hello all,
Its been a little since I have been here, the last time I traveled I found this site very helpful. Just hoping someone could take a look at this general itinerary, give me your two cents. Also trying to figure out the best way to connect them all, a Eurail pass perhaps?
It may be a little ambitious, I may shave some things off if needed:
Copenhagen: 4 nights
Hamburg: 2 nights
Berlin: 2 nights
Prague: 4 nights
Vienna: 2 nights
Salzburg: 2 nights
Munich: 4 nights
Looks pretty straight-forward to me. Check the train times at www.bahn.com and you can also get a price comparison to see if a Eurail pass actually saves anything.
Thanks, Sam, I appreciate it. What do you think about time spent in each location?
I would switch the amount of days in Munich with Berlin. Larger city, more sites to see. 2 nights in Berlin will hardly do it justice. You could even take a day away from Salzburg, as it is a small city, easily seen in one day.
You'll use close to 1/2 day each time you travel - packing, checking out, getting to train station with enough time to find and board train, then finding your hotel on arrival, checking in and dropping your luggage, even though except for to/from Prague, your actual train times are only 2-3 hours. That means 2 nights equals 1.5 days. That's enough for a "taste" and may be enough in Salzburg, but you won't see much of all Vienna has to offer and hardly anything of Berlin.
If you eliminate Prague, you could change the route to Berlin > Munich > Salzburg > Vienna, though I'd personally be more inclined to eliminate Salzburg and Munich.
I agree with Chani. Drop 2 locations, as you will lose too much time transferring between cities. I got back yesterday from a full week in Berlin and we covered less than half it had to offer and didn't even venture out of the city.
Agree w/ Chani. Too much ground travel time, too little time in these places.
I'd eliminate Hamburg. Fly from CPH into Berlin, 4 nights there.
That leaves 12 nights...
Prague (3) - Vienna (3-4) - Salzburg (1-2) - Munich (4)
(OR possibly Prague-Munich-Salzburg-Vienna)
May I suggest starting in Berlin, omitting Copenhagen and Hamburg, but adding Dresden.
With only 5 train trips I would book directly on ...
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/overseas/en/
https://www.oebb.at/en/
Berlin: 4 nights
Dresden: 2 nights
Prague: 3 or 4 nights
Vienna: 4 nights
Salzburg: 3 nights
Munich: 3 or 4 nights
Thanks for all the help everyone, Im going to have to mull this over some more!
djp, just out of curiosity, why drop Copenhagen?
This is still a work on progress, but I took off 1 destination (Salzburg) and redistributed some days as well. I also liked the idea of flying right into Berlin and adding in Dresden as well. Here's where I am currently:
Copenhagen: 3 nights
Berlin: 4 nights
Dresden: 2 nights
Prague: 3 nights
Vienna: 3 nights
Munich: 4 nights
So thats 6 destinations in 20 days, my last trip I did 4 destinations in 12 days and was pretty happy with the pace. Still working on it in my mind, this is still a while out so I've got some time to think about it. I would still appreciate any more input, also still curious why drop Copenhagen?
Has anyone ever been to Reykjavik?
I may do 21 days for a full 3 weeks just to be cute, Im not sure yet :)
Dag, I visited all the cities you put on your last list with the exception of Copenhagen. Here are my impressions in short:
Berlin - mishmash of old and new, always something happening.
Dresden - still scars from war (my visit was when East Germany still existed). At that time hard to see Florence on Elbe.
Prague - eye candy and very good and very affordable beer.
Vienna - grandiose, coffee and Sacher torte culture, expensive.
Munich - artificial (was rebuilt after war and that feeling that it is not original is there - unlike Warsaw Old Town which got that old authentic feeling), very good but less affordable beer.
If I were you I would consider adding Budapest instead of Munich. You already got two German cities. Budapest would be another eye candy with an exotic Orient like feeling.
I see another two questions to answer. Why to drop Copenhagen? I would not because I haven't been there. But if I haven't been to any of those cities and had to drop one it would probably be Copenhagen. I guess less interesting than the others? I've been to Reykjavik. My impressions: pretty, smaller looking town with pastel color houses. The cleanest air of any capital I've ever been (and they were many). Cool crispy air like at the beginning of winter on clear day (I was lucky, it's not that often there) but it was July.
Copenhagen: 3 nights
Berlin: 4 nights
Dresden: 2 nights
Prague: 3 nights
Vienna: 3 nights
Munich: 4 nights
I was in Copenhagen for a day (cruise stop) and would have liked to have had at least one more day there.
Much as I enjoyed Dresden, I'd skip it and reinstate Salzburg instead. Even more, I like the idea of dropping Munich and going to Budapest. I'd still skip Dresden, and would either add to Berlin or visit Český Krumlov (I haven't been, but others rave about it) between Prague and Vienna. Budapest is much different from your other destinations.
Reykjavik - if you get a really good deal on Icelandic, it's worth an overnight. Otherwise, the only reason to go is to spend a few days touring Iceland - really really expensive, but extraordinary.
Why drop Copenhagen?
Copenhagen is pleasant enough to visit, but is rather lacking when it comes to spectacular sights, or gripping history.
Given your available time of 20 days, I think 6 cities is more manageable - I work on an average 3 night stay anywhere.
Also, Copenhagen >> Hamburg is a lengthy 4hr 33min journey. (Berlin>Prague + Prague>Vienna are both also 4+ hours).
Thanks for everyone's help, I've still got some tweaking to do yet I believe haha.
Limiting yourself to a six city itinerary I think these are your 3 best options ...
A) Copenhagen > Hamburg > Berlin > Dresden > Prague > Vienna
B) Copenhagen > Berlin > Prague > Vienna > Salzburg > Munich
C) Berlin > Dresden > Prague > Vienna > Salzburg > Munich
From all the cities mentioned by you, one that certainly needs more than 3 days to enjoy properly is Berlin. Its great, and yet many museums are very time consuming, that's one of the reasons to start with. So certainly you should consider adding more days to Berlin to have 3 in total minimum, if not four.
Now, as much as Copenhagen is worth seeing, it can be done in 3 days.
As for Prague and Vienna, having six days for both, I would suggest 3 nights in each. Two days may not and probably won't be enough for Vienna.
dag,
When is your trip taking place? One suggestion that comes to mind is that you may find it helpful to attend the next meeting of the Denver RS travel group, as I'm sure they'll be able to help you sort out all the details. Here's the info on their last meeting.....
Check the "Travel Forum Meetings" section to confirm the date of their next meeting.
Thanks for the help everyone, Im still tinkering around bit I think I'm almost there with an itinerary.
I do have a question though, both Cesky Krumlov/Budapest keep coming up here and in other thing I have read about, but I am having difficulty working them into a manageable schedule. Prague to CK to Vienna seems like it can be connected via rental car pretty easily, so thats an option, but Budapest seems way out of the way and I cant find any good flights to fly straight into Budapest - how do people usually tie in these destinations w/their overall itinerary?
Ken - I may check that out, thanks for the tip!
Copenhagen > Hamburg > Berlin > Munich (with side trip to Salzburg) > Prague > Vienna > Budapest
or
Copenhagen > Hamburg > Berlin > Munich > Salzburg > Vienna > Budapest > night train to Prague
I do have a question though, both Cesky Krumlov/Budapest keep coming up here and in other thing I have read about, but I am having difficulty working them into a manageable schedule. Prague to CK to Vienna seems like it can be connected via rental car pretty easily, so thats an option, but Budapest seems way out of the way and I cant find any good flights to fly straight into Budapest - how do people usually tie in these destinations w/their overall itinerary?
There's a current thread about getting to Cesky Krumlov. Without it, Prague, Vienna and Budapest are connected by high-speed train.
Flying open-jaw in or out of Budapest can be hard to plan. There don't seem to be a lot of options. James E. is our resident expert on that - if he doesn't jump in with suggestions, PM him.
