Excursion to Cesky, Krumlov, CZ from Linz, Austria

Rick recommends a few services in his Czech Republic (maybe it's "Eastern Europe") book pages. But those drivers tend to work out of Prague. I'd note that the same drivers also specialize in one-way transfers in that geographic area. For example, they would probably love to pick you up in Linz and deliver you to Prague or Budapest, with a four-hour stop (I made that up) in Cesky Krumlov. Of course this is not cheap, but we found (same-day runout from Prague to Cesky and back) that it was comparable to two 9-hour Tour Bus Company tickets from Prague. Of course it was much more comfortable, and was to our hotel door. We were very happy, but we're not really "budget" travelers anymore. Note that these drivers are NOT guides who will take you around. But we did use them to book a guide for an hour or two. That was good because the Guide bought our Baroque Theater tour tickets taking Czech to the ticket lady, who did not speak a word of English. We used the tickets after we finished with the guide, and of course the ONE English tour was sold out minutes after our tickets were bought.

Be really sure your rental is approved for every country you are taking the car to.

Are you talking about a day trip? To and from CK in the same day? That would probably require a private car and may be quite expensive. If you're talking about an overnight, from Linz to CK one day and back to Linz the next day using one-way shuttles each way then that is doable at less cost. I think there are a few shuttles that do this but their times (once a day in each direction) don't leave you much time in CK as a day trip. Last summer I did a one-way shuttle from Salzburg to CK. I used jifi shuttle and I know they also will do transfers from Linz to CK and from CK to Linz but not same-day round trips.

Does your rental car agreement not allow you to take car into Czech Republic? Or is there some other reason you don't want to drive it yourself? Seems like that would be the best solution for a same day trip.

Yes, if your car rental policy does not prohibit crossing into Czech rep, I would drive there. You should find it no different than driving in Austria and with no border checkpoints. The local shuttle services mentioned in the CK chapter of Rick's book include www.ckshuttle.cz and www.sebastianck-tours.cz.

The above shuttle services work out of C/K, and they can take you virtually anywhere you want to go in the region, including Salzburg, Linz, Vienna and Prague. And I find the rates to be very fair.

Thanks for all the help, everyone. We ended up booking with a driver to take us from our hotel near the Vienna Airport to Prague, via Cesky Krumlov.