Driving from Prague to Budapest&#59; road conditions, safe?

We've driven pretty extensively in all 3 countries, including divided highways and regular 2-lane roads and highways, and we never found road conditions to be a problem. Between Prague and Budapest you shouldn't have any difficulty. If you're going via Brno/Bratislava you'll mostly be on motorways.

I don't know about the back roads but the main highways are fine.

A host of new freeways have been constructed since 1989. They are pretty good in the sense of not being full of potholes, etc. However, they are the typical two lane European freeways, one lane for driving and the other for passing only. The speed limit for passenger cars is 130km/hr or 80mph, which is more stressful for American used to 65mph and 4 lanes. (Watch out for the hazzard of hotshot idiots who have picked up the habit of going 140 or 150km/hr and tailgating in the passing lane to get you to move over.) Add to that hundreds of large trucks, all required to go only 80km/hr (50mph) and you will see you must weave in and out a lot. The trucks sometimes have a "climbing" lane, which provides some relief. In the Czech Republic, the "backroads" vary enormously, some glorious and new, others barely navigable. Buy a very good map with lots of detail if you plan to get off the beaten track. If you're continually lost in Czech or Hungarian villages which are not on your map, and you don't speak the language, it may be memorable but not exactly fun. Leave plenty of time to get where you're going.

http://www.viamichelin.com/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm http://maps.google.com/ Those two links are all you need for directions, distance, etc. Driving in rural areas is absolutely no different than in the US, except the signs look different. I cannot stress this enough; You do not want to have a car in ANY European city larger than 500,000 people or so. It is not worth the hassle to park, or pay for parking, or pay congestion fees. And you would be insane to think you will use it to drive from one tourist attraction to another within the city. You can do that in the US, with some effort. You will NOT be able to do that in Europe. There is a reason they have fantastic public transit systems.

We drove from Prague to Budapest 2 summers ago and went thru Slovakia and the Tatras- beautiful mountains and lakes like Colorado and Wyoming. Roads were fine tho a good bit of construction, nothing you haven't seen before. Take a GPS. Don't forget you'll need the Slovakia sticker and your international drivers license.
Also, there are good public parking garages in Budapest that are secured lifts; you won't find on the street parking easily. We parked and took the subway, bus or walked everywhere except for one taxi ride. Really good food at the Soul Cafe!