Swannee

Hello we are considering a trip to Vienna and Prague and Poland either this May or September.
We fly into Vienna and arrive around noon, Because our trip schedule only allows us 7 days between Vienna and Prague, I wonder what the best option would be:

1) One night in Vienna and travel to Prague (by train -- we don't want to rent a car as I don't think it is necessary to have a car in either city) stay in Prague 3 days and take the train back to Vienna and stay there the next 3 days until our flight to Poland.
or
2) If we can, take a train to Prague directly from Vienna airport and spend 3 days in Prague then take the train back to Vienna and stay there for 3.5 days.

Is there a direct train from the vienna airport to get us to Prague and would the schedule allows us to do that considering jetlag?

We looked at the various postings as to hotels. Thanks for many good ideas. What we're looking for is something of a charming hotel or bed and breakfast (I hate big box hotels) and at a very reasonable price and in a nice area. We plan to take public transport as I heard it is abundant and do as much walking as possible in both cities. We don't speak any German.

Also I know that May is a beautiful time. What about September?

Thank you

Christina

I've only been to those places in May/June or July so can't help on September, but I would think it would be fine.

I don't believe there is a train station at the airport except for a local airport train. Trains to Prague leave from Vienna Suedbahnhof station, and there are shuttle buses between the airport and that train station. However, I'm not sure if your timing will allow for that, you'd have to check train schedules. It's too bad you are arriving that late, as you may not make it to the train station for the reasonable train to Vienna (I think it leaves at 1 or 1:30, and the bus is probably a half hour, in addition to the time you'd need after the flight).

I wouldn't do your itinerary, frankly, given your time frame, unless I could fly into Prague. The train is about 5 hours. It sounds like you don't even have airline tickets, so you might re-think the part about going to Prague from Vienna and then back to Vienna in order to go to Poland. I think Poland might be a more convenient train ride from Vienna, which is why I'd fly into Prague first.

Swannee

Thanks, however we have tickets that fly into Vienna and from Vienna to Poland and back. We want to see Prague too and it seems that it is closer from Vienna to Prague than from Krakow to Prague (by car anyway).
So my options are to do Prague and Vienna from Vienna or go to Prague from Krakow.

Any thoughts

ira

Hi S,

Checkthe train schedules at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

rex

I'm pretty sure you should take the train - - but this is a common "mistake" here - - you don't say how many in your "we".

Our family of <i><b>five</b></i> rented a car in 2003, and it was clearly a better deal for us, even though the car sat idle for three nights in a (pre-arranged) Prague garage (at $10 USD per night). And a car allowed us to go to our very &quot;in-the-middle-of-nowhere&quot; pensonjat in Poland (where two spacious rooms cost us $85 total, with a big dinner and an enormous breakfast included). Our car rental budget was also affordable because we DID return the car to Austria (Graz). Graz was another big money-saver for us also, as we flew from there to London (Stansted) for only $125 (total for 5 people, not per person) - - providing us a much lower open-jaw transatlantic fare.

This is a bit of a broken record with me (and I realize I am not answering <i>your</i> specific questions, at least not directly) - - but I think that looking at &quot;what is the most cost-effective x or y or z&quot; is sometimes a mistake... it pays to look at the total cost of the trip, and how your lodging choices affect your (intra-Europe) transportation decisions, affect your trans-atlantic options, etc...

Best wishes,

Rex

Swannee

Thanks Ira and Rex
Looked at the rail schedule - getting an idea.

Rex, there are only 2 of us. Where did you stay in Poland at the $85 pension? We don't have time to go to Graz. We both want to see Prague and Vienna and we got a great trans-atlantic fare. Most of our trip will be in Poland. What is the driving like there. Ive heard horror stories. As we are going form Vienna to Prague and back before we fly to Warsaw (part of our air connecting ticket) I think the train may sound more logical that leaving a car in a garage. but maybe not... thoughts on this

cheers

tedgale

Since:

1. you are going to Krakow anyway and have only 7 days before Poland and

2. I found Prague visually lovely but somehow lacking charm, warmth and excitement (though over-supplied with foreign drunks and carousers) and

3. my spouse, with whom I travelled to Prague last month, emailed me today from Krakow to say &quot;Gee, this is just like Prague&quot;...

...would you just possibly consider NOT doing the Vienna-Prague-Vienna loop and substituting another closer city for Prague -- Salzburg, Budapest, whatever?

rex

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34435973

Swannee

Rex, thanks for the info, did check out your posting.

Tedgale, the answer is NO, We really want to see Prague. We don't want to go to Hungary at this time and we have been to Salzburg and loved it. and have doen Innsbruck and the Tyrol. We really want to see Prague (ist choice) and Vienna has always been of interest and since we got a MUCH better deal flying into Vienna than into Prague, that's why the all questions. I wish we had more time but the trip startedoff as a trip to Poland and my husband said OK as long as we can go to Prague too.

Do any of you know if it is expensive to eat out (dinners) in Prague and Vienna

Also what about Prague and Vienna if one does not speak the respective native language.

rex

As others have said on your other thread, you can spend a little or a lot in either city. I think that Prague used to be 30% cheper tan the US. I'd plan on more like 10% less now (guessing - - remeber I was ther in May 2003). I thought that Kampa Park was not a particularly good value in Prague. Most people say expensive but worth it. I have had better $80 meals.

I speak German so I will not comment on language barrier for Vienna. Prague is fairly English friendly, but do NOT have high expectations for all that many English speakers in (small town) Poland.

tedgale

You will have few if any language problems in Prague. Taxi-drivers and others who deal with a mixed clientele may not speak English but know &quot;airport&quot; and &quot;How much?&quot;.

In restaurants and hotels, you may be surprised by the staff's fluency -- particularly among the young.

MaureenB

We only speak English fluently, and had no language problems in Vienna or Prague. Search this forum for Hotel Kaiserin Elisabeth in Vienna-- wonderful, classy, unique hotel, great location in central Vienna, with excellent breakfast buffet (not cheap, but worth every penny)-- and Pension Dientzenhofer in Prague gets good reviews.