My husband, two children (7 and 10) and I will be travelling from Venice to Prague, within a 6 week trip around Europe in July. We were stopping in Vienna for four nights, but those plans fell through. I am looking for suggestions of some smaller towns between the two cities that might be interesting stopping points. Our trip is top heavy on major destination cities and sites. It would be nice to see the countryside and some hidden gems. If there are any recommendations of towns with quaint (and inexpensively available) places to stay, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Vienna is still a logical choice from a public-transport standpoint, even if your lodging options have changed. A route via Villach and Linz would be another option with mountain scenery:
Venezia Tronchetto, dep 09:20, Bus 830
ÖBB-Intercitybus Direction: Klagenfurt, Subject to compulsory reservation
arr 12:50
walk 5 min.
Villach Hbf, dep 13:16, RJ 793
Linz Hbf, arr 17:28
Transfer time 1:07 h
Linz Hbf, dep 18:35
S 3 / R 1546/ EX 1546 2nd class only
Praha hl.n., arr 22:57
To make an overnight stop in the mountains without any particular detour, maybe Bad Gastein would be a good location. The train above arrives there at 14:15. I've chosen that somewhat at random, so you'd have to look further into the options. The charming town of Hallstatt is not far as the crow flies, but you are not crows, so it would require extra connections on both arrival and departure.
Instead of continuing from Linz by slow train, you could book a shuttle van to Cesky Krumlov (a few operate out of the town) and then a Student Agency bus from there to Prague on a later day.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Which bokok or books would you recommend for the leg of our journey? Austria seems most sensible, but perhaps there is one that covers the region?
Posted by
Noblesville, Indiana, USA
1406 posts
Ljubljana, Lake Bled, Salzburg are three places we're going to visit this July. They're well known destinations but smaller than the big cities and will give you a change of pace.