FAmily trip to Prague, Germany and Austria
 

Our family of 5-(kids ages 22, 12 and 10) will be traveling to Prague to visit friends who live there. We will be staying in Prague for a 9 days and plan on 1-2 day trips. The second week we will all travel together and want to see some of Germany and Austria. We are leaving in June and I am starting to panic about itinerary and accomodations.Any ideas for a route from Prague through Salzburg and maybe Munich? We are trying to vary the trips with museums, castles and hiking a little. Any ideas for a route that will be interesting but not just wear everyone out? Any hotel /apartment ideas in either Salzberg , Munich or somewhere on the way?We plan on renting 2 cars because there will be a total of 9 of us traveling when we merge the 2 families. Any ideas for car or van rentals for our traveling week?
Thanks for any suggestions .
Capri

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How do you plan to travel between cities? How long to you have to spend in Munich/Salzburg? Were you thnking those would be two day-trips from Prague?

It looks like Prague to Munich is about a 4 hour drive, I don't know what the train will take. Salzburg is another hour and a half to two hours beyond that. There is lots of other stuff to see and do in the Bavarian alps nearby. Ludwig's castles, mountain tops, quaint villages, wood carvers, and more.

For your car rentals call Bob Bestor at Gemutlichkeit Travel Gemut.com. He can give you great advice and a great deal on car rentals.

The World Cup is going on in Munich sometime around then and you will want to arrange your trip to miss the crowds if possible.

I just checked and World Cup matches are scheduled for Munich from June 9-July 5. That may put pressure on hotels.

I personally know about five people who are going to Prague this summer. Going by the Nielson or Arbitron (ratings) models, that means there are probably a million people going there! :)

Hi C,

You might wish to consider:

Fly to Munich (see www.whichbudget.com).

From there you can see Garmisch, Fussen and part of the Romantic road before returning the car in Munich and staying there for 1-2 days.

Note that if you drive into Austria you should buy the 1-week auto tax sticker.

((I))

Thank you for all the good advice! We are going to avoid Munich because of the World Cup. Thanks so much for that information. We will be in Prague for 9 days and then want to drive to Austria and see a little of Gemany in the remaining 6-7 days. We were going to do a Salzburg-Munich - Nurnberg loop but with Munich out I am not sure how to swing it. Any ideas?? Thanks for the tip about the auto sticker required in Austria and the car rental idea. Have any of you stayed at the Pension Jedermann in Salzburg?
Thanks so much for your help,
Capri

Instead of Munich, how about Vienna which would be en route to Salzburg. It has a very comparable feeling to Munich only grander. It is beautiful, has a great cafe culture with delectable deserts, a wonderful art museum quarter for all tastes (and lots of young people hang out there), great concerts that are sutiable for people who aren't necessarily passionate about classical music (e.g, 1 hour Mozart/Schubert concerts in castle settings).

All in all I think it's a great alternaitve to Munich and even more convenient from Prague.

Have you bought your tickets yet? If not, you could fly into Prague and out of your last city to save time. Also, it may be less expensive (and stressful) to take the train rather than rent 2 cars.

I would definitely stop in Cesky Krumlov on your way down to Salz., it is worth at least a night and has hiking and castles. We stayed at Pension Ve Vezi (the round tower). Very unique and inexpensive ($45 appx/nigth incl. breakfast).

In salzburg, I can recommend Hotel Auersperg- very nice and within walking distance of everything. If I could do it over again, I would skip Munich. I thought it was one of the most "plain" cities I had been to, but that s just personal opinion. As the prev. poster said, Vienna would be a great choice, lots to do and very beautiful. Bratislava is a short train ride away, and fascinating (and cheap!) Good luck!

this is not on point, but be sure to see the Technological museum on the other side of the river from the Jewish quarter. My 12 year old was in heaven