Berlin-Prague-Vienna-Munich 15-SEP local advice

Cultural events and performing arts we might see in the cities listed while we are there would be appreciated as well!

So at this point we are looking for local advice pertaining to days
and times to travel (or avoid travel), plus any hotel, parking of the
car, or sights to see are welcome advice!

The big problem with your itinerary is that you first race from one great place to the next for no obvious reason, and after that you suddenly slow down. I'm not sure why. One full day for Vienna and Prague is not nearly enough. The (IMHO overrated) Oktoberfest runs from Sep 20 to Oct 5, you don't have to be in Munich that early. If you don't change your itinerary you don't need a car for the first 9 days. There are direct trains from Berlin to Prague, Vienna and Munich, which are much more convenient. A car isn't faster, it costs more money, it's much more stressful, and with your aggressive itinerary you can't stop along the way anyway. But that's the only reason to rent a car in Europe; to see sights on the countryside. And there are many great places to explore between these cities, you just have to SLOW DOWN. You miss places like this, this, this, this, this or this. To me it looks like you ruin a great trip just to see the opening of the Oktoberfest.

First, ditch the car idea. Take the train from Berlin to Prague to Vienna to Munich. Very easy, much cheaper and vastly less stressful. Next, you only have one day in Prague and Vienna. Why stop at all, especially when you will be spending hours getting list in traffic and finding parking spaces?

If you really like to drive, and if Prague and Vienna should make any sense, a itinerary like this is much more reasonable:

Sep 10 Arrival/Berlin
Sep 11 Berlin
Sep 12 Berlin
Sep 13 Berlin
Sep 14 Berlin
Sep 15 Berlin -> daytrip Potsdam
Sep 16 Bad Muskau + Görlitz or Meissen/Königstein + Bastei
Sep 17 Prague
Sep 18 Prague
Sep 19 Prague
Sep 20 Telc + Mikulov
Sep 21 Vienna
Sep 22 Vienna
Sep 23 Vienna
Sep 24 Vienna
Sep 25 Wachau
Sep 26 Munich
Sep 27 Munich
Sep 28 Munich
Sep 29 Munich/Departure

I would actually remove a day from each city and add a night in a small town between each of the big cities, to make the most of the car. Maybe Görlitz between Berlin and Prague, Telc between Prague and Vienna, and the Wachau valley between Vienna and Munich.

And I would use a my smartphone with a GPS app. This way you can plan your journey ahead (add waypoints, hotels, sights). And for the GPS app you don't need a data plan, since you can download all needed maps at home. But test the app before you go.

I appreciate the feedback! I am planning just this one section of our itinerary. And we ARE going to the opening of Oktoberfest. As I saw someone else write, I cannot imagine going to Oktoberfest one time in my life and not seeing the parade and tapping of the keg.

So, I am trying to figure out cost, I am more excited to drive rather than pull luggage on and off three trains, and be locked in to an itnerary. There is the added problem of buying advance train tickets to save $ now, without hotels reserved.

Anyways-- maybe I cannot find the right train fares. I looked up Berlin to Prague on bahn.de for the 15th, the cheapest I find is 58 euros per person, 2nd class, no reduction. Am I doing this wrong, or did I just wait too late, I should have bought them 92 days out?

Then I go to cd.cz, and find prague - vienna Praha-Holešovice Dep. 10.9.2014, 13:18 Total journey time 5 hours 6 min. 532 CZKSo approx $26 USD per person ( I cannot buy my tickets yet because it's more than 60 days away)

Vienna - Munich I came up with 78 Euros - so if I am accurate, my three train journeys would be about $230 USD. And a test booking on kayak comes up with $140 for the car (my CC covers insurance. Am I going to spend over $100 on gas & tolls?

Filling up the tank will easily cost $100. The killer, however, will be parking which will be 20-30 euro/day in the city. It's just not efficient - time or money wise - in large cities.

When I was recently in Austria I think I paid about €1.36 per litre and it takes something over 50 litres to fill my car. So 50 x 1.36 = €68 or US$92.67 or more.

Plus the cost of the Austrian Vignette = €8.50 or something like that for 10 days (minimum). Absence of one is almost cast iron guaranteed to be very expensive. Patrols sit on the sides of roads just checking them.

I don't know the cost of CZ vignettes.

Plus parking. If you think getting a hotel room in Munich for Oktoberfest is expensive, try finding parking.

Extra insurance for driving in CZ. Make sure the rental is allowed to go there.

Filling with fuel in Munich will cost considerably more than fueling in Austria. Austria is no longer the fuel bargain it once was but is still less than Germany.

You will need an IDP for each driver.

Thanks again for the feedback. This is useful info. We are re-thinking, I think we will just take the train Berlin -> Prague, stay for two nights or maybe three and then train back over to Germany where we will rent a car for one day and head to Munich. Looking forward to Prague!

Any advice on Prague cultural or performing arts events happening on 15-SEP to 17 SEP we might want to see, please do let me know!