Hi, I will be in Berlin for a wedding and would like to see Prague, Vienna, Budapest while I am there. What is the best and cheapest way to travel from city to city. I need accomodation as well. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
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How much time have you got? It is about the same as me saying %26quot;I have a weeding in LA, so I would also like to visit Seattle, Chicago and Austin as well%26quot;.
Or even worse, because I am not sure (hope you will not stone me) that any of those cities has that much to offer like the ones you%26#39;d like to visit.
You can find budget flights here
http://www.whichbudget.com
You can also try the train at
http://www.diebahn.de
Accommodation can range between the five-star Adlon to a hostel bunk with 8 others in the room... You%26#39;d better say what you%26#39;re looking for.
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I think you%26#39;ll need several weeks for your journey.
There is very good train connection between these cities: Berlin - Prague (Praha) 8 direct trains a day, travel time 4,5-5 h; Praha - Vienna (Wien) 9 direct trains a day, 4-4,5 h; Wien - Budapest 11 direct trains a day, 2,5-3 h; Budapest - Berlin 3 direct trains a day (1 of them night train), 12 h (night 13 h).
You can search train connections in Europe on many sites, for example here vlak.cz/ConnForm.asp?tt=a%26amp;p=CD%26amp;cl=E5 .
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Two weeks would the very bare minimum for such a journey. That%26#39;s even a bit light but you could do it. Three weeks would be even better.
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I agree with suggested two-three weeks minimum. For our honeymoon we visited Prague/Salzburg/Vienna/Balaton/Budapest, and back to Prague for flight home but only %26quot;scratched the surface%26quot; in each city. And we were on an organised coach tour which takes a lot of the hassle out of the logistics if time is tight.
We%26#39;ve since spent a week in Prague and this Easter spent 5 days in Vienna but that still leaves things for %26quot;next time%26quot; in both cities. For Berlin you need 3-4 days minimum and a week would be better (you could fill 3weeks there too in fact!).
See if you can book an open-jaw ticket and fly home from one of the other cities to simplify things a bit. They are all much closer together than they are to Berlin.
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I always find that a week is enough to %26quot;do%26quot; a city. I was in Vienna for slightly longer and I found that I was repeating myself after the seventh day. So I would leave a week for each town.
As for travel, best option is train from Berlin. You are lucky as the train links all these cities - Berlin one goes via Prague and then on to either Vienna or Budapest (check timetable for whichever one). I do not know if this is possible, but if you can, buy the RETURN tickets in Berlin. That is because the German system is half as cheap (and gives you a booking). Going back from Prague, for example, and paying there, you pay double, get no booking (so can STAND up to the border when all the Czechs get off) - and my train was delayed by two and a half hours and the train station was a bit of a dive! But I believe return tickets are not possible, because each country%26#39;s own train company runs it from its own territory. Anyway, there are no budget flights between Berlin and Prague as far as I know. Air Berlin is very good to Vienna, I can say that, and cheap.
Accommodation is quite expensive in Prague, less so in Vienna. Personally, I prefer a pension right in the centre that has more character than a faceless four-star hotel, for example. My recommendation for Vienna is the Pension City.
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I really do think you could fill 3 weeks in Berlin though that wasn%26#39;t a serious recommendation for that poster and obviously if you come from California you probably won%26#39;t take it all at such a lesisurely pace as you don%26#39;t knoe when you might get back to Europe again. I suppose, US holiday entitlements being what they are, we have to assume around 2 weeks is the time available.
With the week in Prague we managed to explore major sights and also some neighbourhoods and really enjoyed it; I%26#39;ve been to Berlin loads of times since 2005 (with a couple of visits before that) and there are still lots of museums etc that I want to see. On my last trip I finally got to look round Bergmannstrasse area of Kreuzberg which has been pending.
However for the main sights of Berlin then a week is fine and a day in Potsdam would definitely be part of that. Sachsenhausen concentration camp is also in many people%26#39;s plans.
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Since the itinerary evidently begins with Berlin, if it were me (it isn%26#39;t) and if I had less than two weeks, I%26#39;d cut either Budapest or Vienna from the list. That%26#39;s tough I know - great cities both, especially Vienna - but perhaps one too many cities out?
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Hey,
The best advice I can give you is what I have organised to do in a couple of weeks....
I am flying from London Luton to Berlin Schoenefeld with Easyjet (£26 inc), I am then flying to Budpest from Berlin Schoenfeld (20euro - again with EasyJet). From there I am then using trains, firstly going to Bratislava (25euro). Then Vienna (10euro), then up to Prague (30euro). Next I am going to Krakow on an overnight train then flying back from there (£13 - Easyjet). I booked flights in advance, and am only takiing hand luggage so its cheaper.
You could then simply get a short train from prague to berlin.
I guess you could do this both ways - either by travelling down, then flying back up to berlin, or as I am, flying down then working way back up.
From what I gather its best to buy tickets for trains at the station. so for eg, when i arrive at a station I will buy my next ticket then.
Accommodation wise, if you want to do it cheaply, then use hostelbookers.com, i used it for my travel, and we are paying between £4.70 and £23 a night.
If you want to know anything else then feel free to message me and I can let you know the ins and outs of my plans.
Stu
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