Germany, Czech and Austria

I suggest flying into Prague and taking a train down to Vienna. Then take a train over to Salzburg and another train to Munich. Rent a car and go south to Innsbruck and The Alps--making a circle. Innsbruck about a 2 hr drive. Fly home from Munich--a really good airport.

My wife and I (in our late 60's) traveled to Berlin, Nuremburg, Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest and Prague 11/27 - 12/21 2022 via train except for the segment between Vienna and Budapest (we flew this segment). We flew into Berlin and out of Prague. The timing of our trip centered around the Christmas markets and we enjoyed them all, but we found ourselves wondering how different it would be at another time of the year.

Our favorite stop was Budapest - beautiful city, easy to get around and english wasn't an issue anywhere. A close second would be Salzburg. Our most memorable stop was Terezin a concentration camp about 25 miles north of Prague. One regret was that we didn't day trip to Bratislava - it will have to wait until our next trip!

Except for Belin we stayed at Airbnb's and enjoyed eating out most meals. We stayed 3 to 5 nights in each location and enjoyed every one of our stops. We used each city's transportation system extensively using Apple maps - if you've not used it for public transportation it's an amazing tool!

Happy to answer any questions if you have them! I'm sure you will enjoy whatever itinerary you come up with!

Ken

Thank you do much for the ideas. We will be looking at those options.

We did the Christmas Markets Nov and Dec 22. Try this and you won’t need a car. Time on the trains are very manageable.

Budapest - Vienna - Salzburg - Regensburg - Prague.

You can fly home from Prague or continue to Dresden and finish in Berlin. You can spend 3 nights in each city and you won’t feel rushed.

Broad-brush. When and what? Where do you think you will rent a car, and where do you think you will travel by train?

Let me suggest adding a few small towns to your itinerary not just the big cities and popular tourist spots only. E.g. between Prague and Vienna, you could rent a car and drive through southern Bohemia and Moravia (drop the car in Brno, CZ, and train from there to Vienna...or do it in the opposite direction). I did this a few years ago - it's easy to drive in Czech Republic outside the cities. There are a lot of pretty little towns like Telc, Jindrichuv Hradec, Trebon, and (touristy and well known but charming) Cesky Krumlov. Renting and dropping the car in Czech Republic avoids a steep fee for dropping in another country.

You could something similar in Germany or Austria, but I've not driven through small town there.

Yes, I love the idea of visiting small towns. The idea of staying in local BnBs, eating local authentic food, running elbows with locals really appeals to us. Big cities can be a bit overwhelming if we stay too long. Thank you for the tips. Much appreciated.

I did something similar to that with a friend back in 2010. We started in Prague for 3 nights, then took a bus down to Česky Krumlov for one night, which we loved (yes, it can be a bit touristy but there is a reason people love it - similar to Rothenburg ob der Tauber). From Cesky Krumlov, we headed to Munich by train and stayed there for several nights. In Munich, we rented a car and drove to Rothenburg for a night, then down to Salzburg, making it a leisurely drive to enjoy the scenery. We stopped in Oberammergau for the day and then on to Salzburg.

In Salzburg, we stayed on the outskirts of town, which made it easier with the car, and took the bus into the city each day. We were there for 3 nights, then headed back to Munich to return the car, where we made a day trip to Dachau and stayed for one more night, and then my friend left to go home. I stayed and took the train to Vienna, where I spent 4-5 nights. I did a day cruise on the Danube, which was wonderful. My cruise took me to Durnstein, which I highly recommend. It was one of the most charming towns I've traveled to and a great place to stop for some food and a glass of luscious Gruner Veltliner at a local Heuriger, which is a name given to wine-taverns where wine-growers serve the most recent year’s wine.

Thanks Mardee. That sounds lovely. I'm keeping notes of all the cities and small towns that everyone is recommending so we can get an itinerary together. We're thinking to go in September, after people send their kids back to school so it will be less busy but still pleasant weather.

Places that are must see? Places that are overrated? I always make my
own reservations. Never use a travel agent. Open to the idea of flying
in to one country and leaving from another. We like small towns, BnBs,
authentic people, good food. We're not too much into museums.

You sound much like us. With those preferences I would probably exclude from your list of destinations places like Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Dresden, and Prague (though of course leave them as airport options.)

For what you have in mind, Franconia (Franken in German) is a very good region for several days. Nice small towns and small cities with local color/flavor. In between Munich and Frankfurt for flying in or out. Very good local rail connections.

Franconia towns and railways: http://www.nahverkehr-franken.de/rbahn/img/2007-netzkarte.jpg

Cities: https://catalogs.frankentourismus.de/?catalog=FT-Blaetterkatalog_F-Staedte_Reisetipps-2023-E

The cities we liked best: Bamberg - Bayreuth - Coburg - Würzburg - Bad Windsheim (Franconian open-air museum, the Franken-Therme spa/pool facility) and Nuremberg (a big city, actually - but it does feel small.)

Other very nice small towns:
Iphofen (on the Würzburg-Nuremberg railway near Neustadt/Aisch)
Martbreit and Ochsenfurt (near each other on the Main River train route south of Würzburg)

Places that are overrated: Rothenburg. Nice town, nearly half destroyed in WW II but very attractively rebuilt. But it's completely overrun by tourism. The other Franconian towns have a reason for being other than just serving up rooms, meals, and trinkets for the throngs of tourists.

All the Franconian towns I've mentioned are easy to reach by train. Nuremberg can be a good base town for outings to the others, but that would mean staying in a larger town than you probably wish to stay in - so you might look into some other base town depending on which destinations appeal to you most.

A real Franconian treat is Dinkelsbühl.

In 2011 I flew into Munich, spent 2 days there. then train to Salzburg (4 days), train to Prague (4 days), train to Nuremberg (1 day), rented a car and drove over to Bad Windsheim (1 day), them down to Nordlingen (1 day), and then over to Regensburg (3 days), and then back to Munich. I know all of these towns well; I used to live in Steinach (by Rothenburg odT), so this was not a visit to new places. I was never bored. If this was a new area to me I'd spend more time in some of these towns and could easily fill up 21 days. And there'd be enough I didn't see or do to fill another similar trip.

Pick three places/things you absolutely have to see or do. Then just take the rest of the trip doing what looks good that day. You never know when you're going to run into a festival, find a really special place to stop, or make a friend. Traveling with open ends is much more enjoyable than following a rigid plan.

Such good advice here. Thank you very much. I just ordered several guidebooks from my local library too. Building in time for those unexpected pleasure along the way is so important.