Itinerary & transportation: Ger, Cze Rep, Aus

Hi, Yes, I would add Budapest and drop Prague. No need going by car unless you plan on seeing some of the villages in the Berlin-Brandenburg area. You can go Berlin-Munich by direct ICE, then Munich-Budapest on the railjet train...all in one day, arriving in BP ca. 23:00. This way you avoid going through CZ. Depending on how you arrange your time, Salzburg may have to be dropped. Spend the 14 days mainly visiting 3 cities: Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, maybe an afternoon in Munich.

To add Budapest would be too much, also Budapest is little bit out of your way. I would give to Berlin 4 days, Prague 3 days, Vienna 3, Salzburg 1 and what's left to Munich. I would use train. Gas is expensive, parking is expensive, driving in the cities is nightmare and then of course car can be stolen not only in Prague. Train on these main rail lines is faster and certainly more relaxing than driving.

If you want to visit rural areas car would work great, but you're going between major cities almost all of which are served by fast trains. I would take the train. Swapping Prague for Budapest is a good logistical choice regardless. Or you could just do Berlin-Munich-Salzburg-Vienna, then fly back to Frankfurt for your departure. THat would maximize your time and minimize time in transit.

I'm normally an advocate of public transportation, but that's because I'm pragmatic. I always find I can save big bucks by using the transportation systems instead of spending money on car rentals. Of course that requires acquiring a knowledge of the systems, and might be too much of a challenge for some. However, with a free car at your disposal, why not use it? But I was just in Prague and Dresden, and I would not recommend driving in those cities. Perhaps you should consider staying outside the cities, near public transportation and driving to your accomodations and then taking public transport to the city.

James took the words out of my mouth... got a car, don't use it? I don't get it. A green sticker from Hamburg is plenty good in Munich. Why do they need a new one, Je? Don't forget to get your daughter to organize the insurance. I don't know about Germany but in the UK insurance is personal for the car, not just the car. Additional drivers are not usually hard to add or too expensive but the paperwork needs to be done. That's what I do when my brother visits me and borrows one of my cars.

Normally I'd agree that with a free car, use it, but Scott only seems to want to visit big cities where a car is worse than useless, and everything is pretty spread out. We're talking 20 hours of driving total just to get to your destinations. From a logistical time perspective, most of the trips aren't too bad by car, under 4 hours Google estimates about 260 euro worth of gas for the whole trip (don't know if your daughter has a diesel car, which would make it cheaper). For parking, I'll round on the low side and said 10 euro a day, which is another 140 euro. Could be substantially higher in some places, though. So we're talking 400 euro at least for the car. Yes, that's substantially cheaper for 3 than what train tickets will cost. But it's not "free" either. But the main reason to leave the car would be visiting Prague. All the locals I know here who love their cars and drive all over Europe refuse to drive to the Czech Republic. If you decided to skip Prague and don't mind the driving, I'd say it's worth it to suck up the parking fees and stress of driving to your hotel in major cities. But Prague is the big sticking point here.

Thank you for all of the replies & opinions. A little more info might be helpful. I've driven Germany before. Hamburg to Luneburg, to Kassel, to Nurenburg, to Frankfurt. Many years ago, mostly business & part pleasure. Implied in my itinerary is time spent in Rothenberg, and in Bavaria near the Castles, and a half day in Dresden (on path to Prague). Also hoped to sleep in some of these smaller towns (Fussen, Rothenberg) as well. I'm getting a very clear picture about not driving in Czech Republic. Point taken. Not sure how to leverage access to car and still see Prague. A secure car park in Dresden for a few days? How could I find that? Y'all have been great. Any other thoughts are welcome.

A number of years ago on my first trip to Prague we had a rental car that we could not take into Czech, so we found a train station in Germany (I think it was near Mittersfels (sp) which was near the border and they had a parking lot where we left the car for a few days. I love driving in Europe as I like the small villages and towns and figure out how to see the big cities without my car by leaving it somewhere or picking it up after visiting bigger cities. I think everywhere else you are going the car will not be a huge problem. So much more flexibility with a car and you can be on your schedule... bored with something? Move on... Have a great trip.

As previous posters have said, driving is fine as long as you stay on the outskirts of the cities and take public trans in. I have not personally driven in the Czech Republic and have not stayed in Berlin. However, I stayed at a nice pension on the outskirts of Prague that had a parking garage. Also stayed in a pension on the outskirts of Vienna and took the metro into the city. If you would like the names of these hotels, send me a personal message. I do think your itinerary is quite ambitious, however, you will have two drivers and you could eliminate Munich towards the end if you need to. Have a great trip making lifetime memories.

Some of you guys are making such a car vampire from Prague. I have some relatives there and many friends. None of them had their car stolen. On the other hand my nephew in Seattle had his car stolen twice. One does not have to be paranoid. Car can be stolen anywhere. Look at statistics and not just urban myth.

"Many of the "charming," "backdoor" hotels Rick Steves cannot have enough do not have secured parking facilities." And many of them, in my experience, also give you a parking voucher at the municipal garages. Of course, one need not limit oneself only to Rick Steves' recommendations. I don't particularly like driving my car in large cities, but like James, I and my car have lived to die another day.

Maybe Prague and everything Czech is horrible, but I doubt it. I haven't ventured in to that part of the world with my car yet but for 15 years I have taken several drives into Europe and I still own both of the cars. I lived in a Boston suburb in the 1970s and had cars stolen there 3 times including twice in front of my house and when the car was recovered the second time the back seat had many bullet holes in it. Is Boston safer than Prague?

Nigel, that's funny (not really). I am also a former Boston resident and had my car stolen twice within a month. Once right in front of my house. Another on the same street a couple houses down. This was in 1988. I'm beginning to lean toward driving. I'm beginning to think I can book sites with secure parking if I book far enough in advance. (Traveling late Sep). Rick's book does mention that car theft is an issue in Prague.

Scott - with the extra information you provided, it becomes clear that a car is obviously the best choice. I don't necessarily think it's "madness" to drive in the Czech Republic - but it's good to be aware of the risks, and maybe aware of the quality of your daughter's car insurance and how comfortable she is with the idea, it's her car, after all. OMG, did a "train zealot" just recommend someone drive somewhere? Quelle Horreur! I guess I'm just a bad driver with a POS car (ok one of those two statements is correct) who has no idea how to drive in big cities. It's not like I spent 14 years driving in San Francisco starting at age 16 or anything... The advice that some of us train zealots give about driving in large cities (in Europe OR the US for that matter, depending on the city) is not that you can't survive, but that it's often a slow, gridlocked, frustrating, expensive experience compared to using public transit. And yes, sometimes scary, at least to some drivers who don't have experience driving in high-density cities. I drive TO cities in Europe, but I leave the car at a P&R so I don't have to deal with the hassle of driving in an innerstadt. Zealotry!! Or...good advice. Depends on your perspective, I guess.

Scott, Presumably, a certain or considerable risk may be involved taking a car into Prague, as the Germans say about car theft in Poland..."einmal gestohlen schon in Polen." But, if you do decide to drive in CZ, a car will save you time getting to an unique historical sight in a town southeast of Prague...Benesov, which you'll find interesting and worth it. I would save the car driving for small towns and villages once you get out of Prague and head into Moravia (Mähren)...more convenient than going by train.

Can't you park your car inside a money belt to hide it from all those thieving Europeans? Just don't try to access your car in public as the concept of a money belt is that it is only used for "deep storage" of valuables.