Travel in Austria, Switzerland, or the Czech Republic?

Parent Cafe
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<p>My D wants to take a “last” (hope not!) big famly vacation this summer before she goes off to college. She’s interested in Austria, Switzerland, or the Czech republic (we’ve done Great Britain, France, Italy anad Greece.) </p>

<p>Any suggestions? We like historical stuff, walking tours, and shopping/eating. In the past, we’ve not done escorted tours, but I’d be open to the right kind of tour (not too overly structured.) A river cruise would be cool, too, but I don’t want D to be the only teenager in a crowd of 60-somethings. We’re looking at 8 or 9 days, max.</p>

<p>Suggestions? Thanks!</p>

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<p>My daughter (age 22) just spent two months in Europe on her own. She loved Prague, found it full of people her age, great food, and highly affordable. She said it was the prettiest city on her trip. (She was there in December.)</p>

<p>She didn’t like Vienna as much, very expensive, although she went to a lot of museums.</p>

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<p>My H has Austrian relatives, so we are not exactly average tourists when we go there. We plan to go again this summer. This will be my HS senior son’s third trip–last one was when he was 12. One relative is in Vienna. We love it, and find it to be a beautiful, accessible, and walkable city. The other relatives are in Graz, also a nice city but not as visited by tourists. Austria is a lovely, picturesque country. Feel free to PM me with more specific questions. My H might be more informative, and I could ask him.</p>

<p>Prague is on my list of “musts” for a side trip this summer. Everyone raves about it. You could easily do both Prague and Vienna in the same trip.</p>

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<p>Vienna is expensive, as is Switzerland. Prague is quite cheap in comparison. </p>

<p>I personally don’t like the Czech Republic - more run down than other parts of Europe, and a lot of problems with corruption. Rental car companies will not allow you to drive into Czech (or any East European country) because of the car theft problem. Big news in Germany a couple years ago when a German politician’s car was stolen and he received the same “shrug” from the police that they give most people, they didn’t realize who he was. Very embarrassing for Czech. (Treatment generally is claiming you didn’t really have a car and are running an insurance scam. Police are in on many of the thefts.) </p>

<p>We’ve gotten lost in Czech a few times, too. Follow the streets on the map, and they end up at deadends along the border. Only a few roads actually cross the border, and those aren’t always marked on the map.</p>

<p>However, most of my problems with the country have to do with driving in it. If you take the train in (or fly) and are on foot the rest of the time, in tourist places, and guard your belongings, you should be okay. They do have some beautiful churchs and interesting places, but I just think there are better places to go.</p>

<p>I guess that, living in Germany, Czech didn’t offer us much we couldn’t see in Germany. Want to see what it’s like on the “east” side - visit Leipzig or Dresden. Berlin is fabulous, expecially if you like history.</p>

<p>Vienna is great for musicians, but is extremely costly. We really like Salzburg - have been there maybe half a dozen times? Birthplace of Mozart, filming location of Sound of Music, Salt Mines, and wonderful old castle - something for everyone. </p>

<p>Switzerland is also expensive. We have relatives there, so it doesn’t cost us quite so much when we go. One thing we always wanted to do but never got around to was take a scenic train trip through Switzerland.</p>

<p>[Rick</a> Steves’ Europe: Swiss Rail Journeys](<a href=“http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/switz/swissrailjourn.htm]Rick”>http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/switz/swissrailjourn.htm)</p>

<p>By the way, Budapest is also a fascinating city - I like it a lot better than Prague. It is located along the Danube, as is Vienna, Austria and Regensburg, Germany. It is possible to take a boat trip the entire length, which is something else I always wanted to do!</p>

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<p>I spent five years in southern Germany, traveled a bit in Austria and Switzerland. Be warned that Salzburg is VERY touristy, but it’s still nice to see the puppet theater, see Mozart’s birthhouse, tour a salt mountain (my favorite) and if you liked the movie see the Sound of Music stuff.</p>

<p>Vienna has some wonderful museums, Lipizaner horses and the boys choir (both the latter two are often out of town however.) I particularly like the turn of the century architectural masterpieces of the Sezession movement. The only time we were in Vienna we stayed at a campsite.</p>

<p>There are tons of over the top baroque churches all over the area - you should see at least a few of them.</p>

<p>Another nice thing to do in the summer is to take a ski lift to the top of mountains and go hiking from peak to peak. There are usually restaurants up there too.</p>

<p>If you’ve read Byron’s The Prisoner of Chillon you can go visit it in Switzerland. :)</p>

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<p>Agree with everyone else. What great posts!</p>

<p>One of my favorite cities in the world is Salzburg, and I adore Prague. I also love Vienna and Innsbruck in Austria. All those cities, as binx said, are expensive as is Switzerland. My S, traveling alone, really loved Salzburg and Switzerland. If you don’t stay in Switzerland, rail travel there is a pleasure for quick sightseeing. You could easily rail-pass through Austria and hit all the major cities, too.</p>

<p>Prague is one of the “imperial” cities of Europe and a real surprise, I think, for most Westerners. Your D would probably find it fascinating, as would you. Also agree with binx on the rest of the Czech Republic.</p>

<p>Another vote for Budapest here. Can’t wait to get back there, so much to see. Romantic, historic, beautiful scenery. If you go, be sure to visit Margaret Island (Margitsziget) for a mineral bath.</p>

<p>I don’t think you need to be hesitant to take a tour. If you do choose a tour, just try to find one that gives you lots of free time during the day to explore. Tours can be beneficial in countries with difficult local languages like Czech or Hungarian or in countries where English is not widely spoken or English signage common.</p>

<p>Have a great time!</p>

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<p>My D spent a year in the Czech republic. Prague is beautiful, food and beer quite reasonable in cost, wonderful as long as you’re not vegetarian. But Prague has hoards of people visiting in summer, and it sounds like you’d have to have crowd tolerance. The twin sister and I visited in March, and found Prague attractions sufficiently untouristed, though some sites outside the city are closed. If you like history, Terazin, (Theresenstadt auf Deutsch) is a very interesting and sobering day trip from Prague. There are other interesting castles close to Prague, doable on day trips. The southern Bohemia towns of Ceske Budovice and Ceske Krumlov are very attractive, historically interesting and closer to Austria. </p>

<p>We all went to Salzburg. The beauty was breathtaking. I saw it age 16, and was less impressed, but from my adult perspective it is an amazing place. Despite not being tour sorts, we took the Sound of Music tour, the Bavarian Alps tour and found them a great way to get out of the city and see more of the area. The city itself and the various Mozart attractions are well worth wandering through.</p>

<p>You can take a train from Salzburg to Tabor, my Ds small city. Beautiful town square and very interesting history of the beginnings of the Protestant movement, the Hussites, as well as a castle and some other sights. Change trains for Prague in Tabor. The food on the square in Tabor was bountiful, delicious and cheap.</p>

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<p>Our family of four went to Croatia for 19 days two summers ago and had a wonderful time. Dollar goes further and there are incredible sights of both historic and scenic beauty. Flew into Zagreb and rented a car and stayed at Plitvice Lake for a couple of days. One of the most beautiful places on the planet with literally hundreds of waterfalls that you can view on a hike around the lakes. Totally awesome. My son is a big history buff and he and I drove in this section to view the war damage that is still there. This area is rural and somewhat poor as you can still see farmers pulling oxen as they till the soil. Next went to Trogir which is a mini Dubrovnik. Beautiful UNISCO site with great food and beaches. We then went to Brela Beach which is rated the number one beach in Europe. Evergreens drape over the sandy rocky beach. Stayed at an all included hotel that had activities every day. My son met a girl from the Ukraine that he is still in contact with. Water aerobics, salsa dancing, and nightime talent shows saw people from many countries interacting. The manager told me that in the three years that he had worked there we were the first Americans to stay there during those three years. What a great experience for our family as we made friends with people from Poland, Hungary, Wales, Ukraine, Slovenia, and Switzerland. We then drove to Dubrovnik and stayed four days at this jewel of the Adriatic. Took a side trip to Montenegro and found it to be an unbelievably beautiful place. Croatia is a great place with many other spots that we will explore on another trip. </p>

<p>If you go to Austria, check out St. Johan en Tyrol. It is about 5 kilometres from Kitzbuhel and is really nice. We stayed at a great hotel that include breakfast and dinner and it was very reasonable. It was called Sporthotel I believe. Had a BBQ where everyone sat at picnic benches and listened to a young kid play the zither. Great fun. Place had bikes that you could use to bike up the mountains. Also, told you about great hikes in the nearby National Park. Again, we were the only Americans. Drove to Salzburg for the day and also went to Eagles Nest.</p>

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<p>One very positive point about Prague: it’s very easy to visit, even if you only speak English. Most of the people you encounter speak English, and most signs (including instructions in the subway) are in Czech and English. The same is pretty much true of Budapest. We visited both cities recently, and enjoyed it very much. Budapest is a bit more cosmopolitan and “Western,” more like Vienna. I thought Prague was more interesting, though.</p>

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<p>Agree with Redondo although too many people know about Croatia now. I think all of your choices are good for a few days, but not much more. Prague is beautiful when not too crowded (I hate all these places in summer). You can fly around Europe really cheap these days on airlines like Ryan Air so why not take in a few places? Barcelona, Istanbul, Nice/Monte Carlo, more of Italy and France if you’ve only been once and you’re in Switzerland. These places float my boat.</p>

<p>Don’t go in August if you like food, the best places locals eat often close.</p>

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<p>I would definitely agree with recommendations for Salzburg. I insisted on it when we spent two weeks in Europe four years ago, only because The Sound of Music has huge sentimental value for me. We did do the official Sound of Music tour, which was a blast, even for the rest of my family who is not so much into the movie. The official tour takes you out quite a ways away from the city of Salzburg into the countryside, so it’s worth it even for that. </p>

<p>The river running through town is beautiful; the fortress Hohensalzburg is cool; Mirabell Palace, and its gardens were extraordinary (took LOTS of pictures there); Untersberg Mountain was our favorite and a family photo there was used for our Christmas cards later that year. Everything within Salzburg was within walking distance, but the public transportation was efficient (took it out to Untersberg, where we then took a tram up to the top).</p>

<p>I also found that the Austrian people were by far the more friendlier and hospitable than the ones we encountered in Italy and France. They were more likely to speak English than the other countries, too.</p>

<p>We didn’t do a tour, but had a very seasoned travel agent take care of our wish list, and set up some local tours when we arrived in different cities. I really much prefer to operate on my own schedule with some scheduled stuff thrown in.</p>

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<p>An interesting destination in Switzerland is Zermatt. It’s home to the Matterhorn (it looks a lot like the one at Disneyland - but bigger) and the little town doesn’t allow internal combustion engines which is kind of novel. It’s touristy in the summer but still worth going to. Just getting there you’ll see some additional beautiful Alpine scenery.</p>

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<p>Zermatt is a great spot. We rented a back apartment of a hotel for the whole family and it was not too expensive. Took the cog train up to the Gornergratt and gondola up to Schwarzee. Also, if you are in Switzerland on August 1 you are in for a real treat as this is Swiss Day. All day celebrations culminated with incredible firework show. We were in Crans Montana and the show was so Swiss. Great fireworks interwoven with music and a water fountain show that was better than the Las Vegas Bellagio’s. Really cool how they lit bon fires off on the top of the Alps sending the fire message from small town to small town. Reminded me of how this was done in Lord of the Rings to send messages. My son was in heaven as all the stores sold giant fireworks and firecrackers. He set off fireworks and firecrackers with all the other swiss teenagers.</p>

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<p>I’m a hs senior and have been to all three. Wach has their ups and downs. I went to Geneva and found it nothing like I imagines, I was dissapointed. Prague is really nice and is very crowded but the language is very hard to understand. Food was okay. Austria is my favorite of the three. Every restaurant I went the food was fantastic, from Italian to Chinese. The structures are all old fashion because it wasnt destroyed during the war.</p>

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<p>I was about to suggest Croatia. My family went there for our “last” family vacation last summer. It’s cheaper than most places, which is one of the reasons we chose it (we were also considering Russia). We actually started in Italy before going to Croatia. We flew into Venice, then Ancona, Split, Dubrovnik, back to Split, then flew out of Zagreb. There’s a lot of history and culture in those areas, much of which is largely forgotten outside of those areas. There are old Roman ruins all over; they’re really incorporated into the towns and cities, which is something you don’t see very often. In fact, our hotel in Split was built with a wall of Diocletian’s Palace. People live in the ruins of palaces and fortresses. We did a couple of walking tours while we were there. I was recovering from surprise surgery, so we didn’t do as much as we would have liked, but we managed to do a basic tour of each historical site we went to. The combination of urban cities and beach areas made for a nice trip. The food is fantastic and is mostly Italian. There are almost no Americans. Some areas are pretty crowded with tourists, but it’s pretty cool because they’re from all over Europe as well as other parts of the world. In fact, people trying to guess where we were from thought we were Australian and were shocked when we said we were Americans since so few visit. I’ve never been to any of the other places you’re considering, but I think Croatia is definitely worth looking into.</p>

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<p>Lausanne, in Switzerland, is very pretty, and has a lot of interesting historical and other stuff (Roman ruins, cathedrals where interesting events in Swiss history, the Reformation, and so on happened, the Olympics Museum and the IOC headquarters, etc). If you stay at a bed & breakfast/boarding house, as opposed to some luxury hotel, you can really cut down on the cost - the one I lived in while working there for a summer was around 32 CHF/day.</p>

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<p>I will confirm the Swiss love of fireworks, particularly the sort that you set off yourself. I felt like I was under siege after the World Cup finals when the Italy fans partied (I ran around taking pictures of the celebration), and possibly even more so on August 1 (analogous to July 4 in the US). It was very pretty, though.</p>

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<p>This is why I want to go to Croatia: [waterfalls</a>, Plitvicka Jezera, Croatia, photo, prints](<a href=“http://www.widerange.org/photo.php?id=259]waterfalls”>http://www.widerange.org/photo.php?id=259)</p>

<p>My husband got invited to a conference there last fall, unfortunately I stayed home with kids.</p>