Help wanted to plan trip to Prague and ????

Because you specifically want to avoid the heat, perhaps I could recommend Krakow, Warsaw and Vilnius. All three destinations are relatively cheap by European norms. You can find enough information elsewhere on Krakow. Warsaw particularly surprised me. I stopped there briefly only for geographic reasons to break up a trip between Krakow and Vilnius, and I wish I had spent more time. Vilnius is also an under-rated and under-visited gem of baroque architecture. I imagine it's similar to Prague in the early 1990s, before the city started to resemble Disney World.

I agree with Tom about Krakow and Warsaw; I've never been to Vilnius, but my friend went and loved it. My concern about Vilnius though is travel time; by train it takes more than 10 hours to get there from Warsaw.

As Tom said, Warsaw is often overlooked; it has an unfair reputation as dreary and depressing. Yes, there are a lot of ugly Soviet-era apartment blocks, etc, but the Old Town and New Town (which is also old), as well as the Royal Way are colorful and lively and anything but dreary and depressing. They are in fact inspiring because that area of town was almost completely destroyed during the war. The effort put into restoring the area is amazing. And though a lot of the architecture from the Soviet-era is ugly, some of it is quite impressive and interesting.

Krakow easily meets all your criteria: layers of history, beautiful architecture from many eras, interesting and moving museums, art - Krakow is the home of Da Vinci's Lady With an Ermine as well as impressive Polish art, plus great scenery. If you throw in a side trip to Zakopane and the Tatras, you will see breathtaking mountain veiws.

You would be able to get by in any of these places, but English-speakers are more common in Krakow.

For Eastern Europe, check out inyourpocket.com. They have invaluable and usually up-to-date information -hotels, restaurants, sites, festivals, concerts, shopping, transportation, etc. - on many cities in the region. I'll try to create a link to the version on Poland below.

Whatever you decide, have a great time!

In Your Pocket Poland

Thank you for the replies. Vilnius sounds like it is worth a visit, but I can't get a flight home so it will go on the list for another time.

I can fly into Vienna or Prague and home from Warsaw (or vice versa). Would Vienna, Prague, Krakow, Warsaw be a reasonable itinerary for about 2 weeks? Am I cramming in too much? Are there other places on this route that are worth a stop?

What are the trains like between these cities? About how long are the trips?

Chani,
Don't want to rain on anybody else's parade, but what's wrong with Vienna, Prague, and Budapest? Suggest you don't try to cram it into 12 days. Been there, done that. CZ trains are not like Italy. 1 or 2 trains turn into 5 and you're barely making connections. Too much stress on a short trip, considering travel time.

Didn't get the opportunity to see Budapest last trip, but would would love to read your reports.

Cheers and Shalom.

Chani,

Greg may be right about not trying to cram too much into 12 days. His suggestion of Vienna, Prague Budapest would probably be less hectic. And Budapest is definitely worth seeing.

However...your idea of Vienna, Prague, Krakow and Warsaw is do-able. I'm not sure about the train from Vienna to Prague, but the train from Prague to Krakow is a straight shot, no changing trains required. It is (or was when I went 5 years ago) a night train. It leaves Prague at 21:20 and arrives in Krakow at 05:33, or departs 22:50, arrives 07:25 the other direction.(I still have my Krakow train station schedule:) )There are (or were) 13 trains a day from Krakow to Warsaw. Travel time is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

But Greg's point about CZ (and PL) trains not being like Italian trains is true. They are nice enough in the passenger compartments though they are a little vintage, shall we say. I didn't mind for the most part because train travel is a novelty to me, but the bathroom facilities...not good. But that would probably be true for the Prague/Budapest train as well.

Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw...I loved them all! (Though I have an especially soft spot in my heart for Krakow)

Good luck making a decision!

As I said originally, I would go for a minumum of 12 days and a maximum of 18 days.

Keep the suggestions coming. It is a big help.

Prague, Vienna, Krakow and Warsaw are easily doable in two weeks. If you decide for 18 days then I would add trip from Krakow to Zakopane and if you are a hiker in good shape do Rysy (the highest mountain in Poland) from Morskie Oko (lake). The scenery is fantastic. The trains in C.R. and Poland and Austria are in several different categories. The high categories are comparable to Italian trains and the probability that they wouldn't go because of strike is even lower. All these four cities are connected between themselves by at least one direct train. For timetable you can check Deutsche Bahn website.

"What are the trains like between these cities? About how long are the trips?" The link between Warsaw and Krakow, if I remember correctly, was about 3 hours. The train was clean and comfortable, although some Polish trains are rather dirty and slow.