Please sign in to post.

Requesting input on tentative itinerary!!

Hello -- I greatly appreciate this forum and all the advice!! I would greatly appreciate it if anyone who has done a similar trip to what I am planning could give me any advice on this tentative itinerary for mid-July, leaving from Prague following a few days there (I do not have control over the timing per family obligations). I spent a week in Prague last summer.
I will preface this by saying that last summer I spent a few days in Litomysl and fell in love with the town, the castle, the square etc. I realize that towns of this size generally close up early, even in the summer. I will be traveling by bus and train. I have checked all the schedules on www.IDOS.cz to try to minimize travel connections and times, during weekdays and weekends. I also realize that I probably can't go wrong because every place is so beautiful. I will be traveling light (1 wheeled suitcase with a backpack) and obviously, don't mind moving around a lot in order to be able to visit a lot of places.

If this looks just too crazy based on others' experience, please let me know!! Thank you so much!!!

Sunday -- Leave Prague in morning by train for Pilsen and stay in Pilsen
Monday – Day trip to Karlovy Vary and Loket, stay in Pilsen (2 nights in Pilsen)
Tuesday – Leave Pilsen and stay in Cesky Krumlov (1 night in CK)
Wed.— Spend most of the day in CK, travel to Ceske Budejovice and stay in CB (1 night in CB)
Thurs. – Do short day trip to Holasvice -- return to CB, leave for Trebon mid-afternoon and stay in Trebon (1 night in Trebon)
Friday – Spend most of the day in Trebon, go to Telc, stay in Telc (1 night in Telc)
Sat. -- Visit Telc – leave Telc at 4:20 pm, travel to Trebic and stay in Trebic
Sunday -- Visit Trebic – stay in Trebic--? (2 nights in Trebic) -- (alternative is to stay only one night in Trebic and travel to Mikulov Sunday, stay there 2 nights and do 3 nights in Olomouc )
Monday – Leave Trebic 9:00 am, travel to Mikulov, stay in Mikulov
Tuesday – Visit Mikulov, maybe go to Letnice, stay in Mikulov (2 nights in Mikulov)
Wed. – Leave MIkulov, stay in Olomouc
Thursday – Day trip to Kromeriz, stay in Olomouc (2 nights in Olomouc)
Friday – Spend some time in Olomouc – train to PRAGUE, stay in Prague and fly out on Sat. Aug. 1.

Thank you again!!

Posted by
1189 posts

Hello from Wisconsin,
That is a lot of packing and unpacking. A lot of going to the train station and getting to your housing, and the reverse the next day.

I would cut the number of visits by one half. Olomouc is a two day stop. That means arriving one day, actually being in the town for a day, and leaving the next. It takes perfect timing not to be dragging your suitcase around on cobblestone the day you arrive and the day you leave. A that cobblestone...I am not so sure our US suitcases are designed to take that pounding for many miles. Mikulov is also a two day stop. Telc, if you are going soak up the place and punt around in the carp ponds, and get out side of the square area...two days.

Think at least two days at each stop. Less is often more when you are traveling. Slower is often better than faster. Eating an apple on a castle wall will be more memorable than an eleventh city stop. Having some street food and eating beneath a plague column...priceless.

If you liked Litomysl, Olomouc will be pleasurable. Nearby that is Brno, filled with college students, but Olomouc is less fancied up.

wayne iNWI

Posted by
8 posts

Thank you very much! I will definitely reconsider some of my stops based on your advice. I have already changed my plans to have 3 nights in Mikulov. I will say that I am planning to travel very light. Last summer my husband and I had way too much luggage, which made travel on the trains really hard. I also set some of this up based on Rick Steve's book, which said that some of the smaller towns are can seen in a few hours (understanding, of course, that more time is better), and am staying overnight in each of them (e.g., Trebon, Telc and Trebic).... I could also drop some of the side trips, such as Holasvice and Lednice, if I decide to just stay in the town I am in. will review my itinerary again and see about further adjustments. I really appreciate your input!!

Posted by
26829 posts

It's one thing to visit a small town for a few hours in transit when you have your own car. Doing it via public transportation is a whole 'nother thing. You seem to have done a lot of research on transportation schedules already, for which I congratulate you. At least you have an idea of what you're up against. As a devotee of public transportation, I find it a real drag to change hotels even every 2 nights. I feel as if I haven't settled in, and I'm already bouncing my suitcase down the cobbles again.

Another thing: I love cute little towns, but my bet is that there's going to be considerable repetition when you go to as many as you're planning. Will the fourth town of whatever style be different enough from the first three to justify such a hectic trip? I have that problem with my own itineraries sometimes, because I want to go to all the picturesque places. They mean more when I don't try to see all of them on the same trip.

I can't make any specific comments about your selections because I only had 14 full Schengen Zone days left for Czechia in 2018, so practically my entire target list got cut. I ended up rushing through Olomouc, Brno, Hradec Kralove and Prague. I definitely need to go back to Prague; seven days wasn't long enough.

Posted by
356 posts

Would you considering renting a bike and turning it into a cycling holiday? The Czech Republic is an ideal country for cycling - there are thousands of kilometres of well-marked, safe cycle routes (generally on specific paths, or on quiet country roads). Cycling would give you the opportunity to see a bit more of the countryside between stops, and you could pop your bike on the train for longer distances. I wouldn't propose cycling with your initial itinerary, but as the trip evolves, it might be worth considering.

Posted by
8 posts

Thank you! That had not even occurred to me. I think I would do that only with my husband or another partner -- too much to contemplate on my own, but I really appreciate your suggestions!