Car Trip Switzerland to Prague back to Switzerland?

You can do all of what you're suggesting by train, and it will surely be less than the cost of renting a car for 2 weeks plus fuel. With advance purchase, you can go from Zurich to anywhere in Bavaria (Munich, for example) for €39 per person. BTW, Salzburg is a nice town to visit, and you can see most of the sites that were actually in the SOM movie without a tour. For the most part, the movie was shot in sound stages in Hollywood or on long gone temporary sets. The tours are just contrived to get money from tourists. Is it really worth $50 pP to ride around in a van singing "doe, a deer"? I would say use that advance purchase ticket go to Munich and base yourselves there. Take day trips to Salzburg and Neuschwanstein. Then, with a €33 Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket and €6 per person Czech Rail tickets .you can go to Prague. Do Cesky Krumlov as a day trip from Prague. Come back from Prague to Munich with the Bayern-Böhmen-Ticket, then to Zurich with Europa-Spezial tickets.

Liz, As this is your first trip to Europe, my first suggestion would be to pre-read Europe Through The Back Door before you get too far in your planning. Regarding the mode of travel, I would highly recommend using train travel primarily (especiallly fast trains) as much as possible. Given the distances you want to cover and the very short 16-day time frame, using a rental car is not a good idea. Does your 16-day visit include the travel days? You'll lose a day at the beginning of the trip (you'll arrive in Europe the day after you departed) and the last day will be spent on the flight home. Good luck with your planning!

I suggest a loop of approximately the following towns: Zurich to Meersburg/Lake Constancethe lake towns will be beautiful that time of year (one of the oldest real castlesit'll be a good reference for Neuschwanstein) Meersburg to Fuessen (Neuschwanstein) Fuessen to Munich (for the BMW) Munich to Prague Prague to Cesky Krumlov CK to Salzburg (Sound of Music tour with Panorama or Bob's Tours) Salzburg to Luzern or Interlaken area (for hiking)
Luzern/Interlaken to Zurich Frankly there isn't enough time for my suggested schedule, even if you would do one night stays. I suggest dumping Cesky Krumlov from the schedule. Since we live in the area, we've driven to all the places (not all together, though) and the driving is pretty much autobahn or easy to drive roads. I like being able to stop somewhere for lunch and taking as long as we want for travel, not worrying about getting to the train. I don't know if the train would be longer or shorter than driving.

You could also do a combo car/train trip. You might want a car for Switzerland, depending on where you want to hike, or not. For going to the Czech Republic, tho, there's a couple of things to think about. One is the distance and how much that will cost in gas. Another is how hard it is to park in Prague, and how most sights are within walking distance. And a 3rd thing is that most rental companies won't allow you to take their cars into the Czech Republic. So map things out, check out the rail websites, and go from there. Lee's made some great suggestions for train tickets.

"You might want a car for Switzerland, depending on where you want to hike, or not." That's an interesting statement considering Switzerland has a vast network of clean, efficient and highly on-time public transportation that includes even the most remote villages. Also interesting is that some of the most popular hiking areas are in the high alpine areas of the Berner Oberland (Wengen, Mürren) where cars are not allowed. Zermatt is also a hugely popular town to visit and is only accessible by train. No, I don't think a car is necessary or even a good idea in Switzerland with its magnificent transport system of buses, boats, gondolas, cogwheels, trains and trams.

You may want to check with the car rental agency you choose, as many will not allow their vehicles to be taken into eastern Europe. I rented a car in Austria in 2009 and was specifically asked which countries I intended to travel in, and had to confirm that I would not be taking the car to eastern Europe( eg Czech Republic, etc )

There are at least 2 BMW factories which can be toured, one in Munich that takes 2.5 hours and is frequently unavailable. The BMW museum is right next door to the BMW Welt which is an interesting although very commercial building.The factory in Regensburg is large but you'll need more research to see if a reservation is needed. Regensburg is a little gem IMHO.
My experience with cars was similar to Glenn's- not possible. We rented and returned a car in Prague to visit the Czech and Hungarian country.

Liz, are you checking the responses? Where are you on the car vs. Train question? Like the others, I am thinking you won't be able to drive a rental car from Austria or Germany to Prague. And you don't need a car in Switzerland; if you are hiking it can be a liability. So the answer may be to mix it up. I have some ideas fornyour hiking and biking in Switzerland, but don 't want to go into details until I known you are reading, and have considered how much time you have for that portion of your trip. Traveling with others is fun, but it can be a challenge to please everyone.

Thank you ALL and YES I am reading : ) I am just trying to absorb it all and think around some of the concerns you all brought up. So here is where I am in my thoughts... Flying into Zurich on 09/01/11 at 3:45 PM - late, but is what it is. So either stay a night in Zurich or rent a car and head over to Meersburg, Germany for our first night. From there head on to Fussen, Munich ( tour of BMW - if I tell the guys there are TWO they will want to go to both! Neuschwanstein Castle and Salzburg) So 2/3 Nights in that area. Then to Hallstaff 2/3 Nights, drive back through Innsbruck and into Switzerland to hit Lucern 2 Nights, Gimmelwald 3 Nights, and Bern 2 Nights. Then Fly home out of Zurich. No Prague :(
Though I could always fly out of Prague back to Zurich for under $100 if I wanted to change it up. And here I thought 16 days was extravagant! Wishing I had saved for more : ) Thank you again, for all the ideas you are sending my way - I so appreciate all of them.

"And here I thought 16 days was extravagant! Wishing I had saved for more : )" If I had a dollar for everytime THAT was uttered...:-( Kudos to the traveler that refuses one-night stands!!! (except in rare instances) You'll all thank him/her later. Munich gets 2/3 nights, but you're spending your time at Neuschwanstein, the BMW tour (part of first day in Munich?), and Salzburg? There's no time for Munich! Bummer... Is 'Hallstaff' = 'Hallstatt'? You don't need 2-3 nights there... That's a lot of Switzerland, at the expense of Prague (in MY opinion...). That's for the four of you to decide, though. Y'all owe the "Prague Person" something LOL!