hotel list for central europe tour

Hi megan, suggest you contact the RS office to see if you can get advance info. Hotels change based on dates, whatever.

It may be difficult to get an exact list of hotels very far in advance since RS uses smaller hotels and, therefore, they aren’t necessarily the same for every tour group. You will receive (in your online account) a list of hotels about one month before the tour begins. You should know that virtually all RS hotels are in central locations that make it easy to visit sights on your own. The tour guides are always more than willing to suggest free-time activities and to assist travelers in their plans.

Another thing to keep in mind is that your free time may not always begin at the hotel location itself. For instance, the group may take a walking tour in the morning that ends at a distance from the hotel. Some people may return to the hotel. Others will take off for other adventures from the ending point of the walking tour. Again, the guide will help people with their choices. One thing I like about RS tours is the encouragement to be independent!

If there is a “vacation from your vacation day” in the itinerary, you will have the entire day to do as you like. You can even sleep in! This would be a good day to plan anything that would benefit from advance planning.

I have been on 10 RS tours and, other than perusing a guidebook and making a list of possibilities, I don’t do a lot of planning until I am on the ground. There are so many variables: weather, energy level, changes in the itinerary, new ideas from the tour guide or other travelers, etc.

As noted, the hotels will be in central locations but the office is unlikely to give you specifics (other than the first and last hotel that you get when you sign up) because they often use multiple hotels. You can look at recommended hotels in the current version of the guidebook and that will give you a flavor of locations, though they often stay in hotels not listed in the guidebook, but in same general area.

Look at each itinerary day and note where it says free time and develop a couple of options that interest you. For example, Day 5 says you go to Auschwitz in the morning and return to Krakow and your evening is free. Pretty high chance you'll be returned to your hotel (or very nearby) in central Krakow, so you'd want to have some ideas for things to do mid afternoon and later. Your guide will be a great resource - if for some reason your intended plans don't align with hotel or bus drop off location, just let them know where you want to be and they'll help you sort it out.

This was one of my favorite tours, have fun!

Krakow was one of our favorite spots. Very walkable and lively town square lined with outdoor restaurants. Safe. I’ll look for my hotel list, we were there Sept/October 2024. The hotel in Krakow is next door to museum that has DaVinci’s “Lady with an Ermine@. If you enjoy art-do not miss. We viewed this masterpiece alone, with no one else in the room! An experience far better than Mona Lisa and a better painting in my opinion. Hotels in The National park are pretty basic. The hotel at the one night stop was horrid.

Check out the scrapbooks. Some scrappers post the hotels.

What you could also do is list the cities on the tour, because several RS tours hit the same cities, and ask the question "When you took a RS Tour and visited X, Y and Z, what hotel did you stay in.

I wish you luck with this, because I did a similar post a few years back and its like I was asking for top secret government information. In Budapest I do know they have used the K+K Opera on Andrassy ut. Its a very commercial 4-star hotel not a quaint mom & pop place, but very nice and well located. I believe they have also used the Astoria which is larger corporate owned hotel, but a lovely historic old building. ANd I know they have used the Hotel Museum which is really a pretty sweet hotel in a wonderful old building. Not a terrible location either. Finally, I dont know if for a fact, but based on some descriptions, I belive they have used the Hotel Andrassy. Nice, sort of far out but on the M1 so thats not bad. In his reviews and videos he has promotted the relatively new and modern Hotel Victoria and the Art'Otel (now the Raddison) both in Buda, both very nice and both less than ideally located for tourism.

Pursue it. I would be interested in what you come up with.

EDIT: When you do find out where you are staying (I assume it will be in advance of the tour?), post it here and for Budapest at least I can tell you what I know about the area or the hotel.

To be fair to Rick, with Budapest, imagine trying to find a quaint mom and pop owned hotel in the center of Houston (about the same population as Budapest) or Chicago (about the same size as Budapest).

Hi:
We took this tour beginning of September 2024. This is where we stayed:

Prague: K+K Hotel Central Prague - about 10 min. walk to Astronomical Clock.

Krakow: Hotel Wielopole Krakow - about 10 min. walk to Old Town Square
Eger: Hotel Kodmon Eger
Budapest: Mamaison Hotel Andrassy Budapest - maybe 10-15 min. walk to Hero's Square. Took public transport to other areas
Plitvice Lakes: Hotel Jezero
Rovinj: Island Hotel Katarina - beautiful hotel & grounds. We had quite chilly weather while there, so didn't get to enjoy the pools, etc., & took Ferry to/from Rovinj
Bled: Hotel Lovec Bled

Enjoy the tour!

We took this tour in 2023 and it was great!
Most of the hotels we had were the same as Tina’s list, others different (krakow, and I think Budapest). So not 100% consistent from your tour to tour. I would say that you can count on being close to public transit and also in the central city or historic areas. IMO, hotels ranged from perfectly fine to much better than expected.

Mamaison Hotel Andrassy, fine location. Absolutely nothing wrong with it at all. You just have to plan arround using the M1 a lot. But its fun.

September/October 2024:
Prague-Hotel León d’Oro
Krakow-Hotel Polska
Eger-Hotel Eger & Park
Budapest-Hotel Museum Budapest
Plitvice National Park-Hitel Jezero
Rovinj-island Hotel Katarina
Bled-Hotel Lovec Bled