Castles

Nine days - not to overdo it - I would go for three castles: Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Lednice. The rest admire from the outside.

I loved the tour of Karlstejn and the views from Zikov. Cesky Krumlov is pretty special too; especially the theater. I was there a few years ago for a night and now i hear you must spend the night if you want any relief from the tourist hoards.

Can only comment on Prague and Cesky Krumlov. Prague Castle this May was so crowded that it left us underwhelmed (arrived between 9:00 and 9:30; ticket purchase was incredibly slow. Purchase in advance if you go and get there earlier than we did.) We managed to walk up to Cesky Krumlov around 8:00 a.m. on a beautiful morning. We had the gardens to ourselves and encountered very few other tourists. The photo ops down into town were terrific.

Just a note on Prague Castle. Use the north entrance (through the Royal Garden) to minimize standing in line (see Rick's book).

Thank you everyone for the tips and suggestions. We will definitely visit Prague, Cesky Krumlov and Lednice as suggested. May choose another one as well. If anyone else has suggestions or tips, please pass them along.

We did purchase Rick Steve's book : )

Cheers!
Lori

What Janet said. We didn't pay attention to Rick's advice, but when we exited the castle properties via the gardens we realized that we'd made an error on arrival a few hours earlier -- there was no line at all at the garden entrance. Just pay attention to the tram stops if that's your mode of transport up the hill.