Berlin to Vienna

I would also divide that long train ride either in Prague or Nuremberg. Nuremberg has a famous Christmas market Haven't seen it but heard about it. Prague Christmas market in Old Town Square thanks to ambience of medieval buildings and towers is like fairy tale. I was there when it was snowing which looked even better. Aside from Christmas market Prague is more picturesque especially if you have snow falling instead of cold drizzle.

We actually did something similar to what you propose this past May. On the way to Berlin from Salzburg, we broke the trip up and stayed overnight in Nuremberg. In Nuremberg, we had enough time after a noon arrival to eat lunch and see the Palace of Justice; the next morning visited the Rally Grounds and Documentation Center and had enough time to eat lunch before boarding a 15:30 train to Berlin. We could have spent much more time at each site, but about 3 hours at each was enough to get a good overall understanding of the Nuremberg Trials and the Nazi Party rallies (plus I had read a book about each before the trip). Another regret is that we did not have enough time to explore the Nuremberg Altstadt and do the recommended walk up to the castle. There also is supposedly a fantastic DB Rail Museum and a bunker where (stolen?) artworks were kept by the Nazis during WWII. I hope that a future trip will allow another visit to Nuremberg. As an aside, we stayed at Hotel Victoria, just inside the Frauentor across from the Hauptbahnhof. It was excellent, (clean, quiet, comfortable, good breakfast, and friendly and helpful staff) supporting the good reviews on Trip Advisor and justifying its listing in the RS guide. It couldn't have been a more convenient place to stay, and the restaurant next door was very good ('Nuremberger' brats, sauerbraten, gulaschsuppe, etc.).

Thank you so much for your replies! I'm thinking that perhaps we should visit Prague (the snow and Christmas market sound lovely) another time when we can spend a few days and that Nuremberg might be a great one day stop for us. Robert, thank you especially for the details regarding how you spent your time as well as the Hotel Victoria--it all sounds very do-able for us. We will be in Berlin for Christmas so unfortunately will miss the Christmas market in Nuremberg. We will spend New Year's in Vienna and that is sounding terrific after some initial research... Would love and welcome additional comments or suggestions! Thanks!

I loved Prague and liked Nuremburg a lot, but saw them in the spring and fall, so I don't know what they're like in the winter. If on this trip, you don't particularly want to see places in between Berlin and Vienna, consider flying. I used Air Berlin, which was fine. When I first looked at tickets, they were €40, but I wasn't ready to commit. By the time I bought the ticket (only a few weeks later) it was €100. A week after I bought it, it had gone up to €110, and I stopped looking <g>. Moral of the story; if you do want to fly, book early, and it's cheap; if you wait, it's not.

Dresden in Christmas time is much more magic than Nuremberg! Prague is nice BUT very, very touristy. It's like a Christmas market in Disney Land.

Dresden is unfortunately too close to Berlin and too far from Vienna to make a break there. Prague is roughly half way between Berlin and Vienna.

I like the idea of Prague. Prague center would be a great walk for a few hours. I'd plan to start early and arrive late to give yourself some time in Prague.

Such great commentsnow I am rethinking myself...again! Ha! Harold, thanks for the tips on flights, although we would like to see as many sights as possible and do love the train so thought it would be a good way to fit in another city if only for a short stop on the way. Andreas, Dresden would be my 1st choice I think! It sounds beautiful, full of history and possibly a great overnight stop with afternoon prior and morning after abutting our sleepover. As Ilja points out though, while I would love the 2 hour train from Berlin to Dresdenthe 7 hour train between Dresden and Vienna is off-putting. Brad, while my husband and I have visited Prague before it was a long time ago (1998!) and we would love to see it again and have our two children who will be with us (21 and 15) see it so that is not completely out of the question. I do worry that one day wouldn't do it justice though and Nurenberg offers some great history and might be more fitting for our timing. Plus, none of us have ever been to Nurenberg before (although the same is true of Dresden). Decisions, decisions. I welcome any other ideas....