Alternative to staying in Cesky Krumlov?

3 nights in Cesky Krumlov (I like Cesky Krumlov) or 3 nights in Budapest? Budapest wins. If you already have departure tickets out of Vienna then you fly Prague to Budapest then train up to Vienna. Technically about 3 hours faster hotel to hotel than a trains.

Now you have 3 world class cities and Budapest will have the lowest density of tourists of the three.

Favorite Video of Budapest https://youtu.be/1nd5AtZIrTk?feature=shared Bourdain on how visually pleasurable Budapest is https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0?si=aa0c19KaJHEtabkX

Thanks, Mr E,
We’re staying in Budapest for a week so no worries! We go to Budapest after Vienna where we’re also staying for 8 nights.

GeoffB, I’ve been reading your TRs and have been finding them helpful.

We don’t do 1 night stops anymore and would prefer not to do 2 nights, which is what we would do.

Has anyone been Trebon? Is that place to stay instead?

We stayed 3 nights in Cesky Krumlov and enjoyed it very much. We took a walking tour, visited the castle, had leisurely dinners, and had drinks at a jazz bar.
We also like to keep our stays to at least 3 nights.

paulesue, then do Cesky Krumlov. Worth it.

Okay, you’ve convinced me. We’ll stay in Cesky Krumlov. We’re slowpokes these days, anyway, and like to take breaks during the day. I think we’ll be fine for 3 nights as long as we can get away from large crowds.

You chose well.

Cesky Krumlov
Is a very small town, very touristic in the day time.
Tour buses, with bored children, who just may ruin your day, while you try to eat lunch,
its quiet and nice at night, look for the ghost, dressed all in white, who roams the streets near the river at dusk.
Places close early, open late.
We arrived via train from Prague
There's only 1 guy who's a taxi, totally un reliable.
He was eating lunch at the small restaurant by the train station, which we were very lucky for that.
Would have been a long hilly walk to the center of town
We waited 30 min, for him to finish eating to get a ride to our hotel.
If you need to leave the area, from your hotel, maybe a staff member can drive you, ask first.
We had to do this as no taxi service.
Trains are not very often in Cesky, no train station office.
Flixbus is a better option.
3 days in Cesky, to me seems to long, its small. very old and interesting.
We spent arrival day and the next day, was enough.

I'm a bit surprised at John's experience from the train station since there are plenty of taxis in Český Krumlov, just not all of them are waiting at the train station when the trains arrive. There are phone numbers posted pretty much everywhere, so you can call and they'll come and get you. Otherwise the town does get pretty crowded between 10 am and 3 p.m since that's when the day trippers arrive from the river cruises on the Danube River. This is another reason why an overnight stay here is the best, because the town really has a magic during the evening that you can't really experience during the day. Also the castle complex is open 24 hours, so if you like late night walks you can walk through the entire complex and have it all to yourself at night. I'm a guide at the castle, so if there's anything I can do to help arrange your visit, please let me know. Bryce

Just a quick update here. We recently traveled from Prague to Cesky Krumlov by CK Shuttle, taking their door-to-door van service. It was wonderful and the drive was easy and the driver very engaging. It may be more than a train or bus but, for the money, so much more convenient.

And we stayed 3 nights and loved it. We did 3 tours - a “pay what you wish” tour (excellent), the Baroque and Renaissance rooms at the castle (fabulous) and the Baroque theater tour (very interesting). I accidentally booked the former tour and so glad I did - it was the one we liked more, though we enjoyed both.

But the 2nd day turned out to be a real treat, too. It was a bank holiday and a festival weekend, which made it even busier - but we discovered the quiet corners of the town, too, and had a fantastic day.

All in all, we had a wonderful time in Cesky Krumlov and didn’t find 3 nights to be too much at all.

Thanks for the follow up. It's very kind of you to come back and let us know how things went. I find myself a little suspicious of CK... it's one of those places everyone goes... but sometimes everyone goes somewhere because it's cool. I spent a little over a week in Prague last October (first time in Czechia) with some day trips -- that was a great trip! This October, I'm going to be in Brno and Olomouc for around 10 days. Next trip after that will probably be a longer trip to include Liberec and Bohemian Paradise with some time in Poland. I need to find something to fold CK into... have already spent a lot of time in Vienna.

Dave, your plan sounds wonderful! And if you’re suspicious of Cesky Krumlov, don’t stress it! It does get busy with large groups of tourists. My point is really to say that there are ways of avoiding the crowds if going there is important. And we did find it to be a beautiful and charming town. I was worried but it worked out to be much better than I had expected.

Thank you for letting us know how it worked out. Where did you stay? Would you recommend it?