Itinerary for Austria & Czech - how does this look?
 

Dear Fodorites!

I have booked a trip to Austria and Czech Republic in early June (five days in each country); below is my suggested itinerary.
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Austria
3 days => Vienna
1 day trip from Vienna => Salzburg
1 day trip from Vienna => Bratislava/Innsbruck??

Czech Rep.
3 days => Prague
1 day trip => Cesky Krumlov
1 day trip => Karlovy Vary
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My questions are: concerning the day trip from Vienna, is Bratislava a better option than Innsbruck because Innsbruck is so far away? Or should I stay spend two days in Salzburg instead?

Also, is that day trip to Karlovy Vary doable from Prague?

Folks, I'd really appreciate some advice. Many thanks.

Andersen

Do your five days in each country include or exclude the travel time to Prague from Vienna? By the time you check out of one hotel, go on the train and check into the next one, you have pretty well spent a day traelling.
I would check on two things to make the decision on day trips: the train timetabe and the number of things you want to see in each place. I would rather do an overnight to Salzburg and have time to relax and see things than to spend half of each day travelling on trains.
Both Vienna and Prague are great walking cities, and Vienna has great museums. 3 days would be full for an art lover.

Karlovy Vary is very doable from Prague. It is much easier to get to and not as far away as Cesky Krumlov.

Thanks to both of you for responding.

Aleta, the ten days include the train ride from Vienna to Prague.

I am just not sure about the two days in Salzburg. I would rather keep it to one and do Bratislava/Innsbruck on the other.

Thoughts?

Innsbruck is in my opinion too far from Vienna for a day trip (just under 5 hours by train each way).

Perhaps you should think about what you want to do and see in Salzburg before deciding for a day trip or overnight.

I agree that Innsbruck is too far for a day trip. And you'd be doing a lot of backtrakcing, which I'd avoid with only 10 days. FWIW, we like Salzburg better.

I don't know the train route from Vienna to Prague, but even your day trip to Salzburg seems like some backtrcking.

Cesky Krumlov is an incredible place, but it is a very long day from Prague. We made it a day trip from Ceske Budejovice and still wish we had had more time there.

I might consider:

3 days - Vienna
1 day trip to Bratislava
Day 5 Travel to Salzburg in am
1 night Salzburg
Day 6 Travel to Prague in pm
3 days - Prague
1 day trip - CK or KV

This will be less than 2 days in Salzburg and should minimize some backtracking.

Thank you very much for all the advice!

I would personally cut out Karlovy Vary in favour for a bit more time in Cesky Krumlov. Although KV is a pretty place in my opinion CK offers so much more.

This looks like a very nice trip! :)

You may have already made your decision, but IMO Bratislava was underwhelming. It is an easy day trip from Vienna, but, if I were you, I'd find a better way to spend a day.

On the whole, I liked DFR's proposed schedule; however, instead of daytripping to Bratislava, I would spend the day outside of Vienna in Strebersdorf or Stammersdorf (or Grinzing for a bit more touristy feel), visit a Heuriger, and soak in some local culture outside of Vienna. There is also Baden. I don't know what your interests are, but there are much more inticing areas to visit than Bratislava IMHO.

Enjoy your trip. The weather in June should be lovely and you are visiting 2 of my favorite European Countries.

We did a similar trip in March/April of this year. I can completely empathize with the struggle to decide how many days in each place, day trips, routing, etc.

This was what we did:
Fly into Prague and spent 5 nights
Day trip to Kutna Hora
Day trip to Terezin

We then took the Student Agency Bus to Cesky Krumlov and stayed overnight for one night.

Then we took the Lobo Shuttle from Cesky Krumlov to Linz and caught the train to Vienna and stayed 4 nights.

We then took the train to Salzburg and stayed 4 nights and flew home from there.

If I were doing that same trip again I would go Prague to CK to Salzburg to Vienna (or the reverse). It would be a little less backtracking and save a couple of hours of train time. It's not a big deal, but every hour saved in route is more time to enjoy your destination.

I like dfr's suggested itinerary above with the modification to save travel/backtracking time by going from Salzburg to Cesky Krumlov on Day 6 and spending the night and then going from there to Prague.

We had a very good experience with the Student Agency bus line. We had trouble understanding the website because the bus ticket pages were only in Czech. We ended up buying our tickets once we were in Prague, but if I had it to do again I would call their help line before I left on the trip if my travel dates were firm. Our bus was almost full and it wasn't high season, so I wouldn't count on being able to buy tickets from the driver.

Have fun on your trip!

A huge thank you to all of you; you've all been very helpful.

After some thinking, I decided to make Salzburg a one-day trip and check out Budapest on the fifth day Vienna-Budapest), instead of Budapest. I think I can pack it all in without detracting much from the enjoyment.

Thanks again, folks!

P.S. I meant "...instead of Bratislava", not Budapest.

Cesky Krumlov is somewhat on the way between Vienna and Prague. We are planing an overnight there between cities in October (saves valuable travel time). If you search this forum with "Cesky Krumlov", you'll get info on train, bus and shuttle options for the in between travel. Good Luck and please post a trip report with recommendations when yoou return!

bm09

I would spend 3 days in Prague, 4 days in Vienna and 3 days in Budapest. We enjoyed Budapest more than Prague.

hi, if you're going to Prague look into "http://www.coolpragueapartments.com/ to find an accommodation for your budget and check out the tips on the city...ciao

If going by train Czech out the fairly new Austrian-Czech Republic railpass.

Innsbruck is not only too far, but it is not so much a target by itself, it is the surroundings that make the trip there worthwhile, and you can't do that in one day or less. So leave Innsbruck for another time, better done in combination with a Munich trip, or with eastern Switzerland and down into northern Italy from there.

The train from Vienna to Prague is pretty straightforward, nothing much to tell, downright boring actually. But you could figure out a way to do Vienna-Cesky K., look around there, stay the night, then go from C.K. to Prague. If you look at a map you'll see how much more sense that makes geographically.

Now if you can work another town into that scheme, between Vienna and C.K. visit the lovely Passau near the border on the river Danube, that's an extra winner.

Bratislava is ok, not the most charming or otherwise interesting place, but since it is only an hour from Vienna, and if you have a specific interest in going there, why not? But better know why you go there - if it's just for a look around, you could be disappointed. Instead of Bratislava, I would suggest an overnight in Salzburg so you're not rushing in and out again on the same crazy day.

Or do a daytrip to the www.neusiedlersee.com and swing by Papa Haydn's employers' castle www.schloss-esterhazy.at - much nicer than Bratislava.

Also look up these names, they are all worthy of a visit in June when everything is in bloom and days are getting long:

Schloss Eckartsau
Schloss Schlosshof and Jagdschloss Niederweiden
Wienerwald (Vienna Woods, as celebrated by composer Johann Strauss)
Grinzing (wine taverns - Heurigen - the new wine, with music etc.)

These are in addition to the main targets that I'm sure you know about, the Dom, the Ring, Schönbrunn etc. etc.

There are enough beautiful and fun things to see and do in and around Vienna for a week or two, so pick and choose carefully with your minimal schedule, or leave Prague for another time and really make your Vienna stay count.

in Vienna go see the Hundertwasserhaus, it is an architectural and artistic quirk, unique in the world, as unique as, say, the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona.

www.hundertwasserhaus.at