What is the best place to fly into for a trip to Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Munich. OR is it worth flying into a city I am not actually planning on visiting (like maybe Frankfurt) and staying at least overnight? I'd like to avoid a long layover in Paris if I could.
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Posted by
Corvallis OR
7168 posts
I would try to find an open-jaw (multi-city) flight into Berlin and out of Munich and travel in a circle in the order you listed the cities.
Posted by
Salt Lake City
1528 posts
It largely depends on where you are flying from. Get on Kayak or Orbitz or ??, and try out some destinations. We like to fly to Munich as we have decent connections there with Delta Airlines. Your situation might be very different.
Posted by
St Louis, MO
150 posts
Where I fly into sometimes depends on the tickets. If I find a good deal on a ticket I will change my plans. We flew into London in April although it was our plan to start our vacation in Germany because the business class flight was so affordable! So many when you get ready to buy tickets, investigate all possible locations and connections.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
If price is equal, it's usually best to fly right where you want to be. If it's "cheaper" to fly to Frankfurt instead of Berlin, how much will it cost you in time, money, and hassle to get from Frankfurt to Berlin (jetlagged to boot)? Remember that if you fly all on one ticket, the airline transfers your checked bags to the final airport (you don't see them at your connecting airport) and if your first flight is late and that causes you to miss your connection, the airline will put you on the next available flight for no extra fee.
All that said, it does depend on the costs and convenience of your options. For instance, recently it has been so much cheaper to fly round trip to Milan compared with Venice or Rome (about $300 less per person) that it was worth the hassle for many to fly to Milan even if it was not their Italy destination.
What your nonstop options are also enters into the equation. From New York in high season, I can get nonstop flights to all four of the cities you listed; most US cities will not have that option, and some have no nonstops to Europe at all. And some flights are seasonal. If you tell us where you live and when you're going, we can give better advice.
If you want to see all the options of who flies where from each airport, go to that airport's Wikipedia page (a great tip I learned from this Forum!)
You want a "multi city" flight (also called open jaw), into one city and out of another all on one ticket. This is usually (but not always) much cheaper than two one-ways. To find these yourself, go to Kayak https://www.kayak.com/flights?mc=y or Google Flights https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=LAX;d=2016-07-08;r=2016-07-12;tt=o;mc=e. Put in (for example) Omaha to Berlin as your first leg, and Munich to Omaha as your second leg, and see what comes up.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19282 posts
Munich is a great airport to use, but to save train fare from or back to Munich, use an open jaw (multi-destination) - in to Berlin, out of Munich.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
I am flying from Minneapolis. Thank you for all the replies.
Posted by
11 posts
We are in Germany now. This trip we flew into Frankfurt and are doing a trip through Bamberg, Prague, Dresden, Berlin - flying out of Berlin.
Four years ago when we came, we flew in and out of Munich. That trip we did Passau, Vienna, Salzburg, Garmisch, Gunzburg/Legoland, then Munich to make a circle.
If you can fly into one and out of another, that will get you the least back tracking for the cities you are looking to visit. If your ciities are negotiable, then see where you can get the cheapest flights and then arrange your travel plans to match.