Travelling by car from Munich to Venice to Prague, July 2016

There's plenty to see along the most direct routes that GoogleMaps or www.viamichelin.com will suggest, so your main problem is having enough time.

From Venice to Prague you'll probably drive via Udine, Villach, Salzburg, Cesky Krumlov, and Ceske Budejovice. Of those, Salzburg and Cesky Krumlov are the most popular stops, along with the Hallstatt, which is just a short detour from the main highway.

From Munich to Venice, the main road is via Innsbruck, Bolzano, Verona, and Padua. Bolzano has the very interesting Ice Man exhibit and is an access point to the Dolomites (especially for train travelers). From Bolzano, you might want to head east on the smaller mountain roads, instead of continuing along the main highway.

The above are all pretty general advice and you can see notes about these destinations under "Explore Europe" to the left plus fuller coverage in Rick's guidebooks for the different countries. If you're looking for more rural or small-village recommendations or something not in the guidebook, then commenters might want more info about your preferences.

I am curious, why not the more logical route ... Venice to Munich to Prague ??

Thanks Laura! Yes I guess we are considering the quieter mountain roads, sorry I didn't make that clear :)
I had read about the mummified man from some 5000 years ago, which I am sure the kids would love to see. I know we are a little tight on time, which is why I am trying to get suggestions so that we can choose from the things that sound most interesting to us... rather than just rolling blind (so to speak). Thanks again

Hi David. This is the driving leg of our journey, at the end of a 4 week holiday. Munich seemed like the logical pickup point from our immediate location prior - apart from that, there is no 'logical' route when you are planning a trip yourself in a foreign country unknown to you :) Thanks for your interest.

nikki

welcome to our Helpline.

Yes, David is right - Venice is the remote end of that trip, and Munich and Prague are quite close.

More information from you yields a much more bespoke answer, or answers.

Which end of next month will you be making the trip? In a couple of weeks, or a month from now? How you got your air tickets yet?

You say you are looking for lodging ideas. Does this mean that you can reorder things to make it easier for you? Can you share your lodging budget with us, in Euro (since I don't think of European prices in Australian Dollars) so we can suggest at the right level?

Are you aware of the extra costs of driving in Austria (Vignettes, big toll for the Europabrucke, and IDP), and Italy (tolls, Tutor, IDP, ZTL, very high costs of parking for Venice), and in Czech Republic (Vignette, high cost for insurance)?

Will you be returning the car to Germany or leaving it in Prague? Are you aware of high drop off costs for dropping a car in a different country?

Could you consider taking the train to Venice and then get the car when you leave Venice and then drive (if you wish) to Prague, and then from there back to Munich if that's where you want to finish?

Please help us to help you...

Someone has already commented on the order of your visit. You will waste a lot of driving time going from Munich to Venice the back north to Prague.

Let me warn you how congested the Brenner Pass is between Innsbruck, Austria and Italy. I have been through this pass several times when we lived in Germany.

I suggest you avoid renting a car for the trip from Munich to Venice or reverse. Take the train, you will see great scenery as driving. Renting cars where you drop the car in another country can be very expensive. Consider taking the train for the entire trip. Parking will cost a lot in the cities.

I like using TripAdvisor to check for best B&B or hotel. Also, check Kayak for prices. Venice is very expensive, but if you book a hotel close to the man train station it is cheaper and easier to get to.

Sorry, I should have qualified "logical" as being in terms of the shortest driving distance.

Munich, Venice, Prague - 3 cities where you don't want/need a rental car. Not just that - a rental car is a pain to have in big cities AND trains take you from city center to city center. But I do hope you have a good time.

Thanks so much for your ideas, suggestions and advise. For various reasons we are flying out of Munich. After Amsterdam we were interested to see Venice and Prague, therefore the journey had to be done in one direction or the other (and flying seemed to be a waste of scenery). We are more interested in getting off the beaten path - opting instead for the smaller villages. Nothing will be a waste to us, as this is a once in a lifetime family holiday before our eldest flies the coup :) Although we would have liked more time, this is what we have, and we are very keen to see the countryside in these areas, which simply looks stunning. We understand the car hire is going to blow things out (and yes we have read about tolls, vignette, and venice parking), but it all seems quite on par with our costs here, and it's not like we are doing it every day of our lives. Thanks again :)

Hi nikki,

The driving from Munich to Venice should be rather easy and spectacular. We've done both drives. The drive via the Brenner/Innsbruck is not bad. Done it 6 or 7 times so far. With 3 nights to spend on the drive between Munich and Venice:

1) Drive to the Dolomites (Val Gardena or Alta Badia) via Innsbruck and make your base here for the 3 nights. The Dolomites are spectacular and the many Dolomite Passes are amazing high alpine roads to drive. Plenty of cable car trips, hiking, walking, plus Bolzano (Ice Man) is an easy day trip.

We stayed:
www.montanara.it
www.altabadia.it
www.garniariston.com
www.valgardena.it

2) Drive to Heiligenblut, Austria for one night via Zell am See and the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse.
www.ederhof-heiligenblut.at/de/
www.heiligenblut.at/en/
Then continue the next day to the Alta Badia via Cortina d'Ampezzo.
www.montanara.it
www.altabadia.it

Paul

Thanks so much Paul! Montanara looks beautiful and very hard to pass by :)
I have stumbled across one of your posts from years ago with great suggestions for scenic driving. Thank you.

Be certain you are allowed to take a car rented in Germany to the Czech Republic. Last month I picked up a car in Vienna. I was asked where I would be driving. I told them only Austria and maybe into Germany. The told me I was not allowed to drive the car into the Czech Republic. I rented through Europcar and the car had a sticker indicating the car had a GPS tracker.

Thanks Andrea. We have mentioned we will be going to Czech Republic so hopefully that will be fine.

Hi nikki,

The Ciasa Monatanara is beautiful. The breakfast is unbelievable, meaning the wide variety of items. Best breakfast we've ever come across. IF they don't have room, go right next door to the Garni Tamarindo. The Montanara and the Tamarindo are owned by brothers and are right next to one another.

www.tamarindo-lavilla.it/start.php?page=home&img=05&lang=EN

Here are some pic's of our 10/03, 10/06 and 9/09 stays in the Dolomites:

www.flickr.com/photos/pjbassplyr/sets

Paul

Before picking up a car I would clarify you can drive it in the Czech Republic. Assuming it's okay because they didn't outright say it's not could get you in trouble.