Completed an RS Eastern Europe Tour?

I have not done the EE trip, but trains are easy!
Bled to Villach is about 1.5 hrs. on the train, so that sounds like a great idea. The German Rail site is a great place to research train options. www.bahn.com Tickets can be purchased at the station; I'm sure your tour guide will provide helful instruction for that if needed.

I have done this tour and it was wonderful. Post-tour, I took the train from Bled to Salzburg, spent 24 hours there, then took the high speed train to Munich for a flight home. There is currently a direct train to Salzburg that stops in Bled (at 09:50). I purchased tickets in advance on bahn.com, got great deal (about US$80 for first class). Several others on my tour took the train to Vienna after the tour. Not sure about rental car opportunities in Villach but someone else will likely chime in. PS, I love compulsive planning! Just note they've reconfigured the itinerary for 2013 and shaved a day off Prague compared to the 2012 itinerary. IMHO, you'll want to add at least one day ahead of the tour in Prague, as two nights is not enough to see everything.

Dale - After the tour, we drove to Split and then made our way down the coast to Dubrovnik. We took the hit with the one way drop off fee but we were limited on time. If we had an extra day, we would have taken the train to Zagreb or another place in Croation and rented the car there.

we have not already taken the Eastern Europe trip, but have signed up for next year. at the end we are taking the train to Munich for a few days, it was easy to use our frequent flier miles out of Munich Have a great trip!

Did the tour last year. Several went by train to Salzburg, then Vienna. I and others went straight to Vienna via train. Easy trip and nice way to end the tour.