good websites for Eastern Europe?
 

Does anyone know of any good websites or books or videos to read up on prior to my trip to Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Warsaw in 2005? Thanks.

I know that other &quot;regulars&quot; will think me a broken record on this point - - but the cities you mention are all in <b>central</b> Europe.

Eastern Europe begins east of Poland.

You're not to be blamed, as Americans have grown up for decades learning about the &quot;Eastern bloc&quot; of countries under the control of Moscow. Even RailEurope perpetuates the misuse of the term.

But the people who live in the cities you mention are quick to point out their countries are smack dab in the middle of Europe.

As for your original question - - for Prague, the website www.jasoncholt.com is one of those labor of love websites that has much to offer you.

...and credit to Ben Haines for introducing many on this forum to www.inyourpocket.com - - an excellent collection of travel guide info for the central Europe destinations you mention (<i>and</i> <b>Eastern</b> &lt;I?Europe, too!)

Best wishes,

Rex

Alright, thanks. I didn't mean to misuse the term, but now I will refer to it as CENTRAL Europe. I have never been to Europe, just Asia, so pardon me for the mistake.

Having lived in the area, I absolutely do second the pages of www.inyourpocket.com, which should become your &quot;bible&quot; when in the region. Very up-to-date and reliable information.

I also liked the Lonely Planet guides.

I also doubt that there is any sense in a debate of whether to call the region &quot;Eastern&quot; or &quot;Central&quot; Europe. That's just a matter of defintion and thus very subjective. Of course it's easy to wisecrack, but among Western Europeans (now who exactly are those? ;-) ) it is quite common to refer to the former Warsaw pact countries as &quot;Eastern&quot; Europe. Funnily enough, I have not yet met any &quot;Eastern&quot;/ &quot;Central&quot; European guy who took offense to his country being referred to as &quot;Eastern&quot; Europe (they have more important problems and could care less).
What's more, if Budapest is actually in Central Europe, what's left for Eastern Europe then - especially if you take the Eastern borders of the European Union into account...!?

Just don't pay attention to this kind of discussion, that's perfectly useless, and enjoy your trip!

Regards
hsv

Websites for Prague and the Czech Republic

www.a-prague.com interactive map, sightseeing, car rental, Prague statistics,museum hours, restaurants

www.castles.org info on Prague Castle, and others has photos

www.ceotraveler.com click on Prague restaurants, sightseeing, lodging

www.czech.cz news articles and archives Czech Republic official website

www.czechcenter.com Czech tourism website, will send brochures

www.czechbyclick.com commercial site, offers hotel discounts

www.czechsite.com current events, message board, history, museums, pubs

www.centraleurope.com news items

www.czech-tourism.com Czech tourist board, has many links including weather, restaurants, hotels

www.einnews.com/centraleurope daily news on events in central Europe

www.eurocheapo.com/prague

www.gayguide.nte/Europe/Czech/Prague/ gay guide to Prague

http://www.chabadprague.cz/visiting.htm guide to Jewish Prague, including kosher restaurants

www.guideprague.com hotels, important holidays, other info

http://goeasteurope.about.com/cs/czechrepublic/ several links including Czech Airlines, weather, transportation, hotels, restaurants

www.travel-library.com/europe/czech_republic info is so-so, pictures are great

www.budgettravel.com/prague.htm

www.europeanvisits.com includes a walking tour for Kafka fans

www.worldexecutive.com/cityguides/prague/ hotels, transportation, maps, attractions

http://www.happycat16.freeserve.co.uk/index.htm tourism, culture, literature,music,museums,transport,
has photos of some sights


outstanding:
www.jasoncholt.com hotels, almost a mini-guidebook, includes language lessons with audio

http://travel.independent.co.uk search on &lt;48 hours Prague&gt; for an informative article, or just Prague for all news topics

www.pell-mell.cz/links/Travel_and_Guides/many links

www.travelandleisure.com search on Prague

http://www.fortunecity.com/oasis/ozarks/170/index.htm castles of the Czech Republic

www.roughguides.com good info on sidetrips, some on hotels, nothing on restaurants, little on sightseeing

www.timeout.com/prague good for restaurants, hotels, and shopping

http://www.talkingcities.co.uk/index.htm transportation, hotels, restaurants, shopping, practical tips

www.lonelyplanet.com good discussion board for budget travelers


www.cheapaccommodation.com specials at all kinds of hotels

http://www.ricksteves.com/update/prague.htm good basic info, discussion board, good advice for budget travelers

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~s...AQ/dining.html
restaurants, sightseeing, lodging (restaurant and hotel listing includes comments from past
customers) also parking info, car rentals, internet locations

www.pis.cz/npis/a/prague/pama/01.html

http://www.gettingaway.com/directory/europe/czech many links

www.prag-unterkunft.de links to some hotels

www.prague.cz/aboutp.asp all sorts of info: weather links, sightseeing, ,not so good for hotels

http://www.pragueexperience.com/ tourism,shopping, calendar, restaurants

www.prague-museums.com

www.praguepost.com/P)#/Finfo and
www.myczechrepublic.com/prague two websites that include,among many other things, info on gardens open to the public Prague Post is a weekly newspaper for English-speakers, lots of good info on shopping, restaurants, etc.

www.radio.cz/en Radio Prague, news, current events, history, etc

www.visitprague.cz

www.worldexecutive.com weather, sightseeing,higher-end hotels

www.athos.cz rent an apartment, recommended fodors.com June 03 by someone who rented

Article on ?Macabre Prague??weird or gruesome historical sites
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...RAVEL10482.dtl

THANK YOU!!!

Vienna
Concerts and performances

All events: www.wien.info many links, some work better than others

Vienna State Opera www.wiener-staatsoper.at

www.cityrama.at tickets

www.musicalvienna.at Broadway imports and original musicals.

Volksoper, major opera house, also presents dance. www.volksoper.at

Vienna Boys Choir www.musikverein.at or www.mondial.at
The Vienna Boys Choir performs as part of the regular Sunday mass starting at 9:15 am at the Hofburg Chapel. Book well in advance, and be advised that some seats have no direct view of the choir as it sings, but video screens are provided.

Konzerthaus: www.konzerthaus.at

www.osterklang.at

www.wienerkammeroper.at Kammeroper, 3rd opera house

http://www.marionettentheater.at/english/home.htm marionette theatre

Waltzes and Operettas: www.wr-hofburg-orchester.at/konzerte

Concerts at Schonbrunn Palace: www.imagevienna.co.au daily concerts of Viennese music

more Vienna
www.concierge.com gives access to Conde Nast Traveler magazine archives

http://info.wien.at/ sightseeing, weather forecast, list of private guides, tours, sightseeing, transport from the airport, suggested itinerary, Vienna card, etc --outstanding website

www.magwien.gv.at click on English at the top of the screen

www.travelandleisure.com, search on Vienna

www.austria.info/us Austrian tourist office, in New York will send brochures

www.aboutvienna.org sightseeing, events, Coffee ABCs

www.goeurope.about.com, search on Vienna. Lots of info, and a link to Vienna airport info

www.airportservice.at, recommended private van service, to and from airport

www.learnplus.com/guides/vienna good basic info on Vienna

http://www.europeanvisits.com/articl...na-hofburg.htm article on Hofburg (Imperial Palace)

www.worldexecutive.com travel advice, hotels are mostly high end, weather forecasts

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Ar...75,119,00.html
Wine Spectator Magazine article on the best high end restaurants of Vienna

www.vienna.info monthly calendar of events, order tickets, sightseeing, museum hours, visitors with disabilities, learning German, internet cafes, holidays, info for gays and lesbians

www,muskimeile.at Music Mile walk of fame. Runs from Stephansplatz to the
Theater an der Wien. Audio guides are available at Stephansplatz or at the Theater.

http://windu.t-online.at/wientour/to...=3&amp;lang=en sightseeing, concerts, tours

www.viamichelin.com, hotels, restaurants, history, sightseeing

www.wien-event.at in German

www.vienna-marathon.com Vienna Marathon, run in May.

www.roughguides.com-- general info, plus hotels, pensions, hostels

www.viennaairport.com flight info, checking in, transportation

sorry for some of the weird alphanumeric characters, this is a cut and paste from my Word travel files and Word characters sometimes get garbled here

Warsaw - <b>http://www.explore-warsaw.com/</b>

Krakow - <b>http://www.explore-krakow.com/
http://www.krakow-info.com/</b>

&lt;&lt;this is a cut and paste from my Word travel files and Word characters sometimes get garbled here&gt;&gt;

No doubt you know this, elaine (just didn't think about doing it ahead of time) - - but if you save any Word document as a &quot;.txt&quot; file, and then re-open it, you can cut and paste from there without risk of &quot;funny&quot; characters.

Well said, hsv. I've traveled through Eastern Europe a few times, and even over the eastern frontier of Poland into the Ukraine. That's what is called the &quot;Wild, Wild East.&quot;

We are going to central Europe in September 2004. I recently purchased the DK books on Warsaw and Prague. Also &quot;Poland&quot; by Michener. Very satisfied with these choices.

rex, no I didn't know, there are SO many things I don't know about formatting.
Could you email me?--I'd appreciate your help to avoid this in the future
[email protected]

I can recommend praguepost.com - used it for restaurant reviews and guidance and found it reliable.

I am glad to be quoted as keen on http://www.inyourpocket.com. Very different is the archive of past travel reports in the London newspaper the Independent: http://travel.independent.co.uk/europe/eastern/.

Then I see what I have noted city by city.

Prague:
http://www.prague-info.cz
http://www.volny.cz/prague2001/
http://www.jasoncholt.com/prague/index.html
Prague events: http://www.praguepost.cz
Prague metro map: http://www.nycsubway.org/maps/transit/praguem.gif
Living conditions: http://www.talesmag.com/404page.html

Vienna. Time out: http://www.timeout.com/vienna/sight/index.html

Budapest
Links: http://www.fsz.bme.hu/hungary/budapest/bplinks/, then Culture, Tourism, and Transport
the official tourism Web site http://www.budapestinfo.hu
Guide to Budapest: http://www.talkingcities.co.uk/budap...budap_main.htm
the city's home page at http://www.budapest.hu
Events: http://www.budapestsun.com/
Events, in Hungarian. Select &quot;budapest&quot; and then choose from film, kЖnnyЭ (easy), szinhaz (theatre), kiallitas (exhibition) and komoly (serious). http://www.est.hu
Park of socialist sculpture: http://www.szoborpark.hu/indexa.html

Warsaw
Tourist board: http://www.polandtour.org/
Tourist board: http://www.warsawvoice.pl/poland/index.html
http://www.warsaw.pl
Warsaw hotel agencies with costs below rack rates
http://www.hotelspoland.com/
http://www.travelpoland.com/
http://www.polhotels.com/
Warsaw metro map: http://www.reed.edu/~reyn/transport.html#maps
Many people prefer Krakow to Warsaw.

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