Recommendations for hiring a car and driver between European cities

I suspect each segment you outline is likely to cost $500 and to $1000 for the longer ones.

If the cost is not a concern to you, then others here will probably have some suggestions.

THAT is not a common question. I suggest you google each city. On the city site look for taxi and driver services. Since a service like that is seldom used by anyone of this site, it will be difficult to obtain recommendations. By my standards it would be expensive. Probably will run you about 150 euro or bit more per hour. Remember the further you go the longer it is going to take for the driver to return empty and you will pay for that.

Lovely idea - most of us could not afford that mode of travel - correction , some of us could , but wouldn’t .

We take trains , as locals would .

I have never tried this method of travel between cities, but your question piqued my interest so I googled “driver from Budapest to Vienna”. I guess there are lots of people who do prefer to hire drivers, because lots of sites came up. I am not offering a recommendation, but mydaytrip.com looks interesting.

Take a look at MyDaytrip.com. They do some of those itineraries and suggest stops to include as well. We haven't used them yet but are going to in May. Others have given them good reviews on this forum.

Can't offer any help on car services as that is not an option for me.

I got used to riding trains right from the start of my first trip in Europe and have been using that mode of transportation just about exclusively on all the trips. Riding the train 2-4 hrs (day rides) is no problem in the summer.

Good that you're going to Jena, (a historical and cultural site), did a day trip there in 2017 from Berlin, which was hardly enough and a revisit is necessary.

We went from Cesky Krumlov to Vienna by private driver. Using CZShuttle.com. We were two couples and it was $400. The driver spoke English.

Thanks to all for replies!
Re: Trains We have travelled in Europe by train a number of times and now that we are retired we’d like to try the private car/driver route, if affordable. Thought that would allow us to see countryside and visit a town we would bypass by train.
For those of you with specific suggestions, thanks so much! We will be researching this weekend and let you know what we learn.
Re: Jena, Germany. Because my brother lives there (he and his wife work for Max Planck) I have traveled there several times and it is a great small city. Wonderful day trips inarea. I hope you get back there soon!

Just checked my notes from our trip, we paid 4500czk which was only 116€.

Take the train.

We have planned a similar itinerary this year. Based on recommendations & convenience we will take the train from Budapest to Vienna. We will use the CK Shuttle (shared van) from Vienna to Cesky Krumlov>>CK Shuttle to Prague (door to door) www.ckshuttle.cz

Our cousins (2 couples) hired www.mytrip.com for one of these routes last summer. They wanted to stop along the way for sightseeing. They were very pleased with the service.

The Zeiss Museum is in Jena, so is the battlefield museum if you're interested in seeing that too. Much easier to get to with a car.

If the cities have easy and direct connection by train (which is the case for Budapest, Vienna and Prague) I would not even think about spending money for private driver. I would think about it on routes like Cesky Krumlov to Hallstatt, Zakopane to Strbske Pleso - which I did two years ago, etc.

Is it just Hungarian travel agents that you are condemning, or all of them around the world?

I know a truly excellent one in Montreal for our Hungarian friend, should the need arise. It is a bit much to condemn 99% of the profession.

Have you checked all around the world? Or taking those whom you know personally and extrapolating? That's a big extrapolate...

Do people actually ever ask a travel agent where to have lunch in any particular small town in Europe? That would be like asking your excellent dressmaker where to buy shoes to go with the dress. I don't think restaurants are an expected part of a TA's expertise.

Happy to make you feel confirmed, My work here is done, Good evening.

I used Mydaytrip.com last year from Lake Bled to Munich. Our english speaking driver arrived right on time and got us to our destination in a timely fashion. I will be booking them again this summer for a trip from Vienna to Prague. It wasn't fancy more like long distance uber. Definitely more expensive then trains and public transportation.

Edited to add: you can definitely book added excursions. They will show you popular sights along the way on the web site.
https://mydaytrip.com

My point was not that a random travel agent could find the best restaurant on a segment of road in Central Europe, but rather that a travel agent, particularly a high-end one, would probably have better recommendations for finding a driver between cities easily linked by rail than in a forum where everyone goes between those cities...by rail.

And that the OP could certainly afford the cost of said high-end travel agent to find the resources the OP is asking for. This is a luxury travel question, and not really in the purview of most people on this board.

Back on topic; yes a rare thing for me .... For Budapest to Vienna I would suggest László MÁRKUS. I've known him for years and used him on a number of occasions. Excellent gentleman. http://silverwings.hu/ The first time I hired him I took the train to Vac but on the return to Budapest I wanted to stop off at the Bear sanctuary and a nearby lake to check out the fishing. So there I am standing in front of the city hall in Vac and he drives up in a shiny new black MB. Gets out, looks at me and takes off his black suit coat and driver's cap and places it in the trunk. It was the start of a good relationship. That was about six years ago and I use him maybe once, sometimes twice a year now. We have VIP guests from time to time in Budapest and I always trust László to pick them up at the train station or airport and he gives them about a 60 minute drive around town on the way to the apartment. Sort of an orientation tour. He can be quiet and very professional if that's your desire or he can talk your ear off on local politics, customs, events, life, etc. That forced contact you get when you hire a good driver can really add depth to a trip. We do it pretty often; especially the first trip to a new country. But you gotta get a good driver for that.

If you have about 3 hours to spare I would make the stop between Budapest and Vienna at the Archabbey in Pannonhalma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannonhalma_Archabbey and https://bences.hu/lang/en/ If you don't have quite that much time, then just stop in Győr for lunch https://www.budapest.com/hungary/cities/gyor.en.html . Győr is on the road to Vienna and about as close to halfway as you can get. Going to the historic town center will cost you about 10 minutes on the overall trip. Worth it for lunch and and what ever sightseeing time you want to use.

Off topic; if you are hiring a local Travel Agent for a local visit, why would they know less about the area than the folks on the RS forum? Not logical. And car vs train; its all good. If there are 2 of you, it does cost a bit more. For three it becomes more competitive and for larger groups it might be cheaper than the train.

While in Győr call scythian; I'm sure he will be happy to take you to lunch.

As several others have mentioned here, check out mydaytrip.com . If you don't see exactly what you want on the website, email them. I just booked with them for a second time, and I wanted to include two enroute stops that were not available on the website. I sent them a few options I was considering, and within a few hours I had quotes for all of them.

Assuming that you are staying in hotels in Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, why don't you ask them for recommendations for a private driver? We did such a trip in September 2015 from Prague to Linz, Austria with a 2-hour stop in Ceske Budjovice to tour the Budweiser/Budvar Brewery and then have lunch at the brewery-owned restaurant around the corner. The hotel recommended a driver and the cost was approximately 200 Euros total, which was an excellent price. The total amount of driving time was about 3 hours; so 5 hours total for the one-way trip. Our hotel in Prague was Hotel Residence Agnes on Haštalská 19. It was an excellent hotel (clean, quiet, comfortable, and great breakfast buffet) and within easy walking distance to the Old Town. The staff couldn't do enough for us - they picked us up upon arrival at the Prague Train Station and even gave us free rides around town.

Re: "...local Travel Agent on a local visit...." That brought to mind when I went to Chateau-Thierry in 1999 as a day trip from Paris, went to the Tourist Office, where somehow one of the two women employees must have heard my Calif boy American accent or saw US tourists, or something.

She assumed immediately, presumably based on previous experiences with Americans, that we (not one of my solo trips but with the Mrs this time) were there to ask how to go to Bois de Belleau, known to the Americans as Belleau Wood because of the Marines combat there in WW1. Pointing to me the Mrs immediately began speaking French to the woman who had addressed me in English. To get to the Bois de Belleau battlefield site, one needs a car. I wasn't going there anyway as we had taken the train, but was after seeing the other WW1 sites in the town.

@ scythian....I wouldn't hire a private guide either; expense is the primary reason; at most maybe a private driver where I tell him to go in the rural villages, or only if this guy knew his history upside down, inside out, backwards and forwards, ie, thoroughly. I've experienced it in Austria, France, and Germany where the locals tell or recommend to you where to go, places so esoteric that they are exceptionally hard to find unless in specialised cases.

For example, if you know Budapest, ie the South Station area (I think that's the name of it), nearby is a grim event reminder in Hungarian history, not from 1945, but from 1849, the events of which are treated in some detail in the Army Museum in BP, the site is called "Blutwiese." (Blood Meadow).

The only problem with having a hotel recommend a guide or driver, is sometimes they pay s kickback to the hotel and pass that cost along in higher prices. I suspect there is a possibility that the same driver might charge the Four Seasons guest more than the hostel guest. Maybe, possibly.

The history was interesting, thanks.

If the 4 Season guest is too proud/lazy to haggle he deserves to pay
an inflated price. I always try to haggle unless I booked in advance
or the asking price is already cheap. If the price is OK for me I take
it and I don't care how much the other guy paid for the same hotel
room or taxi.

You only get to haggle with private drivers which is who a lot of hotels will call for you as they will get the kick back that way. Licensed cab companies work on government fixed rates. They all charge the same; and compared to Western Europe, the rates are excellent. You pick a licensed company on the quality of service which is why I choose CityTaxi. Maybe not better than the others, I dont have the experience to know, but they do provide all the service you could expect. If a licensed taxi haggles with you he is breaking the law, a situation I would prefer to avoid on principal.

Not sure, I know they have a different fare structure outside the city, would have to compare two to see if they are the same, if yes that would indicate probably yes. I suspect any pickup in Budapest would fall under the regulation, but just a guess. That's how it works here at least.