Prague & Where else?
 

Could someone suggest a nice combination of cities to go along with a trip to Prague. <BR> <BR>Budapest, Vienna, Venice...?

BUDAPEST. I was there last year and loved it. I stayed in a private residence with a balcony off of the bedroom with a great view of the city. The owner of the flat, a retired Chemist, has also published a pamphlet with 12 walks around Budapest. I took 11 of them but ran out of time. I did take one tour to Lake Balatone for a day. Budapest has many spas and hot springs and a ton of musiums to see. If you have time you could also take a hovercraft to Vienna. <BR>Art <BR>

I think the usual is Budapest and Vienna, and I would agree with that if those appeal to you. Really, it depends on your interests and time frame. Venice, for example, is a long ways away. A more logical combination, because it's very close, would be some cities in Germany; you can even go to Dresden in a day trip, for example. I think Prague, Budapest, Vienna would be real nice if you have the time. It also is very dependent on how you plan to travel between the cities. Paris, for example, is only about 1-1/2 hrs from Prague by air, as I recall. If you plan to travel by train, however, that's a problem as trains are not good in Czech Republic or Hungary so they take forever. You could more easily go to Germany and Amsterdam by train (ie, Prague-Frankfurt-Amsterdam or even Prague-Berlin-Amsterdam, but that's more out of the way). Or, you could go to Vienna and then across to Salzburg and then to Munich or Zurich, that's another possibility.

I agree with Art about Budapest. We stayed with Dr. Fleps as well and it was a great time. <BR>My favorite city, though, is Berlin and it is just 4 1/2 hours north of Prague. Dresden is between the two and is an interesting city. Berlin has the history of the 20th century and lots of cultural activities and great friendly people.

Last year we spent about two and a half weeks in that part of the world. flew into Berlin, train to Dresden, from there to Prague. We took a train from Prague for a couple of days in Cesky Krumlov, a castle town at a sharp bend in the river -- absolutely beautiful. Not too touristy, though it had its share of postcards and foreigners. I would really recommend both Dresden and Cesky Krumlov.

Ross, <BR> <BR>A few years ago I flew in to Budapest; train to Vienna; train to Prague and then flew home from Prague. These three cities seemed to go together although after visiting all of them together I realized there was a very diverse culture among them. Took one day trip to Szentendre from Budapest and a day trip from Prague to the Karlstein castle (both trips by train). Prague was the most beautiful of the three but I liked Vienna the best (second time there) because it was a more joyous city. Haven't been to Berlin or Poland so I can't comment on any other combination of cities. One thing I did like about flying into/out of Budapest and Prague is that they were both very small airports and quite accessible to the city centers and lacked long waiting lines and crowds. If you want lodging or any other info please email me. <BR> <BR>Adrienne <BR>

Ross, we have combined Prague, Budapest and Vienna using an East Europe rail pass. You can see our albums of our trip at <BR>http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=203732 <BR>If you use the rail pass then it is easy to organise you arrivals and departures by going to this travel service site and entering destinations and dates.http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/detect.exe/bin/query.exe/en <BR>There is also a direct train between Budapest and Venice if you do decide to head down to Italy. <BR>Happy travelling <BR>Peg.

I agree with the previous posts about Budapest and Vienna -- both are lovely cities -- but why not stay in the Czech Republic and experience something smaller than a city? For example, some of the towns in southern Bohemia like Ceske Krumlov. Just a thought.

Art- Is Dr. Flep's pamphlet with the Budapest walks aavailable anywhere? Could we write or email him for a copy? We are a group of five couples planning a trip for October, so I don't think he would have room for all of us! Budapest sounds wonderful, and any suggestions you have would be appreciated!

Prague, Vienna and Budapest go together because of the connections with the Hapsburg empire. My experience with the Intercity [IC] trains between these cities is that they are fine, fast enough and reliable. Prague to Vienna is about 5 hours, Vienna to Budapest is just under 3 hours. <BR>Peg - your photos are wonderful! You have an excellent eye. Let me know if you'd like your album linked to the unoffical fodorite page at: http://it.uwp.edu/fowler/fodor.htm

We have just posted the travelogue from a tour we took in May, which included Prague. You can read all of it at http://www.thetravelzine.com/ejhtintro.htm <BR> <BR>Happy Travels! <BR>