3.5 days in Prague, keen to visit CK if possible

I recently visited Prague and had a wonderful walking tour with Living Prague Tours. They offer a variety of tours. I took the one entitled WW II and Prague. Highly recommend!

I also enjoyed visiting the Klemetinum library and a classical music concert in the mirror chapel.

Can you stop in Cesky Krumlov on the way from Vienna to Prague?

CK is so worth the trip….it was a charming town that was easy to walk in and enjoy. We rented a car at the Prague train station and drove there. Prague is an amazing city…..we enjoyed the castle area, locals in costumes there at a festival, walking from the old town clock across the Charles River bridge and up the walk to the castle. The Jewish town area is beautiful where we also attended a concert one night.

Thanks to everyone who responded. The idea that we do Vienna - CK - Prague is interesting. It means we get 3 full days in Prague. Will explore this.

This also means we will have to store luggage CK station. Any tips on this? Are lockers available at CK station?

No lockers at either the train or bus station. You can leave luggage at the tourist office https://www.ckrumlov.info/en/infocenter-cesky-krumlov/ otherwise you'll have to arrange a private bag-drop somewhere.

Can you stop in Cesky Krumlov on the way from Vienna to Prague?

Yes, either as an overnight, or else as a same-day stopover using CK shuttle - it would be a shared van service, door to door from hotel in Vienna to hotel in Prague.

They will store your luggage for you during your time in CK. An example:

https://www.ckshuttle.cz/booking/?from=3&to=2&adults=2&children=0&date=2025-08-20&step2=1#step2

Yes it's worth an overnight. Something different from the two big cities you're visiting. Hotel Ruze is where we stayed.

Thanks a lot everyone for helping out. Really useful responses and food for thought for me :-).

We carved out a 24-hour stay in CK and it was marvelous.
Consider 4 nights in Vienna, 1 night in CK and 4 nights in Prague.
Also, consider using a driver instead of the train. Daytrip.com can pick you up from your hotel and drop you at your next one. That can shave off a bunch of waiting around time.

Mohan.apte; your travel dates might help as sometimes matters. The day of the week can matter too as some museums are closed on Monday, sometimes the Jewish sights are closed on Saturday; and so if there is anything special going on someone might know and tell you.

This depends completely on what your interests are. But do spend a night in Cesky Krumlov.

Four nights in Budapest, yes. Maybe 5 because this will be the arrival city and you will be jet lagged and because of all of your stops the city has the largest tourist zone.

Then the train to Vienna, certainly. Book through MAV, not OBB. It might be $40 to $60 for the two of you. I would spring the extra 10 euro a ticket for first class (but that’s another controversial discussion).

For a museum-hound maybe 5 nights in Vienna is correct. For someone simply exploring a new culture and taking in the world, then you could lose a night in Vienna and do that in Budapest. Another way of balancing the two cities is simply what time your train departs Budapest. Take a very late train out of Budapest and leave the nights as you have them. I suspect that the room in Budapest will cost 20 to 30 percent less than the room in Vienna for some quality and location relative to the sights. Vienna will be your most expensive stop, so plan it well.

Then to Cesky Krumlov by CK Shuttle (or Bean Shuttle) or DayTrip.com depending on your budget and interests.

CK Shuttle will cost about $115 Hotel door to hotel door (maybe not because some of the hotels in CK are in a pedestrian zone) for the two of you. Figure at least 3.5 hours so the 9:20 shuttle will get you there not before 13:00. It’s a guess because they have to go to multiple hotels at each end.

If you use Daytrip.com you it will cost about $250 for a private car. Then for $35 to $60 more per 60 to 90 minute stop at Melk, Klosterneuburg, Durnstein, Mauthausen, Linz or Kreuzenstein. Maybe a nice lunch in a historic center or the tour of Melk for instance. The trip is expensive until you add a stop or two, then I think the value for the money is there.

Yes, get a room for the night in Cesky Krumlov. I like the Hotel Dvork for the view of the castle at night, but there are several great choices. Take the night out of Prague. Prague is the smallest and most compact of all of your stops.

Then on to Prague.

CK Shuttle will cost $115 Hotel door to hotel door (maybe not because some of the CK hotels are in a pedestrian zone) for the two of you. Figure at least 3 hours.

If you use Daytrip.com you it will cost about $200 for a private car. Then for $35 to $70 more per 60 to 90 minute stop at Hluboka, Holasovice, Tabor, Karlstejn Castle, Ceske Budejovice, or Sazava Monastery. I would do this just for the stop at Karlstejn Castle. Again, the trip is expensive until you add a stop or two, then I think the value for the money is there.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I looked at all the permutations / combinations and it seems that a trip to CK would be difficult to achieve. This is my itinerary:

15-19 Oct: Budapest (3.5 days discounting the first half say since we land at 0845 Hrs on 15th Oct)
19-24 Oct: Vienna (4.5 days, 0.5 day lost to train travel), of which I have allocated 1 full day to visit Wachau valley. So essentially 3.5 days in Vienna city proper and I believe even without visiting too many museums, 3.5 days is barely sufficient for Vienna
24-28 Oct: Prague (3.5 days, 0.5 day lost to train travel) - difficult to fit in CK since everything will be rushed rushed. All 3.5 days in Prague with possibly a day trip to Pruhonice Castle.

Its sad to miss out on CK, but we simply don't have enough time. Once again thanks to everyone who responded! This is such a fantastic forum!!

Br
Mohan

One last possibility - we hire a car in Vienna, self drive to CK on 24th,starting early morning, sight-see in CK and drive in the evening to Prague. We stay in Lesser Town in Prague. Return the car back on 25th. But again looks to be too much of an effort - it will be a total of 5 hours of driving on 24th, don't know if I am upto it.

The problem with renting a car in Vienna and dropping it off in Prague is the drop-off charges. They might be reasonable, but often they are many, many, many hundreds of dollars. If you were willing to do that for just the day in CK, then the CK Shuttle has early departures out of Vienna and late departures out of CK.

Everyone has different interests and a different style and pace they enjoy so what you have is probably perfect for you.

15-19 Oct: Budapest land at 0845. Assuming you are staying in a location well suited for a short stay, the taxi from the airport should only take about 40 minutes at most. Or you can do the 100E Bus (if you are staying in a well centered location) which is almost as fast. But first since you are under 65 pick up a 15-Day Budapest Travel Pass at the BKK office in the airport arrivals hall. It will cost you 5.650 ft (about $18). It will be the cheapest option for you. You could also use the BudapestGO App and download one. I just prefer the paper ticket. https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes/prices/15-day-budapest-pass/

The only special events going on are:
16-19 Art Market / Fair https://amb.hu/hu/: This is a pretty big deal if you are into the art world, but maybe a bit hard to justify with as little time as you have in Budapest.

At the Opus Jazz Club there is something every evening you are in town. I especially like Ephemeris and Petra Várallyay, the hometown girl and Liszt graduate done well.

You will want to do the Jewish section of the city on the 16th as some related stops can close early on Friday and not be open on Saturday.

As I mentioned before, get your train tickets from MAV. I just checked for the 19th of October and MAV 2nd class prices start at 13 euro plus 2 euro for the seat reservation while OBB 2nd class tickets start at 38 euro plus 3 euro for the seat reservation. Same train, same seats. Download the MAV app to make presenting the ticket easier to the conductor. https://jegy.mav.hu/ Oh, and I mentioned I would do first class. So those tickets start at 27 euro on MAV and 52 euro on OBB (plus seat reservations).

Finally i put some Budapest resource links on my profile page (click on my name).

Thanks once again to Mr E for all the invaluable tips and advice's! If as you mention the car drop off charges will be prohibitive, forget the car hiring. Will explore the CK Shuttle option.

I just checked Alamo Rent a Car. Maybe not the cheapest or the best, but easy to check. About $1000.00 for two days including all the fees. Maybe you can half that by hunting. Also checked AVIS and they wanted $1000+ just for the drop off fee.

So, it would be a 5 to 6 hour drive, plus 90 minutes to rent the car and 90 minutes to return the car.