My younger brother(he is 21) has never been to europe and this year my wife and I are going to take him. We are having a hard time deciding where to go. He wants to do serveral things - 1. Go to Prague 2. See some cool castles. we have 9-11 days and we will be going in late august through early sept.(this is the only time we can go beacuse of his school and work)

here are my ideas so far - please comment:

Vienna(3 days) - czech greenways(czesky krumlov, etc)(2-3 days) - Prague(4-5 days)

munich(2-3 days) - salzburg(2-3 days) - South Bohemia(1 day) - prague(4-5) days

Venice(2-3 days)- vienna or salzburg(2-3 days) - South Bohemia(1 day) - prague(4-5 days)

I included venice - beacuse I have also wanted to go and it might be a while till we can come back to europe, I am not sure how difficult it would be to get to Salzburg or vienna from venice

topping

t

I cant really help because I havent been to most of the areas you want to visit...but may I suggest posting this with a new title. Maybe something like: Help with Italy/Prague itinerary then people will know what to expect.

Hi dg,

I suggest that you fly into Venice and out of Prague.

3 days in Venice. Train to Vienna 3 days. It's a full day, but the scenery is fantastic.

Train to Prague, 3-4 days.

I have been to most of the places you mention, although not Venice, and think all of your itineraries are good. I think any would work. My personal preference might be not to spend 3 days in Salzburg, however; I would put that time elsewhere on those itineraries (two days would be enough).

You'll have to check out the budget airlines thing for Venice/Vienna, there might be one. By train, that might be a little convoluted, but you could get from Venice to Salzburg by train in shorter time, but I don't know how many changes that route might take. I think you'd take the train from Venice to Villach (Austria), then go north to Salzburg. You could probably also go to Innsbruck from Venice instead of Vienna or Salzburg.

I looked on the whichbudget.com website that's frequently recommended here. You can fly SkyEurope between Venice and Vienna, but I think that the airport in Vienna is in Bratislava, so be prepared for a bus ride as well.

thanks for the advice -

I have never been to any of these sites so if I choose the Venice - austria - czech path do you think the extra travel time would be worth it compared to going to munich? I.E. Munich vs Venice(but adding 4-6 hrs travel)

Going both ways via Salzburg? Why not go one way from Pargue visiting Salzburg (I would consider 1 night sufficient) to Venice, then return via Lugano Switzerland (1 might) and the Lake of Constance (you may stay another night in one of the lake resorts, either in Switzerland, Austria or Germany) to Munich. There are excellent train connections, check WWW.cff.ch

Richard

Venice to Salzburg is easy by rail. If you catch the Eurocity. It's 5.5 hrs and only 1 change in Villach, plus the ride is beautiful.