We are planning a trip to Warsaw, Auschwitz,Krakow,Danube bend excursion to be included, Budapest, Prague and Vienna. Any info sent will be greatly appreciated. Would like to hear from you who have traveled to these places and what all you have seen and done. We are going in Sept. What will the weather be like etc. Thanks!

There are hundreds of threads here on each of the destinations you mention. I'm hoping you have at least 15-20 days available for a trip to this many places.

Some excellent websites to recommend to you...

www.essentialprague.com
www.inyourpocket.com
www.weatherbase.com or
www.worldclimate.com

And last of all (and least important) - - everywhere you mention is in <i><b>central</b></i> Europe. See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34541365

Best wishes,

Rex

No matter how long Rex may still say that it is central Europe - Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary is Eastern Europe.

Although it is least important I want to point out that Rex's opinion is just his opinion (like is mine LOL).

Please specify your interests so we can provide detailed info. Otherwise, please read the many trip reports on this forum and come back with specific questions.

Ingo

Each of us is entitled to an opinion, and I will note that Ingo lives closer to Prague than I do.

But if nothing else, I have exposed you, lze, to the very real sentiment that the people who live in the smack-dab <i><b>center</b></i> of Europe do not like hearing their land(s) called &quot;eastern Europe&quot;. Vienna, the Austro-Hungarian empire, the very learned academic/cultural society centered round Charles University in Prague - - these were the flourishing &quot;New York City&quot; of central Europe for a half-dozen centuries, long before the historical blip (of 75 years) that extended Russian influence way beyond &quot;eastern Europe&quot;. Czechs, Poles and Hungarians will be quick to let you know this.

Ingo is also invited to offer some resources to make the initial exploratory learning easier and more palatable/enjoyable for those just beginning to contemplate a trip &quot;east of Zurich&quot;.

That's what I did first; the rest is a pedantic afterthought.

Sorry -

Rex's &quot;opinion&quot; is the corret one. Unless you believe that anyone has the right to their &quot;opinion&quot; - despite having no relationship whatsoever to the facts. (On that basis Pennsylvania would be the western united states - since that is my &quot;opinion&quot;.)

Austria has been considered western europe since WWII, although traditionally it was considered central europe - along with Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic etc. These were the countries that were in the &quot;center&quot; - that is - between the western european democracies and Russia. Eastern Europe is Russia, the Ukraine and other former USSR republics.

Now, about your trip - you have an extremely full schedule there - assume you will take 3 or 4 weeks to do this - otherwise you should pare it down. (IMHO you need at lesat 4 days each in prague, Budapest, Vienna, Warsaw etc plus day trips from each - otherwise the entire effort will just be a big blur.

September weather should still be warm during the day - with the nights being a little chillier - you'll need a light jacket. (This is unlike St, Peterburg - which is in eastern europe - when September is actually deep into fall - and all the locals will be wearing winter coats.)

To give you info on all to see and do would take pages. Suggest you peruse a good guide book or two, search the desinations section of this site - and then return with specific questions.

I was in Prague and Vienna last July. In Prague we stayed at the Hotel Astra, on the outskirts of the city. The excellent transportation system there made it easy to go between hotel and city (with only a short walk). It was nothing elaborate. Very clean, no a/c, very good restaurant.

In Vienna, we stayed at the Hotel von Ungarn. It is located in the shadows of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Overall, it was by far one of the best hotels we've stayed in. Again, excellent public transportation makes getting around very easy.

I can provide you eith more info if you wish ([email protected]).

Happy travels!

Budapest had more to offer us in the 4 days we had allotted, and hope to return to see more.

The Vaci Utca is the pedestrianized shopping street on the Pest side of the river. We stayed on both the Pest and Buda sides during different parts of the trip. We liked the Pest side better for accessing the city, but the Buda side hotel was better as was the view there. Depends on what you're after there. We went in October of this year just past and the weather was fine in just a jacket, sometimes without jacket.

Be sure to see Buda Hill, with the castle, Fisherman's Bastion, Matyas Church. Kind of hard to miss that area. Also the walk up or down Andrassy street is a good one, down to Hero's Square at the park. St. Stephens Cathedral and the Synagogue are worth seeing.

For a day trip, I would highly recommend Eger. A beautiful small city center with a castle, Baroque churches and a Turkish minaret.

On the Eastern Europe thing - this happens on this board everytime someone strings the two words together. Hungarians I met said eastern, but I didn't meet them all. Don't worry about it. Depends on how many ways you want to divide it. 2, 3 or whatever. Apparently we're on the 3 part system now - until someone asks which part Romania, Albania, Turkey, Finland etc are. Suddenly &quot;Northern Europe&quot;, &quot;Southeastern Europe&quot; and countless other distinctions come out of no where. As I said, I wouldn't consider it too much, everyone knew where you were talking about and I doubt you'd get a hard time about it on your trip.

Have fun.

Are you traveling on your own? Your itinerary sounds almost exactly like our group tour with May 27 departure.

Bill in Missouri [email protected]

topping... (at this seemingly uncivilized hour)... for reasons apparent in another thread, which can be located by clicking on the name of the OP...

topping for Ize

Since this old thread is a bit more informative, it makes a little bit more sense (to me) to &quot;top&quot; it - - i.e,, bring it back up to the top, making it more likely that others will see it, read it and respond - - than your &quot;other&quot; (newer, but less specific) message.

But if your plans have now changed from this significantly, may I suggest that you start an entirely new post, mentioning <i><b>in the message header</b></i> the countries, regions or cities you want to include in your itnerary, and the kinds of information/assistance you are seeking - - lodging? eating? transport or other logistics? attractions? budget?

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
sick &amp; tired of people debating the whole Eastern/Western/Central Europe thing on this forum. Why don't you start your own website, so you can just discuss &amp; debate that single topic. The rest of us will just share simple thoughts on food &amp; lodging, here on Fodors. Please!!!!!!!

How about reading the date(s) on the post(s); the thread started in January - - the OP is still seeking information about this trip - - but HAS started a new post, seeking info on SmarTours, which is what is really being considered for this travel.