. Then Private car Krakow to Warsaw is about a five hour drive. Here is a little information to download for the cities you are visiting. Richard www.inyourpocket.com/

The order of the cities depends on your airfare. I recently saw discounted flights from the US (assuming you live in the US) to Krakow on Lot airlines. Get your air tickets and then the travel order will become easier.

Warsaw to Prague - 8 hours
Warsaw to Krakow - 2.5 to 3 hours
Krakow to Prague - 7.5 to 9 hours

If you can find a good private car that might be a good idea as the train route is not very direct between Prague and Krakow and it is a very long journey. I split it into two days for that reason. I still had to transfer at least once on that route, also. I went Prague down to Olomouc, spent the night, then went Olomouc to Krakow (changing at prerov). The opposite direction is the same issue, I believe.

Now you do have several weeks, and thus you could stop in Olomouc, also. It's a very nice small city/town in Moravia. Unfortunately, you do have to transfer to get to Krakow from there, there is no other way, I believe. Prerov is a very small station so it's not a problem, except logistically if you have to help your folks with their bags. Also, English isn't spoken quite as widely down in that area, of course -- I knew a very little Czech and Polish which helped me immensely when taking these train rides and having to buy tickets and communite at the station (and recognizing the words for tickets, quay, etc.). But the trains are good quality, and if you have enough time, it shouldn't be an issue. There is an excellent tourism service at the Olomouc train station and a taxi to a hotel is short and cheap.

that's about all I can say, if you want more info on Olomouc, let me know. You can also take a train from Prague to Krakow through Katowice. It's about a 8 hr trip, but you could stop there, also. You can also take a train from Prague to Krakow through Wroclaw, which is a wonderful small city, I would recommend that as a stop. You still can't go direct from Prague to Wroclaw, however. You have to transfer in Pardubice, but you can get to Wroclaw in only about 5 hours from Prague, but that's a night train (around 4 pm to 10 pm), although I don't know if something might be around other days at diff. times. I just really liked Wroclaw a lot.

Hi; A good question was asked. Where/what city are you flying from? Lot does fly non-stop from JFK [New York] to Warsaw. Then one stop from Prague back to JFK.

Thanks for all of your replies! We are flying from Minneapolis, and I have not booked anything in order to be flexible. My thought is once I have some feedback on order of cities to visit, I would book a flight and start with hotels (I am already exploring that as well to narrow down and check availability).

Christina - I'd be interested in any info you have on Olomouc as I'm stopping there during my CR travels (a side trip from Brno). My email is in my profile. Thanks!

oh, sure, well that city has an excellent website with all kinds of good info on it regarding things to see, etc.
I just used that for planning:
http://www.olomouc.eu/eng/

I stayed at this lovely hotel which is right near the main square, so I could easily walk around to tourist sites and for dinner, etc
http://www.hotel-gemo.cz/en/

It was a short taxi ride from the train station, as I said. Now there was one drawback to that hotel in that I had a room overlooking the street right in front (near the center of the hotel, actually), probably about 2nd floor. The room was lovely, but there is kind of a taxi stop in front and a tram stop, so it was a little noisy. And the street in front is not real small. Other rooms would be quieter.

I have done a lot of research for a future trip to Poland and this might be helpful for you in finding private transportation between cities:

http://www.staypoland.com/carrent/limousine-service.htm

If you're flying from Minneapolis, you probably want to fly through Schipol (Amsterdam) so go from the Twin Cities to Amsterdam and get flights to and from Warsaw/Prague that will connect back to your Northwest flights. LOT flies to Chicago (not terrible for transferring) or JFK (ABSOLUTE BEATING). I think the only direct flight to Prague from the US may be from JFK.

As for Krakow-Warsaw, there are express trains at least hourly that take about 3 hours, so driving the distance seems daft.

Wow - you all are great! I hope I can make this work; airfare prices are even higher than I had prepared myself (and parents) for, so I will have to continue to monitor. Bottom line, it doesn't seem like it matters what order we visit the cities.