thereyet

Merry Christmas LoveItaly, and to all! Yes, I am trying to nail down the main parts (flights and hotels) of the trip just before the new year...then I have plenty of time for the details (the real fun part for me) before our summer trip.

It will be our first big trip without our son...ever. He was a little disappointed when I told him, and my wife was slightly surprised as well, but I thought it time we did this, and what better time then a 25th anniversary.

If anyone else has some must see or do items, please list for me here. Thank you everyone for your input, you all have already been very helpful.

thereyet

andreak

I did this trip last year in May. We started in Munich(2 nights) which I loved. It has a great city center and good food. You can take the train from the airport to the Center of the city from Terminal 1A (I think). Very inexpensive for food. Great beer halls. Then we went to Salzburg for one night by train(1.5 hrs). Salzburg is a wonderful old city and is great for one night.Try to see the Mozart concert dinner show. Just make sure you do not go on a Saturday night as everything closes (shops) in the afternoon and on Sunday.

Then we went to Vienna by train. It was an easy 3 hr ride. We loved Vienna. Yes it is a little expensive but the small restaurants have reasonable meals. We stayed 3 nights. Then we went to Budapest for 2 nights which we could have left out. Because we went to Budapest the train to Prague was almost 7 hrs! Long, but Prague was definitely worth it. From Vienna the fast train is only 4.5 hrs. We had so much fun in Prague. I have been there before. The prices were not bad. You can shop there and have fun. Food can be expensive but just be adventureous and try eating in more casual restaurants. My favorite restaurant is Ambience near the town square. I am glad we ended in Prague. I found that if you buy your train tickets early on line, you can save big bucks! Total for all trains less than $100. We flew home from Prague. I think the airfare tickets were about $1000.

thereyet

From what I see airfare is more like 1300-1500 now. It does start to sound like ending the trip in Prague is the way to go.

Thanks for sharing andreak.

thereyet

Aduchamp1

We did this trip a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. We found the Austrians to be imperious and even then it was very expensive.

We enjoyed Prague and found the architecture to be most interesting.

thereyet

So Adu, would you say one less day in Vienna and one more day in Prague?

thereyet

Oh, and Adu...who had the better bakeries?

thereyet

I will pose this question for anyone...if you had ten days between the two cities, would you split them evenly or one extra day in either of the two cities. Definitely open for day excursions from either city as well.

iris1745

Good day trips from either city. From Prague, a lovely town is Cesky Krumlov. From Vienna, you have Durnstein and Melk. You could consider five nights in Vienna, one night in Cesky Krumlov by van from Vienna [www.shuttlebus.cz] and four nights in Prague.

iris1745

A litttle information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/durnstein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesky_Krumlov

thereyet

Thank you for the additional study material Richard.

returntoyourseat

We loved the hotel Cemy Slon, which mean black elephant, it was a boutique hotel near the square. They picked us up at airport, the rooms were comfortable. I liked Prague in the winter months. We are staying in Vienna right now and really enjoying it, we are staying in Konig von ungarn....nice room, friendly service, nice full breakfast goes with room....it is so close to everything, and there are some great restaurants out the door so close, the best I have ever had in Europe actually. Let me know if you have any other questions. IT is a great city.....but at this moment so very cold.....

annhig

Hi thereyet,

another alternative would be 4 nights in Vienna [where it looks as if you want to start] then a night in Melk, another in C/K and then finish in Prague.

however, the train journey is neither simple nor short - a minimum of 2 changes with a journey time of about 5 hours. here's the link:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/que...rture&OK#focus

one thing about your hotel that you may not have realised, is that it is about half-way up the hill upon which Prague castle is built. that does mean, as it says, that it is probably quite quiet, but it also means that you will spend a lot of time walking, and half of that will be up hill! in the heat of July/august, [it is central europe and therefore likely to be hot, unless you are unlucky and get a repeat of the floods that we suffered in Austria at the same time of year in 2009] you may not be very happy about that. somewhere the other side of the river might be a better choice.

otherwise, IMHO there is rather more to do and see in Vienna than in Prague, so if you were just doing the two, I'd go for 6 nights in Vienna and 4 in Prague.

thereyet

Thanks Ann and others, I suspected I would get all kinds of differing responses to these questions. I will be meeting another couple in Prague who have been there before, so it has been decided to put the extra day there. Also it has been decided to end the trip in Prague. The preceding week is still undecided, so some room for influence there.

The hill walk does not phase me, and I like the quite as well. I am very impressed by the trip advisor reviews of the golden well hotel, as well as the interactions with the hotel itself. I love the small boutique luxury hotel, and this seems to fit the bill.

Will be turning my attention to Vienna now, and will seriously consider the recommendation of pleasetaketourseat and Richard. Also considering the side rips as well.

Thank you all, your input I priceless. I feel as if I am getting advice from old friends.

thereyet

annhig

Also considering the side rips as well. >>

sadly, your side may well rip if you keep having to walk up that hill in the heat. We went to Prague between Christmas and New Year so the walk warmed us up nicely. there is a nice park at the top [there is a funicular] with a funny rambling museum in the basement of the engine house. BTW by "funny rambling museum" I mean literally a museum of rambling that is amusing!

thereyet

Ann, when you say heat...what temp are we talking about in August?

danon

"I will pose this question for anyone...if you had ten days between the two cities, would you split them evenly or one extra day in either of the two cities. Definitely open for day excursions from either city as well."

I would split:
6 Vienna ( more to see, jet lag)
(we did Melk/Krems day trip, but we had more time)

4 Prague.
I found enough to do ( summer 2009) without leaving the city.

danon

P.S.

Dresden could be an interesting day trip from Prague - just over 2 hours by train.

Aduchamp1

The bakeries were far better in Vienna. We stopped at Cafe Landtmann where Freud played with his strudel and another where Alfred Adler ate his individual portions.

iris1745

The weather in summer will be warmer than your home area. It can be anywhere between 73 and 84 degrees in Prague. But it can get warmer. Our three times in Prague were in the Summer and we never had a problem. But, it's subjective to individual opinions and comforts. That's something for you to decide. Don't think Vienna can't get as warm. For us, our only requirement is A/C for a good nights sleep. Consider-we were in France when it was 110 to 115 degrees and never stopped moving and we were only 70 at the time. So, if heat is a concern, go in September.

thereyet

I don't know Richard, it is routinely 90-100 degrees here in August. I don't live in San Fransisco but rather the East Bay where it gets quite hot in the summer.