We're a family of four (children 29 & 19) planning to vacation for 10 days in Prague and Croatia (Hvar, Split and Dubronik. Is this doable? If so, what's the best way to transfer from Prague to Croatia? My husband and I are into museums, architecture, fine dining, etc. The children are a bit of above. What do you suggest places we can go that will interest them? Will I have enough time to prepare for an early May 2007 trip? I have been checking airline tickets and so far they're in the range of $700-800. Is this reasonable? Thanks for any info you can share.

how long do you plan on staying in Prague?

Have only done Prague, which is excellent.
The Jewish Museum is highly rated, and we recommend it. There are some Castles in the countryside that are also excellent. Recommend you take the trains and enjoy the journey.

700-800 is about as good as you can do round trip.

I am actually traveling to Prague in Early May as well. And Round trip for me was cheap. my advise is to go on Orbitz.com and use them. i got it round trip for $504 round trip. from JFK. i Mean i have no idea where you guys live so it might be more money the farther you are outwest

Nbujik, we're planning to stay in Prague just for 3 days, we really wanted to see Croatia more. But if Prague and Crotia will be a hardship, then we just plan to a Prague-Budapest-Vienna. Any info is very much appreciated esp. the Prague to Crotia connection.

The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable. For connections from Prague to Zagreb and Split this offers these connections.
Prague main station 2302, sleepers and couchettes, Budapest Keleti 0753 to 0805 Zagreb 1343 to 1522, buffet car, Split 2045
Prague main station 0732, restaurant car, Budapest Keleti 1417 to 1500, Zagreb 2221 to 2255, sleepers and couchettes, Split 0657
The basic second class one way fare Prague to Zagreb is 100 euros. You should add about 35 euros for a sleeper as couchettes are too crowded for comfort), and 2 euros for using daytime expresses. You should beware of pickpockets in gangs of three at Prague main station, so should carry only rail tickets and a little money as you cross the station, and bring out a passport only in the Czech sleeper or as you approach frontiers on the day train.

Ben Haines, London
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The only choice is to fly from Prague to Split, ferry to Hvar, and then ferry to Dubrovnik. But I do think it's a hardship. If you have only a week in Croatia, you'll spend 2 full days traveling, so I'm not sure it's worth it. To be honest, I'd skip Prague and just do Croatia, perhaps adding another island (maybe Korcula) or destination in Croatia to your itinerary.

I should clarify. You can do the trip from Prague to Split by train, but I don't think it's worth it, even for 100 euros per person.

cheryl,
I'm planning a trip to Prague and Croatia this summer as well. Skyeurope does fly from Prague to both Split and Dubrovnik. That's what we plan to do. You should also look into doing an open jaw, returning from either Split or Dubrovnik to avoid the need of returning to Prague for your return flight.

Dear Cheryl,

Where are you traveling from and are the 10 days inclusive of 2 days of travel? If you are left with 8 days, I would either do the Prague-Budapest-Vienna "triangle" or the 8 days in Croatia: Split-2, Hvar-3, Dubrovnik-3. My Croatia suggestion is doable only if you are planning to rent a car, otherwise, you'll lose a lot of time transferring between your places of choice. I only say this beacuse I've heard that the train and bus systems are not the greatest. Their ferry system though, is very efficient. Your children should like the places you've selected, especially Dubrovnik and Hvar; both get an influx of back packers, and Hvar gets a lot of young and hip visitors, because of its nightlife. Two months is plenty of time to plan for a May trip, and if you're traveling from the US, the $700-800 price sounds quite reasonable to me.

Good Luck,
Laz

You can fly from Prague to Dubrovnik or Split with Sky Europe but the flights do not go every day. Austrian Air also flys the routes very efficiently via Vienna. I also do not think you really have time to do Prague and Croatia. This is especially true if your ten days includes travel to/from Europe. Even Prague/Vienna/Budapest would be tight if the ten days included travel to/from Europe. Could do Dalmatia for ten days.
Museums and fine dining are also not the highlights of Prague or Croatia but there are other reasons to visit.

Maybe this is too late to help, but I'm living in Prague now and i did the trip to Croatia last year.

As the editor pointed out, the only time effective means of travel from Prague to Croatia will be airplane. It takes about 90 minutes. If you book in advance on SkyEurope the one-way ticket should cost about $150-$200 as many of the cheapest tickets are already sold due for this summer due to extensive promotion by Sky Europe during the winter. If you go Prague -> Split and then Dubrovnik -> Prague, the price should be the same as a RT to either city. But as noted above, the flights only fly two days per week. Austrian Air probably flies daily and probably costs much more for this trip; especially if you want an open-jaw flight.

If you fly to Split from Prague, you'll arrive at 8PM or so, then you'll have the entire next day to see the city... that should be enough for Split, then you can go out to Hvar where the beaches are nice and restaurants and nightlife are better. From Hvar you can probably take a ferry to Dubrovnik, but ferries are slow, so unless there is a hydrofoil (expensive) that will be a long trip. The better option might be to go back to split and take the bus to dubrovnik. Busses are very reliable in Croatia (also cheap) but trains aren't. They are very slow and the routes are often indirect. Renting a car is a 3rd option which seems to be popular for Croatia.

The ferries from Split to Hvar don't run every hour so it's not a no brainer to coordinate your schedules, it takes some planning.

Otherwise, If you plan for 3 days in Prague, then 3 in Split + Hvar and then 1 day to get to Dubrovnik, 3 days in Dubrovnik, then the last night in Prague it would be a reasonable itinerary. I think 4 days is about right for Prague, but if you have 3 full days there you won't feel like you missed much.