Overnight trip to Prague out of Berlin?
 

Will be flying into Berlin on Sunday afternoon and flying out the following Sunday morning so I have 6.5 days in Berlin.

It's a sprawling city and I know the day trip opportunities are in Potsdam and Dresden. And some concentration camps around.

But I see Prague is about 200 miles away, about as close as any other major German city. Hamburg seems to be the closest at about 200 miles as well.

On bahn.de, I priced an overnight trip in second class using Bahncard 25 2nd class to get a fare of 89 Euros. Over 4.5 hours each way. But they have restricted fares for as low as 58 euros round trip.

I couldn't find any cheap airfares out of TGL to Prague on Kayak. Do the LCCs fly out of the other airport (name escapes me at the minute)?

Or perhaps a car rental (is parking viable in Prague?)?

Of course an overnight trip doesn't do Prague justice but it seems so (relatively) close by. Anyone ever take this route?

Any issues with US Passport holders entering the Czech Republic? Are they on Euros? Schengen?

<Any issues with US Passport holders entering the Czech Republic? Are they on Euros? Schengen?>

absolutely not - no visa needed - not on euros but Czech koruna but i believe euros can be spent there but you'll need local currency for many things - ATMs as usual.

Schengen no i think so there will be border controls. i may be wrong - i'd Czech on that.

The train is only about 4 hours - and border crossing is a 30-second check of passport.

Why not take the train down one am and then return the following night - giving you about 1.5 days in Prague?

That's what I was thinking, leave in morning, return next night.

I am taking a GPS (for driving in Provence the following week) so I checked out rental car price, $321 for 2-days!

One thing to consider is that Hamburg is the same distance but only 2 hours by high-speed train. Of course, Prague is probably of more interest though.

Then again, if I take day trips to Potsdam and Dresden, there's probably enough to do in Berlin the rest of the time.

I have taken the train from Berlin to Prague. This train stops at Dresden. The train goes through the Elbe River Valley from Dresden to Prague. This is a very scenic trip.

I thought that Dresden was not a very English friendly town. This included the train station. Knowing German would be helpful. I did not see any English menus outside restaurants.

If you are interested in concentration camps you might consider Terezin near Prague. This is a five hour tour though.

If I took a train to Prague, I would try to get it to the main station Hlavni Nadrazi. The train station Holesovice is too far from the city center.

Most trains from Berlin/Dresden to Prague only go to Holesovice. The Red subway line ends at Holesovice, so it's an easy ride right into the city center for less than $1 subway fare. QED.

If you are going to Dresden I would do it on the way to or from Prague - it's about 1/2 way. Then you aren't back tracking.

I've done several day trips to Prague. While there is certainly more to do than just 1 day, you can enjoy even a short visit there.

You could try this. Early one morning train from Berlin to Dresden. Book room for 2 nights in Dresden. Spend 1 day there, then 2nd day make it a day trip to Prague, and return to Dresden in the evening. That way you would not need to bring your luggage with you, nor would you have to travel all the way back to Berlin 2nd night.

There is so much to do in Berlin! Stay in Berlin and save Prague for another trip.

Potsdam is only an hour away and costs very little to get to - make that your day trip instead... and I am sure Prague and Dresden deserve more time than you can give them on this trip.

Berlin is awesome. You will love it.

Thanks, I'm seeing Frommer's 5-day itinerary, which includes Potsdam so I thought I might be able to pack a bit more things in.

Is Dresden mostly modern, rebuilt after the bombardment of WWII or are there a lot of centuries-old remnants?

The center of Dresden is largely rebuilt (with more going on all the time) but it is in the original Baroque style. Lovely place for a day or overnight trip. Here's a link to my Dresden pictures, to give you a visual of the old town:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34981792