Driving Itinerary Across Central Europe
 

Welcome comment on our itinerary for a september trip. 21 days.
fiy into berlin - 3 nights
train to dresden - 2 nights
rental car to krakow - 3 nights
drive to budapest - 3 nights
drive to vienna - 3 nights
salzburg - 3 nights
prague - 3 nights
early morning drive to dresden, drop off car, fly out

too much? we have to catch a flight at 9.30 morning in dresden. better to stay overninght in dresden rather than plan to drive in from parague?

I would definitely stay near Dresden to catch a 9:30 flight. You never know what type of delays can occur when driving.

Your itinerary is too fast paced for my taste. Go to mappy.com or viamichelin.com to check the driving distances and times for each trip. You might want to take out either Krakow or Budapest and add the time to the other places you're visiting.

I always add additional time as I don't drive very fast and I sometimes want to stop for a break or to take photos. I remember a recent trip in the Czech Republic that was supposed to take 1.5 hours but really too 3.5 hours because of road closings due to repaving. It was a main road (but not autoroute) that was closed and I had to take a huge detour and there were no signs directing traffic to alternate routes.

I think a few of your trips will take about 5 hours driving but then you have to locate your hotel and check in and unpack which will add more time. If you stop for lunch or coffee or gas that will add more to your journey so a 5 hour trip could fill the entire day. You need to factor this into your sightseeing schedule.

With going to so many large cities have you considered just taking the train? If you plan on stopping in smaller locations between those I think a car would be fine but none of the cities strick me as car "friendly".

Hi,
Check with your rental car company about driving into other countries. They may give you a problem or charge you an arm and leg.
We just got back from Prague and Vienna and Salzburg.
Your itinerary is a little wild.
You do not need a car in Vienna or Prague.
If we were doing our trip again, I would stay in Vienna and Prague for a week each, and day trip around.
We rented a car in Salzburg and drove around for 3 days and then had an arrangement with the car company to drop it in Vienna. Remember, you need an international driver's lic. to drive in Austria.

A car would be good in Salzburg as there are so many good sites nearby, but a car in Prague and Vienna could be more of a handicap plus parking fees!

Since you have a lot of time, keep researching your alternatives.

Good luck.

> too much?

It would be for me! As others have noted, you will lose quite a lot of time to transportation. And while it depends on what you want to see and experience, you can only see a very few highlights of cities like Berlin and Vienna with only 2 or 3 days. You might want to give serious thought to trimming your itinerary. And, as others have suggested, you might consider taking trains rather than driving.


> we have to catch a flight at 9.30 morning in dresden. better to stay overninght in dresden rather than plan to drive in from parague?

Absolutely!