How's my itinerary look? Germany, Austria & Prague

We really enjoyed the beautiful Schonbrunn Palace much more than the palace in the city. I know you already have a lot planned, but IMHO, it's worth a visit.
Safe travels!
EDIT - oops, didn't see part 2!

Thursday 6/15: Vienna
Move to Pension Suzanne
Sisi Museum
Spanische Riding School Tour 4pm SRS closed July-August
6/15 organ concert @ Wiener Konzerhaus, 7:30pm (optional)
Friday 6/16: Vienna
Spanische Riding School schooling 10am, n/a Sunday or Monday
Rathaus – 1pm free tour (optional)
St Stephan’s Cathedral
Andrea Cecconi Nativity ornaments, 1 block away
Vienna Opera – die Jahreszeiten ballet
Saturday 6/17: Vienna
Schönbrunn Palace (U4 subway, go early AM)
Carriage Museum @ Schönbrunn – check if open
Strudel making show @ Schöbrunn
Sunday 6/18: Vienna
Spanische Riding School performance, 11am (ticket bought)
Imperial Treasury
Monday 6/19: train Vienna to Salzburg
Check into Gästehaus im Priesterseminar
Mozart Birthplace, open daily
Mozart Residence, open daily
Mirabell Gardens
Salzburger Marionettetheater, Mirabell @ 6:30
Tuesday 6/20: Salzburg
Wander Salzburg
Hohensalzburg Castle (Fortress) – open daily
Mozart dinner & concert, seating @ 6pm
Wednesday 6/21: Salzburg
Salzburg Christmas Museum, closed Mon & Tues
Salzburg Catherdral, Concert @ noon
Christmas in Salzburg (shop)
Salzburg Salz (salt shop)
Harpsichord concert @ Salzburg residence, 7pm tickets @ door ½hr prior
Thursday 6/22: train to Munich
Check into Motel One Sendlinger Tor
NS Dokumentation Center
Herrmann Geschenke – shopping, nutcrackers
Friday 6/23: Munich
Dachau day trip, tour pay at door – optional Radius tours
wander Munich & have dinner @ Hofbrauhaus
Saturday 6/24: fly MUC to PHX
MUC UA195 11:40am → SFO 2:20pm
SFO UA1201 4:42pm → PHX 6:51pm

That looks like a fun trip. In 2011 I visited Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein and it was fantastic.

I'm not sure if drinking beer is your thing but if it is you may want to check some of the beer halls in Munich.

FYI, There are combo tickets for Vienna. These include most museums I want to see. My plan is to buy
“Sisi” ticket (buy through Schönbrunn website) includes: Grand Tour Schönbrunn
+ Vienna Furniture Museum + Imperial Apartments + Imperial Silver Museum
AND the other includes: Imperial Treasury + Hofjagd-und Rüstkammer (Imperial Armoury) +
Kunsthistorische Museum + Carriage Museum + Musical Instrument Museum

So happy to see that Spanish Riding School included. I know you have been looking forward to this for a long time.

Thanks Evan, Pat and Carol. I'm not a beer drinker, but I have a couple beer gardens on the Munich list. Already bought tickets to Lippizan performance and will go to the schooling; not sure about the stable tour since I know what a barn/stall looks like and sold saddles/tack for years. There are several concerts, ballet and marionette performance along the way. Palaces are always on my go-to list.

We stayed at your Salzburg guesthouse. It is a beautiful building. The rooms are spacious, well maintained and clean. The hallways are wide with red carpets and there are great views of the courtyard from the hallway. There is a laundry room with one washer and dryer. There is a resident black cat which was a plus for us. The problem is that there is no air conditioning and there are drunks making a ruckus in the streets. Our visit was in late May and it was hot. This would have been a perfect hotel for me if it wasn't for the noisy neighbors. All of the rooms line the street, not the courtyard. If you are a light sleeper, or have trouble sleeping in the heat I would recommend a different hotel.

Get your time slot for the Reichstag dome as soon as you can -- it's booked way ahead. I ended up taking a long guided tour (in German) of the whole building complex just to get to the dome. The tour was interesting though I understood little, but it took time that I had and you won't.

I like your general approach, which I also use -- several well-planned days before and after a well-designed tour. Hope you have a blast!

I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the Viktualienmarkt way back in 2015. Consider the Englischer Garten instead.

You are so lucky that you have tickets to the Spanish Riding School! I wanted to see that so bad when I was in Vienna, but they weren’t in town then.

When you’re in Berlin, if you get a chance, go to SammyS Berliners Donuts and buy one of their donuts. One of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

I love the Käthe Wohlfahrt stores! By the way, if you’re ever near the Twin Cities in Minnesota, there’s a small town called Stillwater about 30 minutes outside the cities that has the only Käthe Wohlfahrt store in the United States.

Have a wonderful trip! I can’t wait to read a trip report!

Looks like a well thought out and planned trip. Hope you have a wonderful time and will await your TR with anticipation. Originally we signed up for the same tour, but changed our minds ( still hope to take it someday), now we are going to London instead.

Thanks everyone for your help, ideas and comments:
Vandrabrud: Thanks for the guesthouse info. I'm hoping Salzburg isn't too hot. Of course "hot" is relative. Living in AZ, we keep our a/c at 80* for the summer and have ceiling fans in all the rooms, so we're comfortable when it's 110* outside. The guesthouse says it has fans Noise is more of a nuisance. I'm trying to save hotel money so I have more to spend on performances and sights.

Dick: Thanks for the Reichstag Dome review. According to their website, I can't register until two months before. It's on my calendar and I check often in case dates open earlier. Did you eat at the adjoining restaurant? It's expensive so I wonder if it's worth it.

Estimated Prophet: I have the English Garden on my optional list, along with the surfing on the Isar River. I just didn't list optional activities. Thanks for the recommendation.

Tom: What a interesting but haunting website. Unfortunately in this day and age, it can easily be misconstrued from architecture to politics. But thank you for sharing Munich's history.

Mardee: Donuts and Christmas ornaments. Two of my favorites!

Tammy: I will definitely write a trip report. Enjoy London. I was there in September. If you go to Kensington Palace, look at the Princess Diana wallpaper in the hall going to the loo.

@horsewoofie

I would suggest buy some delicious food at the Viktualienmarkt and eat it right at the beer garden there. Only your beverage you need to buy from the beer garden. I do this from time to time as well :-) Still today many locals buying groceries at the Viktualienmarkt and it is in no way just a tourist attraction.

The Surfers you will find at the Eisbach at the edge of the English Garden (pretty close to the Haus der Kunst art museum). There is no surfing on the Isar River.

Hofbräuhaus ja well I somehow understand that one want's to see it. It is the touristy place in all Munich and therefore I would rather have my dinner in another place. It is almost summer and why should one want to sit in a beer hall? Even there is a small place to sit outside at the Hofbräuhaus I would not call this a beer garden. Take your dinner at one of the many beer gardens and Hofbräuhaus you could just check out during the day and see what it is like.
My favorite beer garden is the one at Wiener Platz (square). More info about the square and the beer garden please find here: https://www.munich.travel/en/pois/urban-districts/wiener-platz

If you are interested in WWII history don't rule out Eagle's Nest; however, instead of going up the mountain (expensive and perhaps not all that interesting - I skipped it), visit the Documentation Center which is very interesting and includes visiting Hitler's bunkers. The materials in the exhibits above ground, including a movie, were very enlightening, and the bunkers are extraordinary. It's pretty easy to get there, bus from Salzburg, change at Berchtesgaden. I got there early and spent about 3 hours. I took the bus back to Salzburg all the way to the train station and got a bus to the Freilichtmuseum and happily wandered there for the rest of the day.

I went to both the Hofburg and Schonbrunn and wish I'd skipped the Hofburg. When I was there, to Hofburg Palace included Sisi Museum and silver collection on a one-way route. First were rooms and more rooms and then more rooms of silver and porcelain. Then the Sisi rooms which had few exhibits but just about every detail of Sisi's life (TMI), and then one gets to the palace rooms. They are mostly (only?) the private rooms of the Habsburgs and are mostly identical to the private rooms at the Schonbrunn. The last couple to live there spent winters in the Hofburg and summers in the Schonbrunn and they apparently didn't relish change. The public rooms are magnificent. Allow plenty of time at the Schonbrunn to explore the gardens, which are gorgeous.

One of the most interesting museums I visited in Berlin was the DDR Museum. It's small and crowded. It's also hands-on and gives a real sense of what it was like to live under Soviet/communist rule. I see it is currently closed but scheduled to reopen at the end of this month.

100% with Chani on the Hofburg. The Sisi collection is permanent and is endless. Unless you are a huge Sisi fan (never heard of her? Then you aren’t a fan) then I would skip the Hofburg interior - at least definitely do not see it after Schönbrunn.

If you want food and coffeehouse recommendations for Vienna give me a shout.

If you have time when in Salzburg, take the elevator up to Monchsberg for some great views. Also, when you’re in Salzburg Salz, don’t miss the shelf with the candy. The ginger candies are amazing!! And if you’re a fan of garlic salt, they have great garlic salt there. My sister and I have ordered more since we’ve been home. 😊 There’s also a local T-shirt shop near there called Quipster with some unique shirts.

For Berlin - the reservations for the Budestag are open for June, book today they fill up so fast. I just looked at your dates and there are guided tour and dome visit available for multiple time slots (though only one option some days) on June 3, 4, and 5, you should be able to find something that fits for your schedule. I took a late afternoon (5 p.m.) guided tour and loved the behind the scenes info (I saw Angela Merkel's office door!) plus the light in the dome was awesome. Make sure to plan for airport style security and take your passport.

Also in Berlin, I really loved the small Tranenplast museum, it was quite well done and put the other wall museums in a more personal light. I also liked the DDR museum but agree it is very crowded. On your first afternoon if you're headed to the west side, I really enjoyed the Gemäldegalerie art museum, it's open until 6 p.m. It was a pretty stroll from the Kaiser Wilhelm church to the museum.

I was in Prague on a RS tour. For free time, I loved my tour of the Municipal House - art deco overload, in a good way. You can buy tickets online ahead of time or at their box office. I scheduled the tour the afternoon of your day 7 - took the funicular down from the brewery (we were up on Petrin hill) and the tram on to the Municipal House in time for the tour (around 3 I think).

The notion that Munich was mostly destroyed in the war is not correct

The entire urban area of Munich showed around 50% destruction. The rather small historic old town around 90%. And many buildings were rebuilt exactly as they looked like before the war.

Agree Führerbau and Haus der Kunst are typical examples for NS architecture. Today the Führerbau houses the University of Music and Theater. Haus der Kunst houses a great art museum. A sign that brutal architecture can be used peacefully.

Feldherrnhalle played an important role in the NS era although (like said) the building is already fom the 19th century. But it is not the Feldherrnhalle that is important today in terms of NS history. It is the the alley behind - Viscardigasse : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr%C3%BCckebergergasse

What an excellent and well thought out plan! I went on the RS Berlin Prague Vienna tour in June 2015, my 2nd tour. The tour was filled with highlights, Wow moments and insights. I still think about what I saw and learned on that tour. Berlin was such a revelation to me that I hope to go back in 2024 for 4 or 5 days more.
My thoughts on your itinerary:
Berlin, Tour day 2 - your walking tour that morning will include the German History Museum I think. There’s hundreds of years of history in this one building and I felt I didn’t get to see as much as I wanted.

Also, in a free time afternoon, we went to the Jewish Museum on our own (my traveling friend is Jewish) and thought it was very well done.

Museum Island is a complex of several museums the Alteneue Museum and the Pergamon which are so interesting. I know this is a lot so you will have to choose what you want to do.

Prague - in our free time, we went to the Mucha Museum, a very small place but nicely arranged. Also, we took the funicular up to Petrin Hill on the other side of the river, a fun adventure. Also, we took a boat ride on the river.

Dresden- we went to an organ recital at the Frauenkirche in our free time, wonderful music in a fantastically pink and pastel Baroque interiors. Lovely.

Česky Krúmlov - we did the raft trip on the Vltava River, boatloads of wet and cool fun. I recommend doing this, it was a highlight for us.

Vienna Tour day 10 - in free time, do the Third Man Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, an extraordinary collection of art housed in fantastic museum the Emperor built for his art.

Vienna, post tour, I’m glad to see you’re going to the Vienna state opera house for a performance, it’s so totally worth the money. We saw Rigoletto there and I will always remember it.

Salzburg, I see you are planning to go to the Marionettetheater. I will be staying in Salzburg in September on the RS My Way Alpine Europe tour and want to see a performance there. I will hope to read your trip report about your impressions of it.

Have a marvelous trip!

Horsewoofie,
There is so much valuable info in this thread, but if folks were doing a Search for this area , your thread wouldn't show up, as your title is so broad. I know the search function on the Forum isn't very sophisticated. Even if I bookmark it, I would soon forget the topics included. Any way you're open to this suggestion of adding more specifics in your title? They're just too much good info here. This so much, and safe travels!

You are going the opposite direction I am next month. I hope to have a trip report as it's my first time in Germany/Austria. I am talking walking tours in Berlin. Half day tour and the Potsdam tour as well as in Muenchen.

Your itinerary looks fine to me. I also buy Christmas ornaments but I've become fascinated with the Ampelmann since I've been to the German Embassy open house so I'm sure I'll end up with the little green and red men on something.

Ritters chocolates are also on the shopping list as the one's from Germany cost so much here and I love all the special flavors they have throughout the year. I've also been practicing my German on our German family friend. He's been in America too long as he actually tells me I'm not bad, but I have a strong accent.

One more month!

Good plan. I might suggest that you end the trip 2.5 hours from one of the most significant cities in Europe. One that is sort of out of the way unless one is coming from a tour like yours. In other words. It's harder to pick it up in the future.

Perfect title ! Thx so much!

Wow! So many good suggestions and so much help! Thank you all. I'm running out days to see it all!

Pat, I added countries to the title. Thanks for the suggestion.

CL, since I was looking only as Reichstag Dome, there are no dates. Thanks to your advice, I changed my search to Budestag and found a 6/6 1:30pm English language tour, only one available and it defaulted to English tour. I registered for that. It'll be a time crunch to make it there on time. Just in case I'll register for the Dome only when it's available. Thanks for the other suggestions. I have Tränenpalast on my optional list.

Judy B, according to their website parts of the German History Museum are temporarily closed. I had hoped to visit. So glad to hear about your tour experience. If you like marionettes and you visit Venice, the Carlo Goldoni Museum has a antique marionettes and a stage, but no performance.

Carrie, my hubby never wants me to bring him souvenirs. He likes salt and loves garlic, so great idea for him.

Mignon, thanks for the beer garden info. I'm not a beer drinker and can easily pass on Hofbräuhaus in favor of a better garden. I bookmarked your favorite. Also thanks about the surfing. I would have gotten lost for sure.

Chani and Emily, I'll reevaluate the Hofburg museums. Thanks for your insiight. Emily, I'll PM you for food and coffeehouse recommendations. I bookmarked several posts you made in the past year. Very helpful.

If I forgot anyone, all your comments are helpful.

The Feldherrnhalle is , first and foremost, a military monument, not one of politics.

Two venerated Bavarian commanders have their statues there, one from the Thirty Years War and the other from the Napoleonic Wars, Field Marshal Wrede, having switched sides from being Napoleon's ally to joining the Allies and attempting to stop Napoleon from reaching the Rhine...very unwise. He lost.

What makes the Feldherrnhalle a political event is the 1923 Putsch when the Reichswehr and Bavarian police decide to open up on Hitler.

Change of plans. Don't know how I missed it but the Salzburg Marionette performances are Thursday through Sunday and I'm visiting Monday through Wednesday. I may just take the evening off and enjoy a nice dinner since I have concerts planned for Tuesday and Wednesday.
If anyone is interested their website is https://marionetten.at/

I will be in Salzburg Friday-Tuesday so I will be able to attend a performance of the Marionettetheater, I’ve heard good reviews about it!

I would mention again The Third Man Museum in Vienna is a treasure of a small museum focused not just on the The Third Man movie but also, more importantly, the tole of Vienna and Austria in World War II. It is very interesting and Gerhard, who along with his partner, Karin, poured their life and passion into the collection. Not to be missed.

Just adding to others comments, mostly:

• I agree that the Viktualienmarkt is very worth a stop, at least for a lunch. The food is very authentic and there are so many options.

• In Vienna, while the Hofburg palace is skippable after Schönbrunn, I did it and enjoyed it. You've also got the most essential piece to me, which is the Imperial Treasury. The Kaisergruft (Capuchin crypt) is right around the corner from there and worth the stop.

• The Kunsthistorisches Museum is a must see if you are at all into paintings. I have spent 20 hrs.+ there and counting on various visits, and have only seen half of it. Another very interesting museum is the Heeresgeschichtliches (military history) Museum. Among other things its got the car Franz Ferdinand was shot in and a huge Ottoman tent.

Looks like a great itinerary. Enjoy!

It looks like a trip of a lifetime. That is until your next comprehensive trip to Europe. Because there will be another.

Only thing I would suggest is when you get into your hotel on Day One, take time to take a long nap. Go out and eat and then hit the rack early. You'll wake up the next day refreshed and ready to hit the streets.

I've been traveling to Austria since living in Innsbruck the Summer of 1970. It's still one of my favorite countries and we find it a very easy place to be. It's been awhile since we've returned as we're trying to finish are must see list of other cities we've not visited. Lisbon's about the only city we've not been to.

A few thoughts...

Berlin

• Your hotel is very close to Volkspark Friedrichshain, a large park full of Berliners being Berliners. Well worth an evening stroll. And it has an enormous old Fairy Tale Fountain!
• Checkpoint Charlie is worthy of a visit just as a site where history happened. There used to be placards on one of the street corners that detailed the 1961 facing off of US and East German/Russian tanks at the checkpoint. You will likely walk past the site of your RS walking tour, I would think
• I agree with the poster above who mentioned the Bornholmer Strasse Checkpoint as a worthwhile place to visit. It's the checkpoint where the gates were first raised on Nov 9, 1989, to allow East Berliners to cross into West Berlin. There are placards there to describe the event.
• Another Käthe may be worth considering -- Kollwitz. Käthe Kollwitz Platz is near your hotel. The museum dedicated to her work is now located on the grounds of Charlottenburg Palace.

Vienna

• The Grand Hall of the Austrian National Library in the Imperial Palace is worth a visit: https://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/sights/imperial/national-library-353578
• I also agree with the poster above that The Third Man is worth a watch before a trip to Vienna, and The Third Man Museum is worth a visit.
• For a park in Vienna, I like the Augarten. Flowers. Small garden plots. Plenty of room for roaming and watching Viennese be Viennese. A porcelain manufactory. Still-standing WWII anti-aircraft towers.
  

Salzburg

• Don't miss the dwarf garden in Mirabelle Gardens.
• My off-the-beaten-tourist path recommendation for Salzburg: Stadt:Bibilothek Salzburg aka the library. Cool building. Shockingly red carpet. Panorama Bar -- coffee house and reading room on top floor with nice views over the city, including the fortress in the distance -- servers and staff are individuals with developmental disabilities learning to work in the food industry.

Munich

• Are you sure you want to end your trip with Dachau?

Oh, yeah... you may have already found info on Luiseninsel in the Tiergarten... worth a visit if you like flowers.