I thought we had a great summer trip planned, and then we found that in the middle of it, when we were planning to spend 3 days in Vienna, the European Soccer Finals are there the same time. We can't find a reasonably priced room and the nutso (read very exuberant) crowd doesn't appeal so we want to go elsewhere. Small towns around Vienna are also booked so we have decided to go to Krakow.
We need to leave from Vienna, because my BIL is flying in there and we have to pick him up. After 3 days in Krakow we go to Budapest for 4 days and that's where we're flying home from.
Here are my questions. We will have a car for the 1st week when we're in Munich & Salzburg. We were going to ditch the car in Vienna and train or hydrofoil to Budapest. Since we are now going to Krakow, should we keep the car and drive it? Should we leave the car in Austria and take a train to Krakow and then Budapest? Is it a hassle to rent a car in Germany or Austria and drive it into other countries and drop off there? We did it in Italy, Croatia & Slovenia, but I knew it was common to do that and not complicated to rent a car one way. Are the road conditions good? Is it scenic with built in points of interest to break up the drive? I'm really not even absolutely sure of how long it will take us to get there. This all came up in the last week and I haven't found a really good answer, except I thought it was a 9 hour distance between Budapest and Krakow and read it's only about 4 or 5 hours. Hope that's so! Any help or advice will be gratefully accepted. Thanks in advance.

We rented a car in Budapest a couple of years ago, and the main restriction then seemed to be about taking the car into Poland, so check very carefully with your car rental company. I believe we wound up using either National or Budget with no problems.

Do as the Europeans do...take the train or a bus. A car in Kraków is a liability. Central European travel is based on public transport. Taxis are inexpensive. Try to arrive early in Kraków, check your bags at the train station. Search out a hotel at your price range. Not all hotels are on the internet. Zakopane might be an alternate venue if you like outdoor pursuits.

Thanks for your replies. I would like to check the web for schedules and prices for Vienna to Krakow and the Krakow to Budapest. What Rail system do I go to? I have been to Krakow before and know we can't have a car there or need one, but we can just park it for our time there, can't we? I love the idea of stopping in villages along the way and that's something we can't do on the train. Or can we? Do you know of places we should definitely stop at? Thanks in advance.

Schedules for all of Europe at www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

Krakow is way out of the way from Vienna to Budapest. Did you check hotels in Graz? Or really, there's enough to do in and around Budapest you could spend all your time there.

If you don't want to drive or take the train, you should fly on Sky Europe from Bratislava. I think the airline should be able to cover you for all the cities you are trying to hit.

Budapest can't be 5 hours from Krakow. Perhaps Prague, but not Budapest, which is south of Vienna. It's a long drive.

I'd ditch the car in Vienna. You won't want a car in Krakow or Budapest, and you'll really pay a premium to bring it over the country lines.