Am in the very early stages of planning late June-early July vacation and thinking about Eastern Europe. Are these 3 cities convenient for travel and if we have 4 days in each city, including travel time between cities, what do you think of this plan? Having trouble finding a site that gives distance between these cities, so have no idea if its do-able, either by car, train or plane.

Barbara - you have chosen wonderful cities to visit, but expect full days of travelling! Trains between Prague-Krakow, Krakow-Budapest, Budapest-Prague take 8-10 hours and many require 1 or more change of trains. Check out "bahn.de" for more info. Also check out online sites (mapquest etc.) for mileage and driving time. Good luck!

You might want to check out http://www.s-traveler.com/packages.html<BR><BR>Even though they do not have exactly the combination you are seeking, they might put it together for you at a comparable price.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

In October of last year, we did Warsaw, Krakow and Prague. The train ride from Krakow to Prague was about 8 hours with two changes. It was very comfortable and the train changes were easy. The train ride from Prague to Budapest is somewhat longer but I am not sure how much longer. Some friends started their trip in Budapest and flew to Prague. They were pleased with this decision. I would also suggest that you contact Paul Laifer Tours, which puts packages together only for Central Europe. He can arrange a trip for you, which includes air, train tickets, transports to and from hotels, hotels, etc. We used his services for our trip and felt we got a good price. I'm not sure what his arrangement is with Czech Airlines, but he seems to get better fares than we were able to get. Good luck.

Barbara,<BR>Try this site:<BR>www.affordablepoland.com<BR>It's a travel agency out of LA that specializes in eastern and central Europe. You will find everything from airfares, hotels to trains.

www.shell.com has an excellent facility with which to plan a driving tour. It gives driving time, distance, sights, fuel plazas, etc. Autoeurope has good auto rental rates.

Those are good cities and the travel problem has been addressed. The train from Prague to Budapest is about 8 hours but we didn't have to change trains. You can do them in 4 days but they each deserve more. bahn.de is the German rail site and I like it for finding train connections.

You can save a lot of travel time if you travel asleep in a 3-berth sleeper or a 6-berth couchette. I am using the Thomas Cook European Timetable, which may be in the reference library of a city near you. Direct night trains run thus.<BR><BR>Prague Hlavni 2112, Krakow Glowna 0523<BR>Krakow Glowna 2250, Budapest Keleti 0927<BR>Budapest Keleti 1950, Prague Hlavni 0532<BR><BR>Or<BR>Prague Hlavni 2334, Budapss Keleti 0813<BR>Budapest Keleti 1905, Krakow Glowna 0602<BR>Krakow Glowna 2245, Prague Hlavni 0720<BR><BR>I should use the second set of connections, to avoid arrivals at 0523 and 0532. There are pickpockets at the Krakow and Prague stations, so it is best to pass through those with only your rail ticket and a little cash, and everything else in a packet at the top of your bag.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>

Thanks to you all for all the informative replies. I will check out the recommendations. If we flew between cities, do you think that would be very expensive? <BR><BR>Also, need to consider frequent flyer issues -- need to fly on a United or USAirways partner, so we could fly into any one of the three cities (assuming we can use points on those carriers in any of the cities), so the order of the trip doesn't matter other than for logistical reasons.

One of UA's partner is Luhtfansa. Last I checked they could get you to any one of the cities.<BR>Have a great trip!