Prague and.........
 

We're going to Prague for 4 days in either May or June and decided to add 2 more cities to make the trip about 10-12 days in total.

We want to be able to get to one of the cities as a stopover with our airline ticket and then we'll take a train to the other one.

We're considering the following: Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Cologne.

Also, has anyone ever flown Biz Class on Czech Airlines or know of their reputation?

Czech Air is great. Flown it many times in economy, but have been upgraded to Business, and it was wonderful. They have great web specials, so see if you can get a good deal to another city. Keep checking their site, because they have daily specials. However, you cannot buy one-way tickets through them. You can buy one-way CSA tix trough Expedia, etc.., though.

www.csa.cz

You're going to love Prague! My absolute favorite city. And June should be lovely, crowded but lovely. Beware of pickpockets--it is a serious problem there. Be on guard. I've been to all 4 of the cities you're considering to add to your itinerary. Aside from the massive cathedral Koln was not my favorite city, just my opinion. If it were me I'd go with Vienna and Budapest. Munich is great too, but of those options I'd go with Vienna and Budapest. It really depends on what you want out of the trip though. Munich and Bavaria is wonderful too. I'm not sure which of these cities (thinking of Budapest and Vienna) you'd be hitting using your stopover, but both are quite accessible by train from Prague. I believe Vienna's just a 4/5-hour train ride and Budapest would be just a 6/7-hour train ride. Check http://www.reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en for more details on trains. I think all 3 cities could easily be visited in your 10-12 day time frame. I'd definitely go a bit heavier on Prague though. Actually if you spent the full 12 days on the trip I think you could easily hit 4 cities--Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Munich. Good luck!

i would not go to cologne unless you have some reason in connection with a prague trip...
the others you have mentioned are all fabulous...may i suggest either dresden or berlin as alternatives....fly to prague, take train or car to dresden and on to berlin and fly home from berlin....

I have never been to Budapest, but i would rate the other three as follows (and throw in Berlin as well, since it has been mentioned, and it is a good complement).

1. Berlin
1.1 Munich
4. Vienna
8. Cologne

If I were to fill this in to make a true list of "top ten" choices to fit with a trip to Prague, they would be small towns, which I like frequently as much or more than cities. But then, they would not fit as "stopover" destinations (i.e., with airports).

Best wishes,

Rex

Thanks for the replies. Yes, Cologne was "iffy" and you've confirmed it to be off the list. Thanks.
I had originally been considering Berlin but some friends thought that it wasn't so great. I think I should rethink that advice and look further into it.
Thanks for the warnings about the pickpockets in Prague. We'll be on guard. For our trip last summer to Spain, I bought my husband anti-pickpocket pants from TravelSmith. Guess he'll be wearing them again!
The Lonely Planet Website warned me of another Prague scam, where a street hawker sells you tickets to an orchestra concert in a "royal" concert hall, (yadda yadda yadda) and you buy tkts for a medicore performance by some students in a dingy basement, filled only with other tourists who fell for the same thing.

Glad to see Cologne is off the list--it's just not up to the standard of the other cities. For legitimate Prague concert tickets, you can order them through www.ticketpro.cz, or at the Tiocketpro office or the tourist office on Rytirska when you get there.

I think if you choose Munich, you should really just make your trips two stops instead of tree, as there are lots of day trips you can do from Munich (Dachau, Neauchwanstein Castle, Hitler's Eagle's nest, and Salzburg).

Budapest and Vienna seem to be the logical 2 cities to do, though. I think you'd enjoy the trip most if you did Vienna first, then Budapest, then Prague (save the best for last).

Dresden is also a really short trip from Prague. You may want to look into a trip there, or to Krakow, Poland--the dollar is very strong against the zloty.

Agree with allovereurope, Vienna first, then Budapest, then Prague.

I too suggest Vienna and Budapest. I suppose the order in which you go to each city is up for grabs. Logically (speaking geographically) Budapest, Vienna, Prague; or in the other direction, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, flying into one and out of the other, with trains in between. That way you won't be backtracking in one direction of the other.

Our favorite was Prague, stayed for five days, Budapest came in second, stayed for four days, and Vienna was third with a two day stay.

We've not visited Germany so I'm no help in that area.