We will be staying in Hallstaat for a couple of nights in May. We will be leaving Hallstaat in our Rental Car and has to get to Wien Central Station to return the car and take a train to Praha nil.n.
According to Google Map, it take approximately 3.5 hours to complete the drive. I am planning to leave Hallstaat at -about 10 am. Will a 3 pm train be reasonable for us to book? Or possibly a 5 pm train?
Posted by
Munich
255 posts
There are external factors (traffic jams, time needed to return the car) and personal factors (coffee and lunch breaks, sights along the route) to consider.
On vacation, I would choose the option that allows for more time.
The faster way to Prague would be to return the car at Linz Central Station and take the direct train to Prague from Linz. This would save at least 2 hours of travel time.
If you also want to visit Cesky Krumlov, there is also a direct Flixbus connection from Linz.
Posted by
Republic of Texas / U.S.A. / Magyarország / Budapest
24809 posts
Why are you driving?
Posted by
OP
29 posts
Thank you so much for the wisdom. We will drop off the car at Linz and take the direct EC train from Linz to Prague. This way really save a lot of time and stress.
We try to minimize taking bus because we like to do ad hoc stops. We actually will be picking up the car from Vienna and driving to Cesky Krumllov for a couple of nights before driving to Hallstatt for 2 nights. The reason is to avoid expensive drop off fees.
Posted by
Republic of Texas / U.S.A. / Magyarország / Budapest
24809 posts
You are losing a day to trave so you can make a stop along the way. You know DayTrip.com makes stops and so does CK Shuttle and between the two and a train to Hallstatt you can do this somewhat economically and let someone else watch the road and pay the traffic tickets and stop for gas and argue over pre-exisitng damage to the car and fix the flat and ......
I did the math and train Vienna to Hallstatt and then Daytrip to Cesky Kurmlov with a stop along the way and Daytrip to Prague, with another stop along the way was about 700 euro. So probably more than the car if you have the car for 4 days.
The rental will cost what ever deal you get plus ten euro cents a km for gas, plus tolls plus maybe 30 euro a night to park it plus that 200 euro ticket you get in the mail 6 months later plus all the insurance you had to buy so the agency doesnt try and make you pay for pre-existing damage plus .....
Posted by
2653 posts
MR Ê's view of rental car companies is a bit pessimistic, not all of them are crooks, not to talk about that consumer protection in Europe is way higher than in US. Let us not forget that the only method of moving between A and B Americans really deem as proper is driving by car. :-)
Nevertheless, whether train or car, the route proposed, i.e., Vienna - Cesky Krumlov - Hallstatt - Prague, means going back and forth, because Cesky Krumlov in the middle of the way between Hallstatt and Prague.
So Vienna - Hallstatt - (Linz) - Cesky Krumlov - Prague would be the shortest route. By the way, Linz is worth making a stop, being the third largest city of Austria, having three exceptional exhibition spaces (Ars Electronica Center, Steel World, Paneum [Bread museum]).