Prague to Vienna by car
 

My wife and I are planning to visit Prague in March and stay for a week. We are planning to take several one-day or half-day tours to see some of the surrounding sights. However, I wondered it it would be feasable to rent a car for 24 hours and drive to Vienna and back to Prague. My AAA map puts the driving time at 4 hours each way, although they tend to be conservative when gauging the time required. <BR><BR>Does anyone know if it would be doable and still give us some time in Vienna to look around and see some sights and return to Prague the same night?

if I were you, I would not rent a car but take the train instead. train takes about 4 1/2 hrs. Schedules can be found at bahn.hafas.de

I think it's too far for a day trip, but it is done. If I were you, I'd look to a tour company to do this, one with buses -- those are very cheap in Prague and it will be cheaper, safer and probably quicker than renting a car. You can find these day trip bus companies around Wenceslaus Sq and the Namesti Republicky metro stop. For example, I took a day trip to Cesky Krumlove through one and that's pretty far (about 3 hrs one-way drive) and the entire tour including transportation and multilingual guide was only about US$25 or something. I have taken day trips from Vienna and noticed one company who had one to Prague, so I assume there are some the other direction, but Prague companies will be cheaper. Four hrs doesn't sound far off from reality (the trains are real slow up there often, so the train can take longer than a bus).

If you want i can give you a chauffer service that goes to Vienna from Prague.<BR>I know them well. They do make that trip and can tell you the amount of time that it takes. <BR>I can give you email address of the service. I know them well and use them for all my travel. <BR>Let me know at [email protected]<BR>They are great people and i know they do that trip as i was going to use them . very reasonable.<BR>Dan

You could definitely do it in a day, but it is a very boring drive and the roads are all 2 lane with very few passing areas. I would tend to agree that a train might be a better alternative.

Do not attempt this as a "day trip". Wdid this trip by car (drove from Vienna to Prague) but not for a day trip. We stayed in Prague September 10-12, 2001 then drove back to Salzburg. I would never do it again (the drive -- Prague was fabulous). We have driven all over western Europe, but this just wasn't worth the effort. The traffic (on almost all two lane roads) was awful. Lots of trucks that don't have to meet emissions standards like we have. My throat and eyes burned almost the entire trip. The roads go through towns periodically (even more traffic) and the drive is not particularly picturesque. I even planned detours to visit Telc (Vienna to Prague leg) and Cesky Krumlov (Prague to Salzburg area leg) thinking this would be a great opportunity. Also, auto rental companies give you crappy cars to drive if you are headed to Eastern Europe due to problems with theft, the rates are substantially higher, and you don't want or need a car in Prague. Best to take a bus or perhaps the train. Time is probably about the same and it would be a much more enjoyable way to get there. Good luck.

I would totally agree with Stephanie. We drove from outside Linz to Prague and it was the only "bad" part of our trip. When they tell you it is a 5 hour drive...it's a 5+ hour drive. There is no making up time. I also had planned side trips along the way, but by the time we had started driving in Czech Rep., I had no interest in making the trip to Prague any longer. Prague was amazing and I'd go back there in a heartbeat, but may fly to Prague first and then begin my trip from there.