Central European Road Trip

It's NOT over ambitious.

Two points come to mind, a Czech rental car will not have an Austrian autobahn tax sticker (Vignette) - and your plan can be done without using austrian autobahns so it isn't worth stopping to buy a sticker, just plan the route carefully. On the 14th the A1 autobahn from Salzburg Nord around the north west side of the city and out to the german border at Walserberg is open without Vignette

Viisitng Hallstatt is not a mistake but do you really need to stay there, given you have the flexibility of the car? I would stay at one of the villages on the Wolfgangsee, Fuschlsee or Mondsee. Get there on the afternoon of the 10th and see how it goes, if you want a few hours in Hallstadt you can go next morning, especially if it's the caves you want to see.

And the controversial bit. If you stayed somewhere like Fuschl or St. Gilgen you would only be 30-40 minutes from central Salzburg, so do you really need to change hotels?

Hallstadt is pretty, true, but very very small, and I wonder if it's worth an entire day/night. We went there in a driving rainstorm. Just a bunch of restaurants and the church. I'd stay close, and do a 2 hour stop.

You may wish to evaluate train approaches to your trip. It sounds like you will drive for 2-3 hours, and then park the car for 3 days. That means you pay 2x - once for the car, once for the parking. We've done many of these towns, and always did trains/buses (Flixbus). In fact, if you want Hallstadt, Bob's Tours out of Salzburg does a "Sound of Music" tour that includes Hallstadt. Our tour was in a small 9-seater van, and we stopped at a restaurant. I had the goat.

I went to Hallstatt last 12 September 2024. Spent 2 nights. Wasn't crowded, played tourist, and enjoyed every moment.

I have to say that Hallstatt might just be the single most disappointing destination in my many years of European travel. The streets are packed with American and Chinese tourists, credit cards are absolutely useless, and the lake views, while pretty, are surpassed by those in less touristed places like Traunkirchen.

I understand my viewpoint is uncommon, but I doubt I'm the only one who holds it.

Conversely, Salzburg and Prague are two of my favorites, and Cesky Krumlov is absolutely worth going out of one's way to see.

jphbucks a lot of perception can be the luck of the timing. September 2024 when my girlfriend and I went, Hallstatt, Hallstatt was empty. No crowds anywhere and that may have had an impact on why we enjoyed it. The OP is going about the same time of year and might run into the same conditions … just a guess. A quick look and I found the tourism in September is half that of July or August.

The fact that Hallstatt has a lot of Chinese tourists might also have influenced our enjoyment, as Hallstatt is place where my Chinese (in appearance) girlfriend could spend time without having to deal with a lot of Western racism and stereotyping. I guess we are your worst scourge, an American and a Chinese adding to the numbers on the street. I think you have already been to Budapest, but if not, you need to know it has the largest Asian population in Central Europe and attracts a large number of Asian tourists. The Hungarian people are amazingly welcoming; even to those that look different.

My two trips to Prague over the years have both been to wall-to-wall crowds. Old Town Prague and Hallstatt share one thing in my mind, that is they are both European Disneylands. They exist for one purpose, that is to entertain tourists. As long as you know that going in, they can be fun and there is nothing wrong with having fun on holiday. But with Hallstatt make sure the funicular is reopened (should be this summer) if you are going. I would skip Hallstatt if it isn’t open as the trip up the hill and the salt mine are a great part of the tourist schtick.

Regarding Salzburg. The trip to Hallstatt was for her … (geee there goes that dang stereotype again) … so not expecting to enjoy Hallstatt because of the crowds I chose Salzburg as the second stop. Most of the time spent in Salzburg was spent asking myself why we came. Not one of the more memorable stops of my life. But just could have been bad timing.

Oh, Cesky Krumlov; we agree.

shelleydubois1
We all enjoy different stuff, no none of this is criticism. All I can say is what I enjoy and why and maybe some of it has some meaning for you.

First, congratulations on the anniversary. That is a great achievement. G-d Bless.

For me Prague was fun for a few days but not on any cultural level. The visual is great, the food was pretty good, the evenings were nice. We stayed at the Hotel Ventana which was one of the better hotel experiences of my travels. Part the hotel, part the staff, part the location. Still, by the end of the 3rd day I was happy to be leaving. I did return a few years later for 2 days and experienced about the same.

If I were planning to spend real time in Hluboka nad Vltavou and limp into Prague late at night, then the rental car would make sense to me. For a drive past/through it wouldn’t be worth it and that’s all you can do if you are going to be in Cesky Krumlov by afternoon. I would do train or shuttle and arrive as early as possible before the day trippers and take the last shuttle out of Cesky Krumlov for Hallstatt. Better, I would spend two nights (take one from Prague). It was that good for me. The crowded time is about noon till 3pm when the day trippers are there. So you want to be there early and late. But its September and I am not convinced that it will be terrible.

Two nights in Hallstatt (take one from Salzburg)
Hallstatt to Salzburg is by train.

Salzburg to Karlovy Vary is the hard connection. A bus maybe. Worst case DayTrip.com

But you see, your rental is forcing you to drive a loop. If you were to do Karlov Vary first and then the rest of the trip … ending with a flight out of Munich then I bet its less expensive and you get more time doing good things and less traveling …. Maybe. But as we are talking about September, I am guessing its too late for such a big change.

Thank you all for your input! Our plans are kind of set at this point as far as flights and hotels go. We haven't rented the car yet, but we're still leaning that way because of the flexibility it will afford us. We had considered public transport but it made our transit time even longer than if we went by car. My husband really enjoys driving and I'm hoping we'll see some beautiful countryside throughout the trip. Also, we like the idea of being able to stop wherever if we see something interesting along the way. If anyone knows of any random, fun stops, let me know!

In any event, thanks for the warnings about "Disneyland Europe" as well. I think knowing what to expect in that regard will keep it from being too jarring when we go and witness all the crowds.

I'M GETTING SO EXCITED!!!