Need Advice for upcoming Europe trips
Dec 30th, 2013, 05:12 PM
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Need Advice for upcoming Europe trips
Hello,
Me, my husband, and my son are planning to go to Europe in May 2014 for 2 weeks. We are thinking to go to Berlin, Prague, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, any two cities in Switzerland but we do not know yet. We might do combo (car, and trains). We are thinking to rent a car from Berlin Airport to Neuschwastein castle and return it in Munich, but we will pass Prague on the way to Munich. We heard that the rental car company will not give us a car if we would go to Eastern Europe (Prague). We want to drive because it is cheaper for 3 of us than to take train. We are still debating on the transportation. Do you think it is easy to drive in Prague? What are the two cities in Switzerland that we'd better see them? What city should we start of first?
Thank you very much for your input!
Me, my husband, and my son are planning to go to Europe in May 2014 for 2 weeks. We are thinking to go to Berlin, Prague, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, any two cities in Switzerland but we do not know yet. We might do combo (car, and trains). We are thinking to rent a car from Berlin Airport to Neuschwastein castle and return it in Munich, but we will pass Prague on the way to Munich. We heard that the rental car company will not give us a car if we would go to Eastern Europe (Prague). We want to drive because it is cheaper for 3 of us than to take train. We are still debating on the transportation. Do you think it is easy to drive in Prague? What are the two cities in Switzerland that we'd better see them? What city should we start of first?
Thank you very much for your input!
Dec 30th, 2013, 05:21 PM
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So you want to visit 7 cities in 14 days? Allowing for travel time between cities - you will have one day in each city. IMHO this is not a vacation - it's a forced march - and I can;t imagine how much (little) you will have the time to see/do.
And driving a car in almost any european city is a nonsense. They all have good public transit - which is less expensive and much more convenient. (In addition to the cost of renting a car do remember that gas is about $9/10 per gallon and parking is $35 of so per night.)
And driving a car in almost any european city is a nonsense. They all have good public transit - which is less expensive and much more convenient. (In addition to the cost of renting a car do remember that gas is about $9/10 per gallon and parking is $35 of so per night.)
Dec 30th, 2013, 05:23 PM
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So you want to visit 7 cities in 14 days? Allowing for travel time between cities - you will have one day in each city. IMHO this is not a vacation - it's a forced march - and I can;t imagine how much (little) you will have the time to see/do.
And driving a car in almost any european city is a nonsense. They all have good public transit - which is less expensive and much more convenient. (In addition to the cost of renting a car do remember that gas is about $9/10 per gallon and parking is $35 of so per night.)
And driving a car in almost any european city is a nonsense. They all have good public transit - which is less expensive and much more convenient. (In addition to the cost of renting a car do remember that gas is about $9/10 per gallon and parking is $35 of so per night.)
Dec 30th, 2013, 05:49 PM
#4
nytraveler is giving you an overly optimistic assessment. w/ two weeks (assuming you mean 14 days total) you will have even <i>less</i> than one day per city.
day 1 is spent flying to Europe.
day 2 is recovering from the jet lag and acclimating
day 14 is spent going home
leaving 11 usable days from which you have to deduct 1/2 to 1 full day every single time you move (and even more if you drive and have to deal w/ parking on city outskirts and taking public transport in to your hotel). So you may have a full day in a few of your cities but in others it will literally be a few hours.
So you may have to cut your list in half . . .
day 1 is spent flying to Europe.
day 2 is recovering from the jet lag and acclimating
day 14 is spent going home
leaving 11 usable days from which you have to deduct 1/2 to 1 full day every single time you move (and even more if you drive and have to deal w/ parking on city outskirts and taking public transport in to your hotel). So you may have a full day in a few of your cities but in others it will literally be a few hours.
So you may have to cut your list in half . . .
Dec 30th, 2013, 06:18 PM
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I would suggest traveling by train. Not only is it lots more practical than driving, but it's part of the European experience, more fun than being bottled up in your own vehicle, which you can do in the USA.
To spend 14 days, I suggest something like this:
5 days in Berlin (allowing some time to decompress from jetlag, and there is plenty to see)
2 days in Dresden - there is much that is lovely, and a great museum
4 days in Prague, an amazing city
1 day in Munich
This leaves 2 days free. To fill those, you could drive from Prague to Munich and see some smaller towns, or see Salzburg, or add in Leipzig (and/or Weimar) between Berlin and Dresden.
This itinerary is logical (basically going south, then west - follow it on a map) and you won't be too frantic trying to squeeze everything in.
That's my 2 cents!
To spend 14 days, I suggest something like this:
5 days in Berlin (allowing some time to decompress from jetlag, and there is plenty to see)
2 days in Dresden - there is much that is lovely, and a great museum
4 days in Prague, an amazing city
1 day in Munich
This leaves 2 days free. To fill those, you could drive from Prague to Munich and see some smaller towns, or see Salzburg, or add in Leipzig (and/or Weimar) between Berlin and Dresden.
This itinerary is logical (basically going south, then west - follow it on a map) and you won't be too frantic trying to squeeze everything in.
That's my 2 cents!
Dec 30th, 2013, 07:07 PM
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"...We heard that the rental car company will not give us a car if we would go to Eastern Europe (Prague)...."
It's your trip, it's your money - don't go by hearsay, research everything yourselves!
It used to be true that rentals were not allowed to be taken into the Czech Republic (and other Central-European countries), but this is no longer true, at least not across the board.
Go to www.sixt.de, a large and well-established Germany-based company, and you'll find that their vehicles are allowed to be driven into the Czech Republic unless it's one of the following brands/models (this is a quote from the German version of the Sixt website):
Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, VW, Porsche und Aston Martin sowie allen Jeeps und Offroadern.
Sixt has very good rates, even for the all-up insurance (which I suggest you take, especially when headed for the Czech Republic) and charges only 15 Euros or 9 Euros (city branches) extra for drop-off in a different city.
But your trip is too hasty - as others have said, if you calculate the travel time from hotel check-out to hotel check-in, you find that can't do what you listed.
Also note that in the Czech Republic your car has to display a road-tax sticker. If Sixt in Berlin doesn't have a car with it installed, buy it on arrival at the border, because even if nobody stops you while you're driving around without it, when you exit the Czech Republic in a car that doesn't display the sticker, you get nailed.
Driving in Prague itself is not advised. Make sure you find a hotel that guarantees protected parking, drive there during daylight hours and leave the car alone until you leave Prague.
It's your trip, it's your money - don't go by hearsay, research everything yourselves!
It used to be true that rentals were not allowed to be taken into the Czech Republic (and other Central-European countries), but this is no longer true, at least not across the board.
Go to www.sixt.de, a large and well-established Germany-based company, and you'll find that their vehicles are allowed to be driven into the Czech Republic unless it's one of the following brands/models (this is a quote from the German version of the Sixt website):
Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, VW, Porsche und Aston Martin sowie allen Jeeps und Offroadern.
Sixt has very good rates, even for the all-up insurance (which I suggest you take, especially when headed for the Czech Republic) and charges only 15 Euros or 9 Euros (city branches) extra for drop-off in a different city.
But your trip is too hasty - as others have said, if you calculate the travel time from hotel check-out to hotel check-in, you find that can't do what you listed.
Also note that in the Czech Republic your car has to display a road-tax sticker. If Sixt in Berlin doesn't have a car with it installed, buy it on arrival at the border, because even if nobody stops you while you're driving around without it, when you exit the Czech Republic in a car that doesn't display the sticker, you get nailed.
Driving in Prague itself is not advised. Make sure you find a hotel that guarantees protected parking, drive there during daylight hours and leave the car alone until you leave Prague.
Dec 31st, 2013, 09:33 AM
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The sad part is, I don't think nytraveler is a troll. Trolling implies an intention to stir up the pot or that the comment was made by accident. If one has a genuine belief that what one is doing is appropriate, then it is not trolling.
angelakho12; Don't despair, not all responders will be as condescending, or as blusterly incorrect, as nytraveler. There is nothing humble about IMHO in the response you got and one just doesn't get to declare humility, I think.
First, I don't want to insult your intelligence by suggesting that you are unaware that cars require fuel, and that it actually takes time to move from one spot to another but a couple of corrections are in order;
Gasoline prices in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, today, range from 1.30 - 1.64 Euros / litre. That is $1.78 - $2.26 / litre which converts to $6.78 - $8.56 /gallon. It tends to the lower end, or about $7 / gallon except in Germany. Diesel is at the $7 level except in Switzerland.
One would have to travel terribly slowly to take an entire day to travel from Berlin to Prague - a 349 kilometer (218 mile) that takes 3:30 - 4:00 hour to drive at posted speeds. Leave at 9 a.m. at be in the heart of Prague at 1:00 p.m. for a lovely full afternoon and evening. Suggesting that an entire day will be lost is nothing more than an exaggeration intended to boost a point of view.
Perhaps you can let people know that it is not necessary for them to be troubled by imagining how little you will see or do. If someone else couldn't possibly enjoy the drive from one place to another in Europe how could you, right? Saxon Switzerland around Dresden, Moravia, the Salzkammergut, and the Alps are all great places to have the freedom of a car. There can be just as much pleasure in pulling over when you want to stop and see something on your drive or heading off down a small country road to see whats there as heading briskly from city core to city core. Personally, I do both and I enjoy both depending on my desire for the vacation and the relative experience I am seeking.
As you have been advised, some rental companies do prohibit traveling to the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries with their vehicles, but most of them permit it depending on the class of vehicle. For example, Mercedes are often not permitted when other less expensive makes are. Every rental company will make this information known if you review their site and rental policies.
All that being said, you are trying something very ambitious with your proposed itinerary. If you add 2 cities in Switzerland, you seem to be hoping to spend 2 nights in each of 7 places. There is nothing wrong with that if you know you are up to the pace of travel, but the distances involved in stretching yourself from Vienna to Switzerland are immense. If you travel as declared - from Berlin to Neuschwanstein, on to Salzburg and Vienna, and then return to Lucerne and Lauterbrunnen (let's just say - it doesn't matter too much to the calculation), you will have to cover about 2,300 kilometers and manage over 23 hours of travel and you aren't even back at your starting point. Leaving from Zurich would only add about 1 more hour.
If you were to drop either the Salzburg/Vienna or Switzerland, the travel time drops to around 15 hours total for each remaining version of the itinerary. Flying out of Munich or Zurich would make sense, then, rather than returning to Berlin.
Hopefully that gives you some information to help you take the next step with your itinerary.
angelakho12; Don't despair, not all responders will be as condescending, or as blusterly incorrect, as nytraveler. There is nothing humble about IMHO in the response you got and one just doesn't get to declare humility, I think.
First, I don't want to insult your intelligence by suggesting that you are unaware that cars require fuel, and that it actually takes time to move from one spot to another but a couple of corrections are in order;
Gasoline prices in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, today, range from 1.30 - 1.64 Euros / litre. That is $1.78 - $2.26 / litre which converts to $6.78 - $8.56 /gallon. It tends to the lower end, or about $7 / gallon except in Germany. Diesel is at the $7 level except in Switzerland.
One would have to travel terribly slowly to take an entire day to travel from Berlin to Prague - a 349 kilometer (218 mile) that takes 3:30 - 4:00 hour to drive at posted speeds. Leave at 9 a.m. at be in the heart of Prague at 1:00 p.m. for a lovely full afternoon and evening. Suggesting that an entire day will be lost is nothing more than an exaggeration intended to boost a point of view.
Perhaps you can let people know that it is not necessary for them to be troubled by imagining how little you will see or do. If someone else couldn't possibly enjoy the drive from one place to another in Europe how could you, right? Saxon Switzerland around Dresden, Moravia, the Salzkammergut, and the Alps are all great places to have the freedom of a car. There can be just as much pleasure in pulling over when you want to stop and see something on your drive or heading off down a small country road to see whats there as heading briskly from city core to city core. Personally, I do both and I enjoy both depending on my desire for the vacation and the relative experience I am seeking.
As you have been advised, some rental companies do prohibit traveling to the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries with their vehicles, but most of them permit it depending on the class of vehicle. For example, Mercedes are often not permitted when other less expensive makes are. Every rental company will make this information known if you review their site and rental policies.
All that being said, you are trying something very ambitious with your proposed itinerary. If you add 2 cities in Switzerland, you seem to be hoping to spend 2 nights in each of 7 places. There is nothing wrong with that if you know you are up to the pace of travel, but the distances involved in stretching yourself from Vienna to Switzerland are immense. If you travel as declared - from Berlin to Neuschwanstein, on to Salzburg and Vienna, and then return to Lucerne and Lauterbrunnen (let's just say - it doesn't matter too much to the calculation), you will have to cover about 2,300 kilometers and manage over 23 hours of travel and you aren't even back at your starting point. Leaving from Zurich would only add about 1 more hour.
If you were to drop either the Salzburg/Vienna or Switzerland, the travel time drops to around 15 hours total for each remaining version of the itinerary. Flying out of Munich or Zurich would make sense, then, rather than returning to Berlin.
Hopefully that gives you some information to help you take the next step with your itinerary.
Dec 31st, 2013, 01:33 PM
#9
Before you get into the details you are asking us about, you need to cut your itinerary. 7 cities is too many for a 14 day trip. Start with making that adjustment.
Second best tip, try to book your plane ticket "open jaw" so you fly into your 1st city and home from your last city without backtracking on the ground.
Second best tip, try to book your plane ticket "open jaw" so you fly into your 1st city and home from your last city without backtracking on the ground.
Dec 31st, 2013, 01:51 PM
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What are the two cities in Switzerland that we'd better see them? What city should we start of first?>
If you've neve been to Switzerland then to me and many others the absolute highpoint of the country is the Jungfrau Region around Interlaken - the rail- and road head to gain access to this wonderful region of glacier-girdled peaks soaring high above lush cow-dotted valleys - cutesy mountain towns like Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen or Wengen - car-less towns where cars are banned and must be parked in lots when entering town (Wengen no cars at all - must take a train there)
There is so so much to see and do in this area - boat rides on the two lakes that lovingly bookend Interlaken - hiking paths for all degrees of energy - tall waterfalls - even a waterfall inside of a cliff - thrilling aerial cable cars and toylike mountain railways going in all directions - as Dick Vitale would say "Awesome BABY - totally awesome!"
To whet your Jungfrau appetite:
https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...m=122&ie=UTF-8
And then for variety maybe head to the Lake Geneva area where dreamy lakeside towns like Montreux or Vevey never cease to please folks or down into the Italian-speaking area of St. Moritz or Lugano but I think the Interlaken-Jungffrau area is tops to match their dreamy pictures of Switzerland perhaps etches in your minds' eyes but which you will find only in a very few areas - the Jungfrau Region and Zermatt especially.
Trains are great in Switzerland and could be cheaper than driving if going to Alpine areas where cars are banned and must be parked in pricey parking lots - check out the Swiss Saverpass - for 2 or more folks traveling together - cheaper than solo passes and valid on not only trains but lake steamers, city trams can buses, postal buses and gives 50% off nearly all cable cars to mountain tops - plus free entry to 470 Swiss museums.
Lucerne is one really gorgeous town you may want to hit en route to the Interlaken area or can be done as a sweet day trip from there.
For lots of great info on Swiss trains, the Jungfrau Region, etc I always spotlight these IMO fine sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.
If you've neve been to Switzerland then to me and many others the absolute highpoint of the country is the Jungfrau Region around Interlaken - the rail- and road head to gain access to this wonderful region of glacier-girdled peaks soaring high above lush cow-dotted valleys - cutesy mountain towns like Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen or Wengen - car-less towns where cars are banned and must be parked in lots when entering town (Wengen no cars at all - must take a train there)
There is so so much to see and do in this area - boat rides on the two lakes that lovingly bookend Interlaken - hiking paths for all degrees of energy - tall waterfalls - even a waterfall inside of a cliff - thrilling aerial cable cars and toylike mountain railways going in all directions - as Dick Vitale would say "Awesome BABY - totally awesome!"
To whet your Jungfrau appetite:
https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...m=122&ie=UTF-8
And then for variety maybe head to the Lake Geneva area where dreamy lakeside towns like Montreux or Vevey never cease to please folks or down into the Italian-speaking area of St. Moritz or Lugano but I think the Interlaken-Jungffrau area is tops to match their dreamy pictures of Switzerland perhaps etches in your minds' eyes but which you will find only in a very few areas - the Jungfrau Region and Zermatt especially.
Trains are great in Switzerland and could be cheaper than driving if going to Alpine areas where cars are banned and must be parked in pricey parking lots - check out the Swiss Saverpass - for 2 or more folks traveling together - cheaper than solo passes and valid on not only trains but lake steamers, city trams can buses, postal buses and gives 50% off nearly all cable cars to mountain tops - plus free entry to 470 Swiss museums.
Lucerne is one really gorgeous town you may want to hit en route to the Interlaken area or can be done as a sweet day trip from there.
For lots of great info on Swiss trains, the Jungfrau Region, etc I always spotlight these IMO fine sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.
Jan 3rd, 2014, 02:42 PM
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In case that your son is still below 14, he travels for free on German rail together with his parents.
I just checked and the regular price from Berlin to Prague for your family is 135 Euro in that case and I'm not sure whether taking a rental car would be much cheaper.
If he's 6-14 years, make sure that he's mentioned on the ticket (he travels for free but needs to be included). If he's 5 or younger, he doesn't need a ticket in Germany.
I just checked and the regular price from Berlin to Prague for your family is 135 Euro in that case and I'm not sure whether taking a rental car would be much cheaper.
If he's 6-14 years, make sure that he's mentioned on the ticket (he travels for free but needs to be included). If he's 5 or younger, he doesn't need a ticket in Germany.
Jan 3rd, 2014, 04:34 PM
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Aramis -
you may not agree with me - but first you call me a troll (when I've given tons of good advice to tyro travelers and been quoted in several Fodors books) and then to proceed to agree with almost all the advice I give.
You are incoherent as well as insulting. And I give you permission to ignore my posts.
you may not agree with me - but first you call me a troll (when I've given tons of good advice to tyro travelers and been quoted in several Fodors books) and then to proceed to agree with almost all the advice I give.
You are incoherent as well as insulting. And I give you permission to ignore my posts.
Jan 3rd, 2014, 04:59 PM
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I may be wrong, but I took it that Basingstoke2 thought the OP was a troll, not nytraveler, and Aramis took it that it was nyt because of the order of the posts.
Anyway, may have been brief to the point of curtness, but nytraveler's opinion is valid and the advice was good. Looks as if the op is serious and is listening.
Anyway, may have been brief to the point of curtness, but nytraveler's opinion is valid and the advice was good. Looks as if the op is serious and is listening.
Jan 3rd, 2014, 05:29 PM
#17
Yes - the troll bits are muddled. But then aramis posted >>not all responders will be as condescending, or as blusterly incorrect, as nytraveler. There is nothing humble about IMHO in the response you got and one just doesn't get to declare humility, I think.
First, I don't want to insult your intelligence by suggesting that you are unaware that cars require fuel, and that it actually takes time to move from one spot to another<< Which all applies to things nyt posted.
So yes, nyt now joins the club . . .
First, I don't want to insult your intelligence by suggesting that you are unaware that cars require fuel, and that it actually takes time to move from one spot to another<< Which all applies to things nyt posted.
So yes, nyt now joins the club . . .
Jan 4th, 2014, 03:53 AM
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nytraveler;
It's hard to respond to a post that is fundamentally misstated from the outset - I clearly said I don't think you are a troll;
>>"The sad part is, I don't think nytraveler is a troll. Trolling implies an intention to stir up the pot or that the comment was >>made by accident. If one has a genuine belief that what one is doing is appropriate, then it is not trolling."
but you declare I did the opposite. I did not agree with most of your advice, either. The fact that you believe that may explain why you think that I am the incoherent one. I also never said you hadn't given other useful advice to other travelers; it's not an "all or nothing" issue. I don't believe that having good information to share (and being quoted in a Fodors book) is a license to deliver inaccurate information using an inappropriate tone.
The comments you made that I indicated were incorrect were stated specifically and with the clear reasons; one does not lose a whole day traveling to a destination 4-6 hours drive away, one may lose 4-6 hours but that is only if the traveler does not enjoy actual travel time. Many travelers do. You also significantly overstated the price of gasoline (parking, too, most likely). If I haven't properly pointed out the mistaken information, you can address the issue directly.
I also believe you delivered it with bluster by using the terms "forced march", "nonsense", and "I can;t imagine how much (little) you will have the time to see/do" to describe someone's vacation plans. I believe those references are condescending and unfair to the OP. I should have limited my comment to your "post" being condescending, rather that referring to the phrase "poster", so I will apologize for not making the distinction.
Suggesting someone is foolish and will ruin their vacation - and using exaggerated and/or inaccurate information to do so - in an effort to change someone's style of travel is not something I like to see pass without clarification.
It's hard to respond to a post that is fundamentally misstated from the outset - I clearly said I don't think you are a troll;
>>"The sad part is, I don't think nytraveler is a troll. Trolling implies an intention to stir up the pot or that the comment was >>made by accident. If one has a genuine belief that what one is doing is appropriate, then it is not trolling."
but you declare I did the opposite. I did not agree with most of your advice, either. The fact that you believe that may explain why you think that I am the incoherent one. I also never said you hadn't given other useful advice to other travelers; it's not an "all or nothing" issue. I don't believe that having good information to share (and being quoted in a Fodors book) is a license to deliver inaccurate information using an inappropriate tone.
The comments you made that I indicated were incorrect were stated specifically and with the clear reasons; one does not lose a whole day traveling to a destination 4-6 hours drive away, one may lose 4-6 hours but that is only if the traveler does not enjoy actual travel time. Many travelers do. You also significantly overstated the price of gasoline (parking, too, most likely). If I haven't properly pointed out the mistaken information, you can address the issue directly.
I also believe you delivered it with bluster by using the terms "forced march", "nonsense", and "I can;t imagine how much (little) you will have the time to see/do" to describe someone's vacation plans. I believe those references are condescending and unfair to the OP. I should have limited my comment to your "post" being condescending, rather that referring to the phrase "poster", so I will apologize for not making the distinction.
Suggesting someone is foolish and will ruin their vacation - and using exaggerated and/or inaccurate information to do so - in an effort to change someone's style of travel is not something I like to see pass without clarification.
