We are 12 senior citizens (in good health) spending one week in Prague and the next week in Salzburg/southern Germany. We fly in and out of Munich and will pick up rent cars at the airport.

Some of us want to go to Budapest but the drive appears to be about 10 hours each way. The plane fare was around $350.00 round trip, which seems a little high. The train appears to be about 8 or 9 hours.

Not knowing the road conditions or the difficulty in train travel, would you recommend taking the plane?

Also, can anyone recommend a place to spend the night between Munich and Prague as we don't want to drive very far after we get off the plane in Munich?

Have you checked out Air Berlin for the connection between Munich and Berlin? http://www.airberlin.com/site/index.php?LANG=eng.
Plugging in a mid-week departure and return date in March, I come up with a fare of about 160 euros. Air Berlin also has a flight from Salzburg to Budapest for the same price.

I'm confused. What is 10 hours each way? I checked www.mappy.com for itinerary and times:

Munich to Budapest is 680 km on the motorway. The time given is 6.5 hours, which would probably make you the slowest car(s) on the autobahn -- practically in the bicycle class.

Salzburg to Budapest is 540 km (325 miles) -- again the estimate, at 5 hours, puts you in the bicycle class --as you have one fewer border crossing than the above route...

Prague to Budapest via Slovakia is 500 km or so and the time given is 5 hours 17 minutes.

I really feel dumb trying to understand the train info - point to point versus pass? Even reading the schedules is confusing me. Is there a travel agent that specializes in train travel - I don't mind paying for someone to decode the info and help me decide which would be best for us.

You aren't so senior that you're seeing 680 km and figure that's 10 hours at 60 miles an hour, are you?

Susie, I suggest you call Budget Europe, 15 800-441-2387. We haven't booked our railpasses yet, but the guy I talked to was super helpful in sorting out the train info for our trip this May. When I called, the prices for 2006 weren't out yet, but he suggested we call in December, when the prices would be out and we'd be able to book for our May 2006 travel at 2005 prices.

Give it a shot. He'll tell you whether your best deal is point-to-point or railpass. You'll need to have your travel dates handy when you talk to him, though he may be able to give you an idea about prices and options even without the dates.

ttt