Austria/Czech Republic Itinerary

I think you have too much on your list. It would be awesome to see it all but you'd be rushed and it would impact your enjoyment if you tried to travel around like this. Basically, I am assuming you land in Europe on September 15th and that you need to be in Prague the night of the 20th to start your obligation on the morning of the 21st. So you really have 5 nights, which would make a perfect length of time for you to fly into Vienna for 3 nights, transfer to Cesky Krumlov for 2 nights and then transfer to Prague, arriving on the evening of the 20th. Then you'll have 3 nights to enjoy Prague as well.

I'd say small towns are just as worthy components of a once-in-a-lifetime trip as the big capitals. It's all about what will make the best vacation for your group. I like the mix of large and small.

However, you need to sketch out the transportation connections to be sure you have enough time for all those places; my gut says things may be too tight, but I haven't traveled recently in that area. Since it's really not clear what is the best order for visiting your destinations, I think you need to research the travel time and frequency of each potential leg (CK-Prague, Vienna-Prague, Hallstatt-CK, Melk-CK, Hallstatt-Melk, Salzburg-Hallstatt, Hallstatt-Vienna, Vienna-Melk; hope I haven't missed anything). That may help you decide on the most efficient travel pattern.

When you're putting together a trip with small cities, you have to be careful about transportation frequency. "Three times a day" sounds pretty good until you find out that the second departure is at 8:30 AM and the final one is at 6 PM. And it appears that there are only two bus routings per day from that will take you across the Austrian border from Linz to C.K.

I don't know whether you'd consider Cesky Krumlov as a day trip from Prague. It's a long one, but if you want the next stop to be Vienna, I think doing C.K as a day trip would save you some travel time. As is often the case, the trip between the two capitals is a lot faster than the other border-crossing trips you might take. If you want to overnight in C.K., you'll probably be coming in from Linz, Austria.

Will your entire group be traveling together except when you're tied up with your Prague obligations? How willing will they all be to get up and moving early if the bus or train schedule so dictates? Or boat schedule--do plan to get out on the Danube? If you basically just want to see Melk itself, it can probably be a day trip from Vienna. Not sure whether there'd be time to include a Danube cruise.

Check the flight connections between both Salzburg and Vienna and your home airport. Price with your inbound flight from Prague. You may find a substantial cost difference or much more attractive schedule choices from one city rather than the other. I wouldn't be surprised to see Vienna work out better. A quick check on Rome2Rio shows that Hallstatt (if there's time for it) is about 2:15 from Salzburg and about 3:15 from Vienna, so not a huge difference. And if you should later decide you just don't have time for Hallstatt, you will not want to be flying into Salzburg (unless you want to visit Salzburg itself on this trip).

Post significantly edited because I had the entire trip backwards.

I have traveled to all of your proposed destinations and Vienna is a great city full of history and Prague is full of history and archiecture and Cesky Krumluv is a great medevil town and not crowded like Rothenburg.I think that you can do those three cities,try flying into Vienna and out of Prague,then you can train to Melk with its beautiful Abbey then Melk to Cesky Krumluv.The student Agency bus will take you from CK to Prague.Check to see if you can bus from Melk to CK,I know there is no direct rail route.Look at Austrian Airlines for flights,great airline.Contact me if you need hotels in any of these places.
Mike

Based on Rome2Rio, it appears that you can get from Melk to C.K. by going through Linz.

Wow! I am so impressed with this website... I wish I had used it for past trips. Thank you all for giving me such detailed responses. I think there is a general consensus that I originally wanted to do too much... But after talking with the family, we played with the idea of skipping Vienna and the Danube and touring Salzburg/Hallstatt (maybe even crossing the border to see the Eagle's Nest, for my history geek boyfriend...) and then going straight up to Prague via CK. We would either spend one night in CK or just walk the streets for a few hours. We are looking into a van for at least some of our transportation... it's much more expensive, but possibly worth the convenience? My parents get overwhelmed easily... So now my question is: Can we skip Vienna or does it outshine the Austrian "countryside"/lake region?

Re: Vienna

Travelers' reactions to cities, as to everything, are so variable. I think it's partly personality (what's your tolerance for crowds/noise/traffic) and partly interests (art museums, musical events, shopping, etc.).

I've traveled pretty extensively in Europe and visited most of the capitals in the west and about half those in the east. Vienna's probably the one I'm least likely to return to. Lots of people might put it in their top 3 or top 5. I'm not sure I can put my finger on the reason for my reaction (which at this point is based on experiences over 20 years old). I realize that it's possible I just didn't get to the parts of the city that would have appealed to me most. I had a pretty similar reaction to Madrid: meh. But I loved Barcelona. (Come to think of it: I now know there are some important art nouveau buildings in Vienna, but I did not seek them out. That might have made a huge difference in my opinion, because I love quirky architecture.)

I especially like wandering around intimate neighborhoods--winding streets, picturesque cafes, flowers dripping from balconies; I have an immediate positive reaction to that sort of area whether it's in a small town or huge metropolis. Vienna just felt monumental. I believe at one time it had about twice the population it has today; there are some incredibly wide streets. As a result, Vienna felt empty to me rather than lively.

I believe there are one or more nearby wine villages that are thought very pleasant in the summer, but I don't drink wine and never visited them. I'm all for music, but I have access to concerts in my hometown, so they're not something I seek out when I'm traveling. If you want the cultural advantages of a major capital but get antsy in crowds, if you love classical music (and verify there will be interesting concerts during your visit), if the thought of a leafy wine bar outside town makes you drool--Vienna's probably for you!

I truly hope a bunch of others weigh in, because I'm not happy to post such a negative view.

This schedule is too crazy. Prague is amazing and totally worth it, the value is great as well. Oktoberfest is insane. Despite the fact that we are living in Austria only 2 hours away we still have not gone, and I wouldnt recommend it from people I know who work at the tents there.

My reaction to Vienna is mixed, it is beautiful and one of the great European cities, more "cultural" I suppose. Personally, Id rather hang out in Prague or Munich.

Hallstatt is literally one of the most expensive places you can go to, but it is right on the lake. There are dozens of similar towns, while not quite as pretty, would save you a lot of money. The experience is rather different than the large cities, much more relaxing, but less to do from a tourist point of view, and this is where many Europeans vacation. Also, English is spoken less frequently, but you can get around. If you go here I would rent a car, itll be easier than navigating public transport, but that is also doable.

A reasonable relaxing itinerary would be Prague/Vienna/Salzburg or Munich for 10 days.

If you know exactly which times you want to ride the trains you can save about 30-40% with the "Sparschiene" train tickets from oebb.at (Austrian Railways), but the tickets are only good for that specific train.

Well, a LOT has changed -- including the dates/order of this trip. But here is the new, tentative itinerary... shaped in large part by the feedback I am receiving here:

(The Prague dates remain the same.)

Saturday, Sept 17 - fly out of Ohio
Sunday, Sept. 18 - arrive in Munich, get checked in (and probably take a nap) then check out the city/Oktoberfest Sunday night & Monday
Tuesday, Sept. 20th - day trip to Dachau/whatever we feel like in the Munich area
Weds. - take the train to Prague @ 9am, arrive at 3pm. Explore Prague Weds. night - Sun. morning.
Sunday morning - take ckshuttle to Cesky Krumlov (about two hours away), spend the night
Monday, early afternoon - take ckshuttle to Hallstatt
Tues. - take "Discovery Cruise" on lake, walk village streets, rent bikes or visit the salt mine
Weds. - take the bus from Hallstatt to Salzburg (short, scenic trip)
Thurs. - Sound of Music Tour
Fri. - Eagle's Nest Tour
Saturday, Oct. 1 - fly home out of Salzburg

What does everyone think????

And @acraven (can you tag people? not sure...) I don't think your view was negative! I have heard a lot of that about Vienna. It seems beautiful, but not as interesting to me as what we can get further west.