We are 3 Canadian seniors planning a 28/30 day trip to central Europe.
Trying to sort out...time in each city (as in topic title above) ...have been to Prague and Krakow but for too short a time 10 years ago.
Also would like to rent a car...is this practical? We love having the luxury of exploring out of the way places...and taking food along as we stay in apartments whenever possible and practical.

Any thoughts?
Thx,
Cathy

I would spend 5 days in Krakow and Vienna and 4 each in Prague and Budapest.

Check drop off charges on the rental car for picking up in one country and dropping off in another. These charges can be quite high. It takes a long time to get to/from Krakow so flying is probably your best option. You could take a night train between Krakow and Budapest or Orangeways bus.

I rented a car in Prague and traveled around the southern Czech Republic, dropping the car in Brno and taking the train to Krakow. It seemed like a good idea to do this to avoid drop off fees but there were problems such as the Brno airport was basically shut down as few flights go in and out. I was lucky there was a taxi out front and a very nice policewoman hunted down the driver for me. Plus it took most of a day by train between Brno and Krakow although they're not very far apart.

You could avoid the above delays by either dropping a car in the center of Brno or visiting Bratislava and then flying to Krakow. I was underwhelmed by Brno but enjoyed the rest of southern CR.

Decide which small towns or areas you want to visit and then rent a car for a few days. Most of the time it's easier to travel by train.

You might want to take a look at my trip report that includes Krakow and SE Poland, although you might not venture that toward the Ukrainian border; click on my name to find it.

Be aware that there are heavy cross-border drop-off fees on car rentals. But some things are best seen with a car. You might want to do some local rentals and travel by plane or train between the major cities.

It depends on your interests, but I think adrienne's estimates are good for most purposes.

Correction: you might not venture that <b>far</b> toward the Ukrainian border

In Prague I can heartily recommend www.lublanka.cz
email: [email protected]

One block from the Pavlova metro stop; breakfast extra
and tasty.
2 of us had a huge apt.

Many thanks all...thinking we'll do a combo of train travel and car rentals as some of you suggested.

cathyjoan