early September in Northeastern Europe?!

We spend a lot of time in Central / Eastern Europe in September (going back this September) and it pretty much the best time to travel there in my opinion. I enjoy the Czech Republic and places further afield: Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria but other than being just a tad bit cooler Amsterdam, Berlin pretty much share the same weather.

Amsterdam to Berlin is sort of a long haul at something like 8 hours by train. You can stop for a night in Hanover and breakup the trip. Berlin to Prague I think is about 6 by train which is also at the limits of my enjoyment factor but you can break that up with a stop in Dresden for the night. Prague is great for a few days. The historic center is tight and well defined and well preserved. By mid September the crush of tourists isn't quite so bad. I haven't been to Krakow yet. Two problems; difficult to get to and I guess I have some personal issues with the place. I have been about an hour and a half away on the Slovak side of the border and the region is stunningly beautiful. You left Budapest off the list. Maybe you have already been there. Of the list you gave its the best for people watching, café sitting and cultural immersion in my opinion. Picture a major city in the US frozen in 1890. Not just the architecture but the culture of music, theater, literature and then cross that with Paris and you have a sort of warped idea of what its about.

Further afield Transylvania and Wallachia are places you will never forget. More adventurous still? Bulgaria!! We are planning our third trip back for later this year or early next year.

Have fun where ever the road takes you.

Hi Jennifer, first of all the area you are looking at is not at all North-Eastern. North-Eastern would be Finland, Estonia... the Baltic region (in US-terms this would be the location of New England). The countries and cities you're listing are all in the central Europe. We're looking at Nebraska, Missouri and Illionois (in US geo-location terms. Of course the European areas listed above are a bit more exciting)...

Weather will be very nice: It will be warm and sunny, shorts and t-shirt weather during the day and long pants and just a light jacket at night.

You can perfectly connect those cities by train, although if the only place in Germany you are interested in is Berlin I'd fly from Amsterdam to Prague to save 1 day travel time. The way the train network goes it might be easier for you to travel Prague-Berlin-Krakow by train. Dresden would be a natural en-route stop.

All these cities are served by train, so you would not need a car. Picking up and dropping off a rental car in different countries can add a fee of hundreds of dollars. Direct trains between Amsterdam and Berlin now take only 6h 20m. Between Berlin and Krakow, currently the only direct service is a bus (operated by German rail, due to construction on the line) which takes 8 hours, or trains take 8.5 with a connection at Warsaw. Prague-Krakow options are similar for morning departure or there is an overnight train.

How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map gives you an overview of faster train travel times in hours, as well as regular (full-price) 2nd-class fares. Flying can still be a reasonable option; see www.skyscanner.com.

So after the comments given and further consideration, I think we've refined it to Krakow/Auschwitz, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava (for a day since we're so close), Budapest. I know this will include lots of train travel, but after navigating most of Croatia and Romania by train we got pretty good at it. Do you think this is too ambitious? Is there anything to leave off? Thanks! Jennifer

Jennifer-
For 13 days, I'd leave it as Prague-Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest. Auschwitz is simply too far from the others in that short period of time unless you'd like to leave out one of the others.
If you'd like to see a concentration camp, Terezin or Mauthausen are daytrip options from Prague and Vienna respectively.

Thanks for the input! One more question, since we're hitting so many countries for just a few days, will Rick's Eastern Europe book cover those cities or do we need to get the individual guides for Budapest, Vienna and Prague?

We have a family member who escaped Auschwitz so it's important to us while we are 'close' to see it.

1. Arrive Prague
2. Prague
3. Prague
4. Prague to Krakow by night train
5. Krakow
6. Krakow
7. Krakow to Štrbské Pleso by shuttle transfer service or bus
8. Štrbské Pleso to Kosice by train
9. Kosice to Budapest by train
10. Budapest
11. Budapest
12. Budapest
13. Budapest to Home This will take you to some very interesting cities and some outstanding beautiful countryside in Slovakia. Except for the long haul Prague to Krakow it’s a lot of short segments so you can enjoy it.
    

Jennifer, I'm just going to throw this out there as a budget transport option. I know everyone seems to prefer trains (they're often faster), but I take this sort of long-distance bus to NYC all the time (in the DC area, it's called Bolt Bus or Mega Bus). It's modern, economical, has wifi, etc. It's a Polish bus service and you can see from the map that you can easily cover Bratislava, Vienna, and Krakow (except you should note that you'll need to go through Katowice to the west of Krakow to get to Bratislava). It may not work for you, but as I said, I'm just putting it out there. The fares are very low especially when booked ahead of time (train fares in Poland are low too, to be fair).

http://www.polskibus.com/en

PS. If you're in Krakow, I would recommend a side trip to Zakopane (mountains) if you have the time. Lovely area.