Plan our trip please!!! Prague, Krakow and ...

Olomouc is nice city halfway between Prague and Kraków. It has a direct train connection to Prague, but the onward journey to Kraków involves changes.
Another interesting city in this region is Wroclaw (the former German Breslau). Direct connection to Kraków, but a not very convenient one with Prague.

You do realize we are all volunteers here? I'm sure a travel agent will be happy to take your money to plan your trip.

I'd helpfully suggest that you use the Man in Seat 61 website for all of your train information.

My recommendations:
- At least 3 full days in Krakow; can include half day at Wieliczka Salt Mine (not far away)
- One day set aside for visiting Auschwitz
- One day stop in Częstochowa (specifically if you're interested in a major Catholic pilgrimage site)
- At least 2 days in Zakopane - Tatras mountain range that is an easy trip from Krakow (it's a wonderful area)
- Few days in Wroclaw (say 2 full days) or you can swap out for Warsaw (needs at least 3 full days)
- At least 3 full days in Prague

That will take up all 12 of your days easily without need to add anything else. Transport between all places can be done by train or bus - both are inexpensive options. Look into the Polish rail website and Polski Bus website (there is also a Czech website for transfers to Prague although I cannot remember it). If for any reason you want to see more of Poland and need suggestions, feel free to PM me (I'm from there). Above all else, the cities you pick should be driven by your specific interests in each city - so you'll have a much easier time if you can define those.

Hi,

I suggest too that you go to Poland and Czechia visiting l towns , Brno, Olomouc, and Plzen....lots of smaller places in Czechia are well worth your time visiting. In Poland aside from the capital, I would recommend Torun, Wroclaw, Krakow, Poznan.

Hi, I like the suggestions from Agnes. I would add, that while in Krakow, you visit the Oscar Schindler museum and allow al least 1/2 day. It is wonderful and there is a lot to see.
If you do squeeze in Budapest, The House of Terror is another museum that I'm very glad I took the time to visit. Also, the baths in Budapest are wonderful.

Thanks so much. I knew that I'd get lots of good advice here.

It seems to me that Krakow is not well-connected to other places . . . except for the train to Warsaw (which has some worthy sights it seems). I am planning a trip Warsaw-Krakow-Budapest and the way to Budapest is on a 7.5 hour bus ride through Slovakia. I've been assured that the drive is scenic. I believe there is also an overnight train, but I'm a light sleeper, so that wouldn't work for me. There are flights between Prague and Budapest, so if you start in Krakow, you could then go to Prague (by train I guess) and from there to Budapest. That may be a harder route to fly open-jaw with a flight out of Budapest. Some here have been quite taken with Gdansk.

Krakow is miserably connected. I would fly into Krakow from the states to eliminate one bad connection.

1 arrive Krakow
2 Krakow
3 Krakow
4 Flight or Train to Warsaw
5 Warsaw
6 Flight or train to Prague
7 Prague
8 Prague
9 Flight or Train to Budapest
10 Budapest
11 Budapest
12 Home

or with a little better budget (which is what I would do)

1 arrive Krakow
2 Krakow
3 Krakow
4 drive (be driven) to Budapest (about $500 = $250 per person) one example: http://transferbudapesthungary.com/budapest-to-krakow-transport-transfer-taxi.html but I think I would contact Laszlo at http://www.silverwings.hu/ and see if he would beat the price. Then you get to meet a real first class drive with great stories, background, history, etc.

5 Budapest
6 Budapest
7 Budapest
8 Train to Prague
9 Prague
10 Prague
11 Prague
12 Home

Budapest, sadly is very hard to connect to Krakow. Olomouc is a great place to visit, like a little Prague without the crazy crowds. You would be looking at around 5-6 hours on the train from Krakow, but Olomouc is a winner. I might find a way to go to Karlovy Vary, a spa town, if you enjoy that sort of thing (never visited but it look fun). My wife and I also enjoyed Telc in Czech Republic, and of course Cseky Krumlov, but that's out of your way. With Krakow being so hard to get to, I would spend four nights there. I am researching a Krakow-Wroclaw-Goerlitz-Dresden-Berlin itinerary myself, and on that one all the transportation connection are pretty reasonable.