Governator

Planning to rent a car. I know this is a hectic itinerary but my wife likes to collect countries and I wouldn't mind seeing all of these places, even if for only a little while. I spent a day once in Innsbruck, and I'm not crazy for baroque architecture, but I love medieval. My favorite things to do in Europe are art museums, parks, walking and observing architecture, people, and local life and eating local food. I'm not crazy for insides of palaces. The London part of the itinerary is not changeable and the trip can't be extended. I've been to London, before, for a few days, my wife hasn't. It's unlikely we'll ever return to this part of Europe.

Link to itineraries:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...2-CKSE/pubhtml

Itinerary 1 - London, CK, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna
Itinerary 2 - London, Prague, CK, Vienna

Questions:
For each place in the 1st itinerary:
1. Can you recommend an efficient itinerary to get the most out of a short time in each?
2. Where can I park overnight and how long would it be from arrival to parking to town?
3. Looking for hotels in the 80-100 usd range.

Thanks in advance.

msteacher

All of this is a much faster pace than I would ever enjoy, but this is your trip. Itinerary 2 is better because it involves cramming in fewer places, but it could still use some tweaking. A few thoughts to consider...

- why travel twice through Vienna? You are losing time by backtracking. Fly from LHR to Prague or Budapest, if you must fly home from Vienna.
- since you are primarily visiting larger cities, you will likely find train travel both cheaper and more efficient than a car. Parking will be a challenge, as will city driving, especially in places where you don't speak the language.
- Bratislava can easily be done as a day trip from Vienna via a pleasant boat ride.
- it is unlikely you will have the time for "museums, parks, walking" and the other things you say you want to do in the larger cities.
- Bratislava and CK can be done as day trips, but for the other cities, most people would typically recommend at least 3 days just to scratch the surface. (And even more for London.).
- consider how much of your valuable vacation time you want to devote to being in transit vs actually seeing and enjoying the places you do choose to visit.

The hardest part of planning any trip is deciding what NOT to visit. Consider carefully what locations will give you the experiences you are looking to enjoy in the time you have.

nytraveler

For this itinerary driving would be a disaster - but just the first of many.

typically car rental agencies will not let you take cars from the UK onto the continent. And you don;t need a car in any of these places - it will be nothing but a millstone around your neck - no place to park in the street - spending half your hotel budget to put the car in a garage overnight and then can't be used during the day due to traffic and pedestrian only restricted areas.

Also the drive from London to Prague is more than 14 hours - with no stops - so really 2 full days of driving. IMHO flying between the two is all that makes sense given your VERY short time frame.

I won;t go into any further details - since I don;t know where to begin - but frankly this idea is really just not workable as a road trip - or seeing much of anything.

zorrosf

This is a joke, right?

PalenQ

Is there no steep drop-off charge for renting a car in leftside of trhe road Britain and returning it in central Europe - is it possible?

I've driven around like that and it has its own energy - go for it and add a few days if possible.

janisj

If you hadn't been a member for so long I'd assume this was a troll post. Why the HECK are you driving from London? Makes no sense whatsoever! Flying from London to one of your other destinations, dropping the car and flying back to London would save you 3 days straight driving out of your 8 days. And you don't want/need a car in almost any of the places you want to go.

And you'll have 1.5 jet lagged days in London

$80 will get you a park bench in London. (actually you might be able to get bunks in a dorm room in a hostel for that)

All-in-all - an insane plan.

janisj

>>go for it and add a few days if possible.<<

>>The London part of the itinerary is not changeable and <u><B>the trip can't be extended.</u></B><<

msteacher

Governator... It looks like many of the above posters did not click on the link to 2 spreadsheets outlining your plan, which includes flying to Vienna. This is understandable, because it's a difficult format to interpret. Perhaps you could post the itinerary directly on this site, with a clear explanation of your route?

Governator

To clarify. The car rental starts when I get to Vienna. I'm looking for feedback from that point on. I've never rented a car in any of my 10 or so trips to Europe. However, the distances between Vienna-CK-Prague,Bratislava, Budapest seem very short. Having a car allows one to move on quickly without having to go to a train station or wait for a train. I see there are car parks on the outskirts of Vienna that cost only 3 Euros per day. I'm wondering if other places have the same. I was discussing this with my friend. We live in the NYC area, and thought NYC is about as complex as any city in the world. We think that with a properly planned itinerary, one could get a pretty good overview of the city in 1 day.

Governator

One more clarification, I'm flying with FF miles, and was unable to get a flight into 1 city and flying out of another, for the days I need, which is why I settled on Vienna to Vienna with a London layover .The reason London came into the mix, is I can either a) arrive in London Sat morning and fly on to Vienna on Sunday morning or b) take a shorter layover in London stay in the airport and arrive in Vienna Sat night. I decided to take London for a full 1 day , instead of an extra evening in Vienna. The dates are not flexible.

pariswat

Why not - it is your trip - I would not do it but if you like to tick off places, it is as good a trip as any.
What is CK ? Cesky Krumlov ?

Perso, I'd do it by train as suggested -you'll be tired and in unknown territory - trains would give you time to recuperate and plan the day when you arrive.

mvg.

janisj

>>We live in the NYC area, and thought NYC is about as complex as any city in the world.<<

Huh? If you mean Manhattan, it is set on an almost precise grid. Crowded - yes. Congested - yes. Complex - not at all, about the most straightforward road system anywhere.

NONE of the places you are going are anything like that. Driving doesn't make sense for many of your destinations.

msteacher

In your first itinerary, you do not even have one day in many locations. Since you are using NYC as your framework, what you are proposing is similar to visiting NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC in 8 days. Even with our far-less-efficient- than-Europe train system, I'd recommend using trains for that trip. Too much time would be lost merely looking for parking, let alone paying for it. And, yes, you could get a brief glimpse of each city, but would it really be enjoyable?

Only you can determine what is worth the time and expense of getting to each city, but most folks feel that once they've spent a few hours getting someplace, they want at least a day or two to see what's there.

Governator

Isn't it possible to drive straight to a car park on the outskirts of any of the (continental) cities and then use public transit to get into the city? Why would that be a problem?

If you break it down , I'd be getting the following:
London: 1 full day and night
Cesky Krumolov: 1 evening + 1 morning
Prague: 1 evening + 1 full day and night + 1 morning.
Bratislava: 1 evening + 1 morning
Budapest: 1 evening + 1 morning
Vienna: 1 evening + 1 full day and night

Of course I'd like to spend more time in all of these places, but it's sort of like the "if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium", "taste of Europe" , kind of bus tour I once took my kids on. You don't see anyplace in depth, but you see a lot and it's a lot of fun.

mjs

i think you should go for it. In my opinion you will see little and remember even less except possibly the car. What you are proposing is not a bus tour where everything is worked out for you and you have experienced professionals running things. Your itinerary may work if everything is "perfect" but often things aren't what you think they are or should be. This may allow you to say you have been to a place but you will IMHO experience little of each location. Most of those that I know who travel a lot would not attempt a trip like this but it just might be your "cup of tea". I suspect that this trip will teach you some valuable lessons about travel.

Sassafrass

IME, NYC is pretty simple compared with driving in many European cities.
It will no doubt take you just as long to get to the car park as it would to get to the train station, so you won't save any time there. Most times, the trains go from city center to city center, putting you right where you want to be for any sight seeing you have time for.

Percy

You got to be kidding !

janisj

>>Of course I'd like to spend more time in all of these places, but it's sort of like the "if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium", "taste of Europe" , kind of bus tour I once took my kids on. You don't see anyplace in depth, but you see a lot and it's a lot of fun.<<

Simply not comparable - at all. The coach driver knows <u>exactly</u> where he is going, drops you right AT the hotel or attraction, leaves and returns to pick you up at the appointed hour to move on to the next city. That sort of dashing about is not possible when you are driving yourself. Trains are faster, easier, cheaper than trying this city-centric in a self-drive car.

But it seems you are set on this ill conceived plan -- so do what you want . . .

di2315

Can't wait to read the trip report for this journey!!!!

PalenQ

Why rain on someone's parade when they already admitted it is rushed and they like it - each to their own and if that is what they want and they realize how much a mad-dash quick it is why spend time dissing it - well some folks like dissing more than anything else - why beat a dead horse to death except to further bloviate?