Vienna-Cesky Krumlov-Prague-Vienna for 7 days
 

Arriving and departing the continent at Vienna. I'm unable to change that. So I need to figure out the best itinerary for Vienna-Cesky Krumlov-Prague-Vienna for 7 days. How many days in each and how to get from one to the other.

CK is a bit difficult to get to by train, so I'm thinking, immediately upon landing in Vienna, to use a car to get up to CK (for a day or overnight) and then Prague (for x days), keeping the car at park and ride at Prague and then driving back to Vienna (for x days) where I'll ditch the car or keep it in a park and ride , maybe using it for a countryside tour, and use it to go the airport.

If one uses the park and rides on the outskirts of Prague and Vienna, and stays out of the city center, it should be pretty easy driving from city to city.

CK may be a problem, however, as I read they only have parking for 590 cars. I'd hate to get there and find out I have to wait for a parking place to free up.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Check out travel by private shuttle (I am using Bean.com, but there are several). 60 Euros for each of the 2 short legs and 140 Euros for final leg (PRG>VIE). That's total of 260 Euros (not including tip) and you will not get lost, will not worry about where to park, will not worry about damage to the vehicle (or phony claims of damage arising months after leaving Central Europe). I venture to say that the rental costs, fuel costs and toll costs make the two choices relatively close from a cost standpoint. According to Europcar, it will cost 260 Euros for the smallest car they have (Fiat 500) for one week, NOT including insurance, gas, tolls, etc.

For a SMALL extra charge, the shuttle will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel rather than having to schlep to/from the main train station or other central meeting point.

As others have said on your other post, it's your life, your trip and your money. But for me, the convenience (luxury even) of having one's own driver for LESS than the cost of a rental makes the choice of shuttle quite easy.

Zorrosf, your suggestion sounds interesting. Will you post the actual link for the company you're using, please, as that one seems not to be it.

Chere Madame Perdu:

The link I used is ckshuttle.cz and the email address is [email protected].

zorrosf, By 2 short legs do you mean prg-ck-prg? Since I'm starting and ending in Vienna shouldn't I hit CK on the way to , or the way back from prg, rather than first going to prg and doing the back and forth to ck?

From your other thread is seems you are choosing to rent a car mainly to save $$$/€€€ (and to get to CK)

You apparently made this decision after looking at RailEurope . . . That is a mistake RailEurope is not a source for point-to-point tickets. These would cheaper for what you would need on this itinerary.

Dear G:

Yes the "short legs" refers to those to or from CK. I assumed (you know what that does) that you were going to stay in CK at least one night. If not, you can certainly hit it briefly on the way to or from PRG.

On your other post, you asked if anyone drove in Europe, and if so, why not use the park and rides as we do in the states.

We lived in Europe as do several people on this board, so of course we drove and so do others. Many people do road trips. They do road trips to visit towns, villages, mountains and lakes that are not served by public transport and to allow the flexibility to stop and visit places along the way. That is different from visiting only cities and not planing to make stops in the countryside.

Think about how people here actually use the P&Rs. They live in the outskirts of the city and drive to a P&R closest to public transportation (bus, metro, etc) to get them into the city. Here in Baltimore, many people do the P&R and take the train from Baltimore to DC. They do not drive to the outskirts of DC first unless they live there. People who already live near the metro or station, just use the station. If you are visiting only cities, in your short time, then trains make sense. Faster, less hassle.

Sassafras,

See this link http://www.prague.net/park-and-ride.

Why shouldn't a tourist who is using a car, coming from Vienna, stopping in Cesky Krumlov along the way, use this method of getting into Prague. Then return to his car when he is ready to drive back to Vienna? I fail to see the hassle. Maybe I'm missing something.

To use your example, why wouldn't a tourist driving from somewhere else in the U.S., who wants to use his car, but doesn't want to deal with city driving or parking, drive to a P&R outside DC and take the metro into the city. Then return to his car after a few days in DC?

It seems that getting to CK from Vienna without a car might be a bigger hassle, as well as taking long (up to 5.5 hrs vs less than 3 hrs driving.)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...n_Bohemia.html

I'm beginning to think I should skip CK and go to Budapest instead, LOL.

I think Budapest is an excellent idea. Vienna and Budapest in a week would be an infinitely simpler itinerary and a quick & easy train ride between the 2. You might also slip in a day trip to Bratislava, quite near Vienna. There are also boats from both cities to Bratislava, and while I decided against it last trip, you might have a combination of boat and train, maybe bus, to connect the 3 cities. I've heard nothing but good things about Bratislava.

Governator: P&Rs are meant for shopping trips or commuting for work - most do not allow overnight parking.

Plus it can take 1.5-2 hours out of a day waiting for the next buses and the drive in/back out of town.

Trains are usually faster and almost always easier when you are talking about European <i>cities</i>. If you were wandering around rural areas, driving can make a LOT of sense. But for visiting cities - nope.

when we went to Vienna, we flew into [and out of] Bratislava as it is Ryanair's Vienna airport. we stayed the night [wished we'd had longer] then got the hydrofoil to Vienna - about 90 mins along the Danube right into the centre of the city so it would make a great way to do at least one leg of a day trip if you were staying nearby.

One unexpected aspect of Bratislava was the proliferation of such restaurants.

janisj,

I'm not trying to be contentious, but according to this http://www.prague.net/park-and-ride
there is overnight parking and I think it's on a metro line.

that should be :

<<One unexpected aspect of Bratislava was the proliferation of sushi restaurants.>>

dratted auto-correct!

Of course it is possible for a tourist to drive from somewhere and do P&R outside DC. But they will be paying rental for the car each day plus the parking, and the shuttle (dragging their luggage) from parking into town, then a taxi or metro to their hotel. It would make sense if they came from some place without good train service and were continuing to other places without good train service. That is different than going simply from city center to city center in Europe where they have good, frequent, cheap train service.

My DD commutes to work in NYC. She never drives. She take the train from Baltimore to right down town NYC. If she drove, then parked and took the shuttle, then the metro, it would add at least 45 minutes travel time.
When the whole family goes, with lots of kid stuff, and has family to stay wit, with easy parking, they drive.

My personal experience in Europe is for countryside, a car is great. For only cities, the train is usually better and cheaper. In the end, you decide what works best for you.

I agree, train service in Europe is fabulous and is generally the way to go. However, Cesky Krumolov is not a simple destination to get to by train which is why many recommend using a car service. Instead, I was thinking of renting my own car to get to CK, and as long as I'd have it, using it to get around on the rest of my trip. The costs are comparable to if not less than using trains, for 2 people. The only obstacle I foresee is where to park it. The park and rides near to metro stations seem possibly like a good solution. I'm still trying to figure out what works best. Thanks for your feedback.

No the costs are likely NOT LESS for a car. You used raileurope to figure train fares. Big mistake. Plus have you figured $8 or more per gallon???

Trains are 1-cheaper, 2- faster, 3- easier. Driving makes no sense for your itinerary.

But you have this set in your mind so go for it.

Check out Lobo Shuttle. They will take you from Vienna to CK and onto Prague on a separate day. I believe they also go from Prague to Vienna.

There are other shuttles also but this is the one that I used from CK to Linz (they didn't go to Vienna at that time).