Driving from Belgium to Prague?
 

Hey there...has anyone ever driven from Brussels to Prague, or even Germany to Prague? Trying to figure out an affordable way of getting there in October, and airlines and trains all come up to over 200 euros a person. With the company car we get free gas, so......giving it some thought.

hassles? Dangers? Problems?
I'm thinking it would take about 10 hours or so....am I way off?

Not married to the idea of doing it, but my husband wants to investigate the possibility....

Is it your own car?

Many rental car companies in Belgium/Germany have restrictions on taking cars into Czech Republic - so you will have to shop to find one that will let you. Generally they're OK with basic models and may refuse with more upscale cars.

It's a leased car, not a rental. Is there a big risk of it being stolen?

You could fly to Glasgow via Ryan Air for 1 penny plus taxes and fees (about $30 total) and get a cheap flight (£55) on Globespan from Glasgow to Prague.

If the car is leased you need to read your contract to see if it is prohibited.


The reason the issue first arose is that in central europe they were still using leaded gas in many places and rental agencies were afraid of engines being ruined by tourists who assumed all would be unleaded.

I wooldn;t be worried about theft any more than anywhee else - you can always garage it.

Unleaded gas has been available as far as the Black Sea for 15 years. The issue is theft in some countries. I don't know if Czech Republik is still a problem. The OP will have to read his insurance policy.

I drove into Prague and around most of eastern Europe in the 1990s. The only problem is the same problem as in every other major city -- parking. If you can drive in Brussels you can drive in Prague.

I would allow 12 hours.

You don't have to go through Glasgow to get from Brussels to Prague.
Smart Wings flies Brussels-Prague on a daily basis, except Saturday. Not at the most convenient hours, but still, they do.
Brussels Dep 21:00 Arr 22:30 Mon-Fri
Brussels Dep 23:55 Arr 01:20 Sun

I know that the Smartwings website schedule says that they fly brussels to prague, and that our travel dates are included, but I can not get it to actually show me an available flight. When I put in our travel dates, and even say we are flexible up to 3 days, it still says "no flights available" I have tried several other dates with no success.

Thanks for the reminder, though. I'll have to check with them if we go again some other time. Meanwhile, anyone ever heard of e-dreams? i'm getting a quote for Brussels to Prague round trip for 2 people for 227 euros tax included. The lowest price for that flight on the SN website is like 210 euros a piece!!!

I think SN Brussels has some of the best fares for that route, and reasonable times. They often have fares on that route less than 200 euro total with taxes(around 170 euro total with taxes RT), so it must be the particular dates or times you are choosing. I think 170 euro RT is pretty cheap myself for any flight of that distance.

For travel in October SN charges as little as 140 euro RT (incl. taxes). You can't drive for that money (it's about 1000 km for which viamichelin.com states a total cost of 78.39 euro one-way!).

Hi Myriam :) Maybe you didn't notice the "free gas" part of the equation, which is the only reason we would have ever considered driving!

Christina: I'm not saying that 200 euros RT is unreasonable, just that it's waaay more than we had allotted for this trip. We have become so spoiled with the low cost airlines that anythign more than 100 euro seems expensive now :) This is sort of a last minute thing, not really part of our pre-planned travel budget and I don't have any choice as to the dates; we are planning on meeting my parents in Prague (Since we're not going home for Christmas) and this is the only time they can come.

hopscotch: thanks for the info and the guesstimate.

Carrie

Carrie, NO, I didn't notice the free gas. Then I don't see any reason why you shouldn't drive. Friends of mine do it fairly frequently.
Do take into account that most of the city of Prague is traffic-free. The best you can do is drive upto a metro stop, park the car in a car park with supervision (if that's the correct wording) and take the metro into the city.