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Murren, Prague, and...?

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We are flying into Zurich in March and spending most of our time in Switzerland in Murren (which we absolutely adore). We are planning to spend most of the second half of our trip in Prague. We have a couple of days that we would really like to spend in another city/town/village, though we cannot decide where! We want to take ease of travel into account. We are fine to spend time in transit and have loved our time spent on trains in the past.

A few of the options we have discussed:

  • Taking a train to somewhere in the Black Forest OR Colmar, France and then flying from Stuttgart to Prague

  • Visiting Annecy from Berner Oberland then flying from Geneva to Prague

  • Flying from Zurich to Prague, then taking a train to Vienna

We are open to other options, as well! We have visited Murren/Gimmelwald/Lauterbrunnen before, but all other aforementioned places would be new to us! We have also visited Munich & have been to Italy multiple times - I think we would like to visit someplace new (though we LOVE Italy!).

Posted by
71 posts

I love the Black Forest but the main attraction is hiking so a March visit might not be ideal weather-wise. You never know though! It could be a spectacular early spring. I always have fun in Freiburg (in which case you could fly out of the Basel/Freiburg/Mulhouse airport) and the spa in Baden-Baden is great regardless of the weather.

To be safe, I'd probably stick with a city/town. Vienna is great regardless of the season but I'd suggest Dresden. You can fly in from Zurich and then it's a quick train ride when you leave for Prague. Dresden is a great size and has lots of interesting sights right in town suitable for winter weather (galleries, museums, the opera) and it's easy to day trip to nearby towns (Meissen, Leipzig) if you want more. There are beautiful castles to visit nearby (Pillnitz and Mortizburg) and there are still things to enjoy in Saxon Switzerland even if the weather is cold (Bastei Bridge, Königstein Fortress). I also just love the feel of Dresden. It's on the train line between Prague and Berlin but few North American tourists seem to ever get off and enjoy the city. The tourists are primarily German or Czech (some Poles and Russians) and it's surprising how much that changes the feel of the town.

Happy travel planning!

Posted by
5581 posts

The Alsace is beautiful, I especially like the small half timbered wine villages, but I'm not so sure how Alsace or Colmar would be in March. The grapes would still be dormant. I think that time of year you travel somewhere that's really winter (like Austria/Switzerland) or more temperate like the Mediterranean OR stick to bigger cities. I think Prague will be nice and you should have the advantage of somewhat fewer tourists. I'm inclined to suggest Vienna or Budapest. I think big cities are less affected by weather in terms of tourist activities. For my first trip to Europe, I did Vienna, Budapest and Prague. Because they were all a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire they share a lot of history which kind of logically ties them together.

Posted by
9 posts

Thank you all for this feedback! This has been incredibly helpful - we are looking into Dresden & Budapest!

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