Prague to Vienna with Chesky Krumlov in between
 

I planned on 4 days in Prague this October with 4 days in Vienna afterwards. I intended on taking the train between the two. I now want to go to CK and had thought of a day trip from Prague. Now I am wondering should I drive between the two and overnight in CK?? Rental cars seem high and I want to be cost effective yet enjoy CK. What should I do? I just need some practical advice.

However, you get there - don't miss CK!!! We loved it much more than any of the bigger cities. You might want to spend 2 nights there, and one less somewhere else. But then, we're not "big city" people. Enjoy!!

We also liked CK (and a smaller town called Telc) the best. I'd spend one less day in Vienna to spend one more in CK.

We're also planning to spend the night in CK on the way from Prague to Vienna. Haven't yet worked out the logistics yet, but we're planning on using public transportation. Am curious to know what responses you'll get with regards to driving the route.

We intend doing the same thing next year, this is what I have put into my "Prague" file so far.
www.castleview.cz/en/home.html
This guy has some great info on his home page, left hand side.
www.pensionlobo.cz/index.php?lang=en
This site is for a pension but he also runs a shuttle bus from CK to Linz.
From Linz you can train to Vienna.

Best of luck with your planning.

Bookmark

It's hard to say, but I probably would say that just taking a bus company day tour to/from CK from Prague might be the most cost effective and efficient use of your time. You said cars were expensive, I don't know, and those bus tour companies do a very good job, and are pretty cheap. Also, you won't be spending the time on the logistics of doing it yourself (which will take up time if you don't drive, as there is no train station there). It also isn't really on the direct way between Vienna and Prague.

It's just a small town, and I enjoyed it, but one day was plenty for me. There's really nothing much to do there. I took a day tour company from Prague and it was less than $100, it included a private, special tour of the chateau, and we still had around 6 hours there, which was enough for me. We also stopped at a neat church on the outskirts I wouldn't have seen otherwise. The bus drive to/from wasn't bad, as it gave me a chance to see the country, relax (which you can do when not driving) or even nap a bit if you want. I think it was 2.5 hrs or so each way -- we left at 9, got there before lunch and departed around 4-5 pm.

I took Martin Tours and their guide was very good (but not the most deluxe buses), but I have used this company for other day tours from Prague and liked them a lot
http://www.pstours.cz/ They had comfortable buses, also. Their rate is 1750 CK for the 9-10 hour day, which is now just over $100 (times have changed, when I did it several years ago, it cost about one-third less in USD due to the exchange rate changing). I still think $109 US is a very good deal for that full day tour.

I too loved CK, although I agree with Christina. Although lovely, the town is small and there is not much to do there. For us one day was plenty.

We drove to CK from Salzburg so I really can't give any advice other than to say that the drive was extremely slow. What we thought would be a nice relaxing 1.5 hour drive ended up being over 3 hours. I'm not sure if the rest of the roads in CR are that slow, but this one was brutal...we were stuck behind slow moving trucks the whole way up.

Tracy

Well, guess I have a contrarian view of CK. We thought CK was an extremely delightful and fascinating place. Definitely not to be missed IMO. It was a wonderful respite from the big cities and thought it's history, architecture, shops, cafes, gardens, etc provided a lot to do and see. It's a great and beautiful place to slow down and really enjoy an unhurried experience unlike most anywhere else.

We did a day trip on a bus out of Ceske Budejovice and wished we had planned for 1.5 or 2 days and a night. We very much preferred CK over CB. Our bus driver said a lot of people take the train from Prague to CB, then bus or cab from there to CK (the trip is probably about 20 min). I also understand you can take the train from CB to Vienna, but think you change in Linz - hopefully someone with personal experience on this point can chime in. Sorry, but can't help with the rental car issue.

Hope this helps.

dfr4848, if your referring to my post then you are mistaken because I too loved CK. It remains one of my favorite places to visit in Europe. My only comment was that the town was small and that I thought one day was plenty for myself. If people want to spend 3-4 days there, so be it. I personally felt like we seen it all and then some in a day. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed another day, but I honestly don't know what we would have done except for sit and people watch somewhere...which is of course perfectly fine.

Tracy

CK is a small town but if at all possible try to see it in the evening or early morning. There is a huge difference wandering around it during the day and at night. During the day it is like many other medieval towns but at night is pure magic when most tourists are gone. I would really recommend an overnight trip for that reason. Tons of daytrips can be done from there as well.

Someone else mentioned liking Telc - I'm with you!! Love it.

hi, seafox,

I consulted my lonely planet guide to central europe, and found that there are 6 buses a day from prague to CK; when leaving, you can get a bus to Ceske Budejovice and thence a train to Vienna.

regards, ann

We've spent about 3 years total over the past 25 years vacationing in Western Europe. We're now venturing east (have already visited Vienna - twice).

We're planning on visiting Prague, CK, and Budapest - but that seems like a 10 day trip - max. We usually spend 4 weeks on a vacation. I'm looking for some other destinations around & between Prague & Budapest that would be interesting for well seasoned Western European travelers. We love old architecture (not new - we have that in the US), not big on museums, wife has bad feet so no hiking, we live near the Napa/Sonoma wine country so no need to visit winemaking areas, and we don't like overly tacky/touristy places where it's hard to avoid the tack/touristy stuff.

Most of the villages/sites in the Rick Steves book (except CK) don't seem interesting enough to spend more than about 3 hrs in - if that much. It doesn't seem like they are even close enough together so you can easily get from one to the other - like you can in Tuscany, Provence, Dordogne, etc.

Travel2liv2 - what other "tons of daytrips" are available near CK? Do you need a car to visit them?

Telc seemed OK from the Rick Steves description (he also describes Kunta Hora, Karlstejn Castle as day trips from Progue, then Trebon, Telc, Trebic, Slavonice, Moravsky Krumlov, Olomouc). But if CK is a 1 day/1 night visit, Telc must be much less and the travel time to get there is long for just a couple of hours worth of visiting. And the other sites (other than CK & Telc) didn't seem that interesting at all.

We're used to Montepulciano, Pienza, San Quirico, Montalcino being 15 mins from eacy other, Siena 45 mins away, Orvieto 1 hr away, and Florence 1 1/4 hrs away - all by car. Is this not the case in the Czech Republic & Hungary???

So far, my plans seem to be to visit Prague, CK, & Budapest, then fly to Paris & rent a gite in Normandy or Alsace (or both) to fill out our normal 4 weeks trip.

Are we missing a lot of neat stuff in Hungary & Czech by just visiting the 3 places I mentioned? We don't want to visit Prague, drive/train 4 hrs, visit a village for 1-2 hrs, drive/train 4 hrs & stay in a small village overnight, drive/train 4 hrs visit another small village for 1 hr, train/drive 4 hrs to next small village, etc, etc, etc.

This has gotten long - perhaps I'll start a new thread.

Any comments??

Stu Dudley

seafox, we traveled to CK last June. Here are some observations:

The food is great and the cheapest of our central Europe trip. We ate twice at the "Two Marys" restaurant, excellent food, inexpensive, and portions so huge tourists where taking photos of their platers.

There are few daily tours but you must try to see the castle's Baroque Theatre. Book as soon as you get there. One of only two left in Europe, it was a highlight of our trip. The castle and its tower are also great.

The river that winds around CK is a Mecca for Kayakers. Short 2-3 hour Kayak trips are offered through the incredible countryside, we are so sorry that we did not have the time.

We found no interesting shopping in Budapest, Austria or Prague but there are lots of off-beat shops in Ck. Facinating momentos of the wars that we did not see anywhere else. Also very reasonable.

After touring Austria by car we dropped it off in Linz and took the Lobo Minibus to CK. Comfortable but I kept wanting to stop to see some of the interesting sights on the way. We spent one night at the Leonardo Hotel(very nice) and left the next afternoon. Another night would have been better. We heard the train took longer to Prague so we decided on the bus. To say the least you are reminded this was a communist county not long ago. The bus station has a crumbling parking lot where buses pull up to almost obscure,rusting signs. No one seemed to know what was going on. Finally the unairconditioned bus arrived late and the ride was not very comfortable. Not great. Renting a car would have been great but to pick up a car in Austria and drop off in Czech was a fortune. Also many rental companies will not let you drive into Czech Republic.

Hi STu,

well, you may have come to the right place. we were planning a trip for this area for this year [that we have put off to next] which I was hoping to cram into 2 weeks but would easily fill 4!

the rough itinerary was:

Prague, Ceski Krumlov, Melc, Vienna, Brno, Krakov, Dresden, Prague.

if you look at a map, you can see that this could invole an exploration of Bohemia including Telc, a side trip to Linz, then along the danube to Vienna, which deserves a week all by itself. then up through Slovakia into the Tartar mountains, through into Poland to Krakov, then via Wroclav to Dresden, which again warrants another week, especially if you explore Leipzig, Meissen, and the area between Dresden and the czech border known as Saechsische Schweiz.

finally you could nip down to Karlovy Varey [Karlsbad to you and me] which is still a working spa and take the waters, before going home.

How on earth are you going to fit in Paris and Normandy? and I didn't even get you to Budapest!

regards, ann

Hmmm.....I'm not sure why anyone would want to go to Linz, even if just for a side trip. We have been through it twice and it is an industrial city, not very pretty, with lots of traffic and factories. I would have no desire whatsoever to stop and visit. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't think it's a city that most tourists would need to visit.

There is a lovely small town on the Austria/CR border called Freistadt, Austria. The historic center is built within the city walls, and there are quite a few nice restaurants and cafes in town. Definitely worth a visit if you have the time.

Tracy

seafox, if you want the enchanting village experience try Hallstatt in Austria, we liked it even better than CK. Also the roads and signing in Austria is much better than in Czech Republic.

Ann

Are doing this by car or train or a combination?

We've visited Vienna twice, and it wasn't one of our favorites. Spent 3 nights there a few years ago & 2 would have been enough. We took the train there, and did not venture outside of the City. Are there several good scenic day-trip driving itineraries in the immediate area??

I'll read up on the other destinations you mentioned and check driving/train times.

Thanks for the reply. We're planning this for Sept '09.

Stu Dudley

Interesting how one man's delight is another man's boredom.

Re: no good shopping. Depends what you shop for. We found interesting painted eggs, lace tablecloth, a lovely colored cloth. Some wines were excellent. Interesting just to see alternative ways of life. Lots of castles, most more realistic than Neuschwanstein.

Hi Seafox,
Last June we drove from Prgaue to Cesky Krumlov. Drive took us about 3 hours through very pretty countryside. Loved C.K. We only had one night, but I would have happily spent another (and perhaps even a third). From there we drove to the Wachau Vally (which is almost to Vienna) - once again, an easy drive. The only problem I can see that you may face is a one way hire fee - pick up in Czech Republic and drop off in Austria. These charges are usually prohibitive.