MIL and FIL are taking the family on a river cruise next summer. They are plannng 3 nights in Prague prior to the cruise. This can be booked as a add on to the cruise or we can plan our own Prague portion. pros and cons of the 2 options?
Also H and I have the time to go early. What recommendations would you have for prior to Prague? We can fly to Prague early and explore other parts of Czech Republic from there or go somewhere totally different and meet up in Prague with the rest of the group. We want to go to Brno as FIL was born there but otherwise we have no other ideas. H and I have been to Croatia but otherwise have not been anywhere in Eastern Europe.
Also how many days in Budapest. It looks like you have a day in Budapest on the cruise. Because we disembark on a Wednesday the younger generation will have a few days extra before they need to fly home to get back to work. Any suggestions close to Budapest?
I don’t know yet the flight route. I’m also thinking H and I can go elsewhere in Europe. We will be flying from LAX. Travel period is Mid June.
We did that cruise last summer with three nights on our own in Prague pre-cruise and two nights in Budapest post cruise (the ship docked in Budapest one night, so we had three nights total there as well). Both of those cities are easy to do on your own, but we also hired private guides in both. I can also highly recommend the Aria Hotel in Budapest, a fabulous music themed hotel that was centrally located and very reasonably priced.
We had a great time and I’m sure you will as well!
We did a 10-day river cruise last year in June, Prague to Vienna. We spent 2 nights in Prague and 2 nights in Vienna. I like audiophile’s 3 night stays in both Prague and Budapest because our 2 nights in Prague and Vienna felt a little rushed. I also like extending trips on the front end rather than on the back end of a trip since I’m fresher and seem to feel anxious to get home at the end when most everyone on your trip is also heading home.
Definitely check out cruisecritic.com and read up on what other passengers did to extend their trips with the same itinerary as you. I would also read what Rick Steves has to say. Vienna is a fabulous city and about 200 miles from Prague. I’m guessing it would be about 4 hours by train or motorcoach. However, the city I would add to your extension would be Berlin and it’s roughly the same distance-- assuming you haven’t been before. You should plan on spending a minimum of 2 extra nights there and ideally 3 or 4.
Dresden is only about 2 hours from Prague and has been meticulously restored. Last summer we drove round trip from Berlin to Prague with a few days in Dresden on the way. We booked apartment hotels for more space and access to a kitchen. Tripadvisor has a good assortment of listings under specialty lodging.
I would just spend the extra time in Prague and walk the city. A day trip to the ossuary and the nearby cathedral is nice. Get up at sunrise and do stuff at night. Walk up to the tower if you have the energy - do it just before dusk and the views are nice during the blue hour after sunset.
If you want to do day trips, check out the driver/guide “Mike” from the Rick Steves guide book - he is excellent and a great resource for day trips.
I was in Budapest a decade ago and really loved it. It is easily worth three nights. Go to the Szechenyi Baths in Pest – a huge, very popular public spa, not as touristy as the older Gellert Baths in Buda. We had a blast there, and people were extremely welcoming – all ages, genders, shapes and sizes. I also loved the Ervin Szabo Library, a small university library shoehorned into a modernist mansion in Pest, and of course the more famous tourist attractions: the markets, the castle, the opera, the Central Synagogue, the shopping district in Pest. We went hiking in the hills above Buda. And we ate ourselves silly – the food was wonderful, and the whole food culture great.
There’s a slight Disney-ish air about Budapest. It was bombed so heavily in WWII that very little there is actually old. Everything has been rebuilt, and relatively recently.
My wife got there a few days before I did. She is a big fan of fine china, and visiting the Herend factory a few hours from Budapest was a highlight for her.
If you/family are into spas, there are several resort towns in Czech Republic with natural springs. There is plenty of history, because they have served people from all over Europe for centuries.
Is Vienna part of the itinerary? This is another place where I’d linger.
We visited Prague several years ago when younger d was study abroad in Vienna. We did take the train from Vienna, very easy but I think longer than 4 hours, not sure. We had 3 nights in Prague and we did a tour that was in a small van to Theriesenstadt. Very moving experience and we had an outstanding tour guide who took us to a “hidden synagogue” that had been hidden during communist era and I doubt you would find that on your own. Very interesting as we were a group of 6 on tour, there was an older woman from the U.S. whose grandmother had been there during the war and there was a young couple with an Isreali husband and an American wife. His parents had been married at one of the historic synagogues that we had also toured in the historic Jewish quarter. We only had time for one outside Prague trip and chose that one over Cesky Krumlov.
The river cruise stops in Venice.
Thanks for all the ideas. Will definitely look into Berlin. We have not been. @bookmama22 my D suggested asked about going to a concentration camp. It surprised me she was interested. My FIL was born in Czechoslovakia and left just as the German army entered his town.
I hope you have a great trip. I don’t have any suggestions to make because it has been many years since I’ve been in Europe, but I’m always happy when I hear about people visiting one of my ancestral homelands. My maternal grandfather was born in what is now the Czech Republic, my maternal grandmother was born in what is now Slovakia, and my family still has many relatives in both places.
If you have an interest in art museums, either Berlin or Vienna have some of the best in the world. I don’t think you can make a wrong decision with any other extra destinations you are considering!
I just returned yesterday from a trip to Cambodia, family travel, no tour. There was an AMA Waterway tour staying at my hotel and I chatted with a US couple who was with that group. This was their second AMA tour, the first was the tour you are planning. They had nothing but positive things to say about AMA.
We spent a week in Budapest a couple of years ago. Please spend more than just a day. One of the most memorable things we did was one of the Free Walking Tours on Communism. I think it was this one. http://www.triptobudapest.hu/v2/tours/communist-tour/ There are several groups that do these. It was so informative and fascinating to hear about both the good and the bad of communism. My guess is that a person can learn more about communism by spending three hours listening to someone who lived it than an entire college course.
Prague has many excellent restaurants within easy walking distance of one another. Our favorite was called “The Blue Duck” (English translation). It is a small restaurant that was highly recommended by our hotel concierge and it did not disappoint. I was never a big fan of Duck previously but they do it so many different ways. They have other offerings on the menu as well. The waiter is one of two brothers who own the restaurant, the other works the kitchen.
Thanks, I had heard that both AMA and Uniworld were the better river cruise lines. I am going to look into this for next fall, thinking about Duero in Portugal.
It has been a while since we were in Prague but we enjoyed our stay at the K & K Hotel, right near the Powder Tower very much, lovely hotel, fine breakfast, excellent service. We also had a fine meal at the Imperial Hotel which had been gloriously renovated…it wasn’t a far walk from our hotel although there seemed to be a Russian tourist group staying there and having dinner when we were there.