Any suggestions for good day trips from Berlin, Dresden, or Prague? I would especially love to hear from someone who has gone to the "Saxon Switzerland" south of Dresden on the Czech border. Any favorite restaurants in any of those towns? Thanks for the help.

I've done "Saxon Switzerland" very long time ago as a kid and loved it. It was with the tour visited (and I know I'm really mispelling those cities) Kiengstain (with beautiful fortress on top of the mountain with a wreath on the on of its walls which if the fort was ever taken over the wreath would be removed - it's still there - Ostrau, Budszandau, are other cities I remember. I would definitelly go back, drop me a note when you come back with what you have seen. As for Prague try droping in to Poland check out Krakow, Zakopane or closer to the german Czech border Szklarska Poreba, Karpacz, Polanica, Kudowa, Stolowe Mtn. Mtns. in all those reagions (Germany, Czech Rep. Poland) are so beautiful...

For day trips out of Prague, I would definitely stick wtihin the country! I'd recommend Terezin, Karlovy Vary and Marienske Lazne, Cesky Krumlov and Hluboka (if you're driving -- it's too far for a day trip by train/bus, and on the outer limits of a day's drive there and back with time to enjoy -- but beautiful). I'd also visit Karlstejn, Orlik, Zvikov, and Kutna Hora. Have fun!

It's really a half-day trip from Berlin, but Frederick the Great's San Souci palace in Potsdam is worth a trip. I don't usually find palace/castle architecture all that interesting, but its a unique, light hearted example of Rococo and a great contrast to the traditional royal palace in Potsdam.

I would highly recommend Karlovy Vary as a day trip from Prague, but you should drive there. Also Cesky Krumlov is lovely. The following was posted by me earlier and you may find it useful. BTW, Karkow and Prague are really far apart. <BR> <BR>· We found that if you want to do the Czech Rep beyond Prague, then driving is the best bet. We did do a day tour with a local bus company to Karlovy Vary, we found that it hardly gave us an hour to <BR>see the place! (most of the time went in getting there, the Moser exposition and then the lunch). The roads are good and there isn’t that much traffic. Trains connections on the other hand are quite bad. <BR> <BR> · We loved Cesky Krumlov. Beautiful, peaceful and inexpensive. The <BR>views from the castle are breathtaking. The shopping (especially the porcelain) is also much better value than in Prague. <BR> <BR> · We then drove from C. Krumlov to Krakow. It is quite a long way off but we loved the drive on the Czech side. Thankfully its only 130 km into Poland. On entering Poland, the roads were bad and excessive traffic as well. <BR>· We stopped at Telc and Olomouc on the way. Telc is great for a short stop. Exquisite center and great prices at the Bohemia crystal shop in center (the best prices I saw in the country). Olomouc too has a nice center. <BR>· Krakow was good though one has the habit of expecting another Prague in every big city in eastern Europe (the one thing we missed was all the lovely musicals /concerts that one can watch everyday in Prague). But it was different and we liked it very much. The castle is beautiful. <BR> · Hotel Pod Roza (recommended through this forum) was wonderful (excellent location as well) but do check if you can get a better room. At first they gave us a really small shabby room but when we complained we got a really nice one. The food and the atmosphere was great. And the buffet breakfast enormous. <BR> <BR> · We then drove back to Prague (in all we drove almost 2000 km on this trip!) and stopped at Kutna Hora. It was much quieter than we expected but quite nice. I think Telc, Kutna Hora and Olomouc were great for 1-2 hours stops. Karlovy Vary deserves much more. We drove back there again on our last day and loved it. <BR> <BR>ALl in all this was a great trip and excellent value for the amount we spent compared to our other holidays in western Europe. <BR>