We are in the beginning stages of trying to plan a trip to Germany this September. The only thing we have booked is our hotel for 2 nights in Munich Sept 22-23. We plan on arriving in Germany on the 13th of September. We want to go to Berlin, Krakow Poland and Prague in the Czech Republic. We will have 8 days to do this before heading to Munich, we will then have another week to spend in other towns in Germany. We are trying to figure out the best way to accomplish this. It seems that no matter which city we choose to fly into we will have to backtrack anyway to get to another one. Would train travel be the best option or renting a car. Has anyone rented a car and traveled btn different countries? Are there diff restrictions that make it difficult? If i'm reading the eurorail website correctly a travel pass with 3 countries seems very expensive. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Posted by
OP
Saint Cloud, MN, USA
51 posts
Ok, perhaps i should take prague out of the equation
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8319 posts
Tracy: You might consider dropping Krakow, as there's just not enough time on that leg of your trip to go there. Go Berlin to Prague to Munich on point to point train tickets. Rent a car as you leave Munich. Most people on this website would suggest you purchase open jaw airline tickets into one city and out of another. That would minimize backtracking. With 8 days, have you considered going down the Rhine River and ending up in Amsterdam for a couple of days? You could leave the car in Cologne and take a train up to The Netherlands.
Your trip then would be a Bohemian's dream.
Posted by
Nassau
53 posts
Been to Berlin and Prague, but not Poland. If the cities are your thing, than forget the car and take the train and rely on public transportation/cabs in each of the cities. If you want to see more of the countryside and small towns, than a car would be the way to go.
As mentioned elsewhere, depending on where you start your rental car period, if it's in Germany (or anywhere else in the former "West",) going to the former "East" will probably limit your ion of cars to the lower end and possibility increase your insurance costs. The east is still seen as high risk for rentals – think BMW, big Audi's, Mercedes, etc. If a VW Golf works for you – you are fine. There are also lots of bad luck stories about tourists in east getting into jams. I suppose some of it is just bad publicity, but I have known folks who have had cars broken into, stolen, etc.
Posted by
San Francisco
14979 posts
Hi, Before deciding whether a rental car is the best way to go, be sure check with the rental company if the rental contract precludes taking the car into Poland because of car thefts in Poland. So prevalent this has been, the Germans have some saying that goes: when it's stolen, it's already in Poland, (Einmal gestohlen, schon in Polen). I've gone to Poland by train even though you would have much greater flexibility being motorised. Above all, no need for a rail Pass in Poland, I use one elsewhere but not there. Train tickets are pretty cheap.
Posted by
OP
Saint Cloud, MN, USA
51 posts
We want to go to Krakow to see Auscwitz (bad spelling) and the Wieliczka salt mines. The pictures on line look amazing. We are looking at open jaw flights. Thinking of maybe arriving in Berlin and leaving Dusseldof or Cologne. We want to visit all 3 of those cities and trying to figure out the best logical way to do it. Maybe we'll have to omit one of the cities and figure we'll be back some day.