which route is better: Salzburg to Prague or Vienna to Prague?
 

DH and I, fit, mid-thirties, are in the early stages of planning a trip to Prague and Austria for next May. We've been reading your advice and trip reports obsessively, and definitely want to see both Salzburg and Vienna, and we're very interested in trying to make it to Prague as well. We plan to spend 3-5 days in each city, but we're trying to figure out the best routing via public transit (bus, shuttle, or train) between the cities so we can decide where to fly in/out.

So if we're flexible on the order of visiting the cities, which Austrian city is easier to connect to Prague if our priorities are 1. scenic train/bus route, 2. shorter transit time, and 3. easier connections? Also, does it change anything if we want to try to see Cesky Krumlov en route from one city to another? (is that even possible without an overnite stay? we don't like 1-night stands)

Possible routes:
1. Prague-Vienna-Salzburg (do CK as a daytrip while in Prague?)
2. Vienna-Salzburg-Prague (stop in CK for a few hours between Salzburg and Prague?)
3. I suppose we could do Salzburg-Prague-Vienna, but that seems like a lot more time spent traveling
4. Obviously we can reverse any of the above

So it seems it comes down to which is better: Salzburg to Prague, or Vienna to Prague?

Thanks so much for your help!
- M&M

Vienna-Prague probably has a better public transportation connection. Some of your planning depends on where you are landing. If open jaw Vienna-Prague, then Salzburg is probably best left out. If the open jaw is Munich Prague, then the itinerary could be Salzburg-Vienna-Prague, or the reverse if landing in Prague and taking off from Munich.

Doing it in reverse, we did Prague, Vienna via train, an overntight in Checky Krumlov and a shuttle - it was enjoyable - do a s earach using the phrase "dark beer" and you'll find my trip report

Wow, that was quick! I should mention that options like "lobo shuttle" counts as "public transit" in my mind - I basically mean that we don't want to drive (been there, done that, not our idea of relaxing vacation). That brings in more route options, such as through Linz. I'm getting overwhelmed with all the options on bahn.de, oebb.at, shuttlelobo.cz, etc.!

Lobo shuttle was a good option and the hotel they run in C_K while simple (IKEA decorated), did the trick. We really enjoyed our overnight in C_K - something to consider.

I used Lobo shuttle and they were fine. Stayed overnight in CK but not at their hotel. Highly recommend staying a night in CK.

Try to get tickets for the English tour at 10am of the baroque theater!

For us, very easy. Open jaw, Prague and fly out of Vienna. Stay in Prague. Then bus or train to CK for four or five hours. Take www.shuttlebus.cz from CK to Salzburg. There is a 5pm departure and it takes three hours. Arrive in Salzburg at 8pm for as many days as you want. Then train to Vienna, probably a bit less than three hours. For downloads www.inyourpocket.com/Prague and www.inyourpocket.com/Austria/Vienna

I would suggest the following:

1. fly into Prague

2. Bus/train to Cesky Krumlov

3. Bus to Melk Abbey, Austria

4. Melk, take boat ride down Danube to Krems

5. Train, Krems to Vienna

6. Train, Vienna to Salzburg

7. Train Salzburg to Munich

8. Leave out of Munich

Munich Airport is one of the best in the world. You want to have as hassle free a departure as possible.

Hi,
Re trip to Cesky Krumlov. 'Easy Traveller' suggests a very good itinerary - wish we'd done it like that but nevertheless it's best to fly into Prague then take a bus to CK. I can highly recommend the Student Agency busline which is 'cheap as' provides free coffee and hot chocolate and has nice clean coaches. The lobo shuttle is much dearer and is just a mini bus which can be rather cramped when full but was OK for a trip from CK to Linz where we caught a train into Vienna.
CK is a beautiful place and an overnight stay is recommended to enjoy it fully. You can also have dinner at the Restaurant Katacomby which is an interesting venue and situated in a cellar underneath the town square. Pension Barbakan is a great place to stay and overlooks the stream which runs through the village.
Melk Abbey is also amazing and worth a look.
Enjoy your trip!

Krems and Melk Abbey are good suggestions. We did an easy day trip from Vienna to these places. Durnstein is also a good stop for a few hours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/melk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/durnstein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krems_an_der_Donau

Thanks for all your great ideas! The fog has lifted and I can see a reasonable itinerary now. Looks like flying into Prague and out of Munich (or vice versa) makes the most sense, so we'll do Prague-Vienna-Salzburg-Munich (or reverse). All your previous posts had already cemented the Melk/Krems boat/train trip on our itinerary - thanks!

We really don't like 1-2 night stays, so if it's not reasonable to do CK as a daytrip, we'll just skip it. I saw a couple posts from people who did it in a day, and they seemed to think it was worth it; any opinions?

If we do the daytrip, the scheduling would work out to take a Student Agency bus from Prague to CK ($10, wow!), and then arrange for CK Shuttle to take us from Prague to Vienna - has anyone used CK Shuttle? I didn't see any mention of them on this forum.

Thanks again for all your help! We'll be scouring your previous posts for hotel, restaurant, and daytrip recommendations (already read a lot about Herrenchiemsee, St Gilgen/Wolfgang, Hallstatt, Berchtesgaden, Zell am See, salt mines, Fussen). As you can tell from my questions about CK, we like to hunker down in one spot for awhile and see everything we can from there rather than moving around a lot. And we love to let someone else drive us around in buses and trains so we can relax and enjoy the scenery! :)

Y'all are such a great resource! Thanks so much! :)

If you could find time for half a day in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesky_Krumlov it would be time well spent.