Thanks to all of the Fodorites; I have successfully made reservations in all of the hotels for my upcoming 2-wks trip in July. Now I am trying to figure out if I need to start looking into booking the train connections for Berlin-Prague-Vienna-Budapest. I am sort of leaning toward dropping Budapest, but anyhow, I'd need to take the trains to go from one place to the next. Any thoughts?

Reservations are not required on these trains and you should be able to make reservations if you like without problem once in Berlin - cost is much less than reserving here in US ($11 a seat plus $15 handling fee per order) - there just a few euros no fee. You could buy a point-point Berlin-Prague-Vienna-budapest ticket all at once in Berlin so you wouldn't need to buy separate ones as you go along - as there is inevitably lenghty lines in main stations.

h2babe, i talked to peter from happyhouse and he checked fares for prague to vienna by train. it costs around 910czk and he said the trains are never full so wait to book them there. btw, what did you do for prague accomodations?

Uscun, thank you so much for doing some checking on the train schedule for me. I wonder if I should start emailing your agent from the happyhouse rental, instead of emailing Jiri. Your agent sounds very helpful and responsive. Jiri emailed me this morning and said that room 2803 is available for 800 czk per night in July, so I am going to go with that one. He wanted a deposite of 500 czk with either credit card or western union. Did you do this yet?

If you go Berlin-Prague-Vienna, you probably qualify for the 'Prague pass'. It's good for travel into and out of Prague. We used it for Vienna-Prague-Munich last June.
Go to Euraide.com or Budget Europe. Their rates are the same as you will get in Europe, plus a small S&H fee. I prefer Budget Europe because they tell you more precisely how much it will cost, but Euraide.com knows the Prague Pass inside and out. (I've got the 800 number for Budget Europe if you can't find it searching this board.)

h2babe,
i paid a deposit on my flat w/ a CC...so it should be ok. and i think at 800czk/night you're doing just fine.

in case you need it:
[email protected]

start an itinerary thread about your cities and you'll get some advice regarding time frames and whether you should drop budapest. i also think waiting to get tickets in europe would be alright as well.

MaureenB, thank you for that web address. Is this the train that I will be taking to get to all of my destinations? I guess I am a little bit confused because I will be flying open jaw to Berlin, and flying back to the US from either Vienna/Bud, so I won't be going in and out from any individual countries. I'll take the train once let's say going into Prague, and then take another one to Vienna, and then to Budapest so forth. I have never taken a train alone in Europe so I am clueless.

I also read this in the web that I thought was interesting: >>>>>Prague is the only city in Europe that expects you to have a ticket on the Metro system not only for yourself but also FOR YOUR BACKPACK. If you buy your ticket from a automatic dispenser, you might see the English-language instructions and the pictoral reference to this rule. Most people visiting for the first time miss it and pay a fine <<<< Anyone has experience with this?

Thanks for petr's address uscun!