first time to central europe, need advice on itinerary
 

hello...

i will be making my first trip to central europe in early april. i will have twelve full days "in country". my tentative schedule is:

arrive frankfurt drive to dresden, stay two days

drive to prague, stay two days

drive to krakow, stay two days

drive to vienna, stay two days

drive to nuremburg stay one day

return to frankfurt for out bound flight

will this be enough time per city to get a general overview? i have no problems with driving in western europe. is there anything different (other than the road tax) that i need to know?

please make whatever comments and suggestions you may have. if you think this is too ambitious, i'd rather find out now than be unpleasantly surprised.

thanks in advance...

I assume you've checked the drive times? I personally have never driven to these cities but Prague to Krakow (according to mappy.com) is about a 6 hour drive...that would take one of your 2 days? Krakow to Vienna shows to be alomost 6 hours as well, again you show only 2 days there. Is one a travel day? Vienna to Nuremburg is close to 5 hours. Personally I would choose a 2-3 of these cities and settle in for more days than what you have scheduled.

Hi sub,

Are your travel days in addition to your staying days?

If so, it seems to be OK.

((I))

I love to read you will include my home town Dresden. Good choice :-)

For reasons as mentioned above (driving times) I would skip Krakow. If you really need to visit a Polish city choose Wroclaw, which is almost as beautiful. However, I would add the two days of Krakow to other cities.

Driving is no problem, but make sure you are allowed to drive into Czech Rep. and Polan with your rental car. The rental companies are concerned about thieves.

Ingo

subcon, have you considered taking the train instead?

ira...

i'm counting 1/2 day for driving time on each leg which adds up to the 12 days.

sandi...

i never take the train for anything under 8 hours and would usually opt to fly in that case. the concept of schlepping baggage to and around a terminal and, then, on and off conveyances is unappealing.

i'm really interested in whether you can get a good taste of these cities in two full days. i'm hoping the drive will be relatively interesting in and of itself. maybe someone can help me out on that end as well.

thanks for your comments so far...

I think you're shortchanging all these places. Although the driving time may show as 5 or 6 hours, by the time you check out of one hotel, drive, stop for lunch and potty/fuel stops, find you way into the new city, dump the car and check into your hotel you will have used a full day.

This really gives you only dinner plus one day in each city - IMHO not nearly enough. I would simp;lify the trip.

(And we typically do road trips and are not afraid of - in fact enjoy - driving in europe. But for us - this trip would require at least 22-24 days.)

then I too would think you are shortchanging these cities.

I would reduce the number of places you are trying to see, and seriously consider the train. Trains are very easy, and fast. There is no checked backage or security clearance. You simply show up, hop on and are on your way with no further stresses or worries until you arrive at the other end. Use the time to read guidebooks, write postcards and relax.

Vienna and Krakow are obvious ones to drop, being the most out of your way. . . Dresden, Prague and Berlin would be a great easy trio to do by train.

Perhaps, two days in Dresden and 4 each in Prague and Berlin, then maybe a stop somewhere smaller for on your way to or from Frankfurt?

Hi sub,

www.viamichelin.com says:

Prague/Cracow 7 hr
Cracow/Vienna 6 hr

Hope this helps

((I))

which is basically what I stated this morning.

I just came back from a 3 week trip to Europe. I flew into Dusseldorf, rented a car and drove to a few countries. I would recommend checking your Rent a car agency to see if you can drive your rental car in some of those countries. I rented from Budget and my agreement said that I could not drive the rental car in Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Italy. I'm not sure if other people disregard this or not but you might want to check.

well, i think y'all have effectively put me off krakow as being way too far...

actually i'm now rethinking the whole trip by concentrating on germany this time and prague, krakow (perhaps budapest) and vienna for another trip.

and i really do appreciate the input. i have a lot of respect for most of the opinion around here...