My husband and some friends are planning a trip to Munich next September. We'd like to stay five nights there (including a day trip to Salzburg), then four nights in another city. We'd like somewhere accessible by train (preferably NOT an overnight train) or by budget airline. Our ideas were Prague, Berlin, Zurich, or Venice. Any thoughts on those? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

I personally would try to find somewhere thats within a 4-5 hour train ride because otherwise you can waste a better part of a day on trains.

Have you considered Vienna? Its about 4.5 hours from Munich and a beautiful city. I haven't been to Prague (yet!) but I think that would also be a good suggestion. Smaller in size but still great to visit is Nuremburg, an easy train ride from Munich.

Tracy

Are you flying open jaws? The convenience (and cost) of flights might affect your decision.

And are you only interested in cities? It would be nice to see something of the countryside after 5 days in Munich/Salzburg.

If you take up tcreath's suggestion of Vienna, you could make Salzburg a stop along the way rather than a day trip. Lots of nice countryside just east of Salzburg.

Munich-prague will be a minimum of 6 hours by rail and that's with no changes; I don't know of any budget airlines flying that route.
Munich-berlin takes 5.5 hours by rail (fastest timing) and there are a couple of budget carriers flying that route (www.skyscanner.net)

Thanks for the suggestions so far! Just wanted to add that we don't mind a six-hour train ride, and we do prefer cities, at least for our hotels. We may venture out into the countryside for a day, but we like to be somewhere busy! Also, we ARE flying open jaw, so the train ride will be one-way. Hope that helps.

Very true that we could do Salzburg on the way to our second city. I guess that will depend on which city we pick!

Anyone have input on the cities I mentioned? Which has the best architecture, cafes, nightlife, scenery, etc in your opinion?

I don't think they have any train from Munich to Prague without changes, as I looked for one last summer. That isn't an easy train route, trains involve 1-3 changes and maybe 6-8 hours in travel time. Unless you have a lot of vacation time, I don't think that's a good idea. I agree with Vienna, as you can get a nonstop train from Munich to Vienna and it's only 5 hrs or so.

whichbudget.com claims Condor flies between Munich and Prague (I think that is a German budget airline), but their own webpage won't list Prague as a destination.

RailEurope seems to have an almost-daily direct from Munich to Prague. It leaves at 6:43am -- all later trips connect -- but we'd survive.

Ignoring convenience, are any of these cities more fun/exciting/must-see than others?

The early departure from Munich is direct with no changes.

Personally, I would pick either Prague, especially for the architecture/medieval feel of the city or Berlin for cafes, nightlife, and museums.

You could take a night train to Venice.

Thanks for the train confirmation and opinions Dukey! I haven't been able to get a feel for Berlin no matter how much I read about it.

Oh---I just looked back and saw you are looking for cafes and nightlife. I think that would be Berlin---a wonderful, exciting city.

We spent a few days in Nuremberg last summer after Munich and it was great. The train was easy - regional, but direct. Nuremberg is a fun city. It is smaller than the other cities you mentioned, but has a fair amount going on. It is also convinient for day trips to smaller towns like Bamberg, Rothenberg, and so on.

I have not been to the other cities on your list, but they are all on my list for future trips

I think Nürnberg with be a good choice.
Salzburg would be too.

If you want to do 4 nights elsewhere, you could do both Salzburg and Vienna.

If you travel by the fastest train between Vienna and Munich, your travel time is a little over 4 hours.

If you buy early enough you can get the round trip ticket for about half price, provided you ride 2nd class and accept schedule restrictions similar to a restricted US airline ticket.

Half price is about €72.20

Love Rothenburg, Hallstatt is great for peace and quiet in the off season. Salzburg is a delight. Barb

I'm going to echo Tracy's suggestion and say Vienna but make Salzburg a 2 night stopover rather than a day trip from Munich. You could do 3 nights Munich, 2 nights Salzburg, 4 nights Vienna. It would be a lovely trip I think. Prague would also be nice....

Eek, decisions, decisions!

What are some must-do's in Salzburg, Vienna or Nuremberg?

I know that's kind of broad, so some more info -- we like walking around more than anything, checking out the scenery and architecture, eating too much, and maybe going to a big museum or two. And take tons of picture!

munich and salzburg. great choice!!!! i love munich and absolutly fell in love with salzburg. a cool little daytrip (1st part is a little touristy so i apologize. very nice still) is from munich drive about an hour and a half to neuschwanstein (sp?) castle. beautiful photo op. then on to garmisch. i spent 2.5 weeks in germany, austria and switzerland and some of my best photos were from garmisch. i wouldnt recommend more than 2 days in garmisch though. furthermore, it would be a horrible mistake for you to make only a daytrip out of salzburg. there is so much to see and do in and the very near vicinity of salburg. good luck

If you haven't been to Berlin, it would provide a great counterpoint to Munich. It's a much younger and larger city, and it's dynamic in comparison to Munich, which seemed laid back to me. It's especially interesting to compare the "old" architecture in both cities--they're from different eras.

Zob,
I'll have to look up Garmisch. What were some of your favorites in and around Salzburg?

Maybe we'll look into 4 nights in Munich, 2 nights in another German city, and 2 nights in Salzburg...