andyoinsefl

Hi everyone. My wife and I and 14 year old are thinking of a July vacation in Europe and doing much of it on Eurorail. We've tentatively planned landing in Paris, heading to Interlaken, Prague, surrounding area around Prague to see some castles and sights and then .....we aren't sure. Was thinking of perhaps taking us next to Bratislava, then Budapest, before making possibly one more stop or just coming back from Budapest. I've also considered Bavaria, Slovenia, Croatia....Of these places we've been to Croatia so leaning towards skipping it this time around. If anyone has any thoughts or opinions, I'd appreciate it.

Michael

From Prague I would say Vienna and Budapest. That would cover 3 major cities of the Austrian Empire, each with its own atmosphere.

https://flic.kr/p/2nprFry
and for the entire Prague album: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzSDuL

https://flic.kr/p/7pFBLR
and for the entire Vienna album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjoZU4h6

https://flic.kr/p/Kj4TF9
and for the entire Budapest album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskDQ8rCm

tripplanner001

How much time do you have? How do you plan on traveling? Between Switzerland and Prague, you could go via Germany or Austria. Munich is a worthwhile stop as well as other spots in Bavaria. You could also go via Vienna and stop in Cesky Krumlov for its castle in the way to Prague. Just Paris, Prague, and Switzerland, you’re looking at a couple of weeks to get a decent look around.

andyoinsefl

Tripplanner, we are thinking we will travel for about 17 days. We are thinking of flying into Paris and then using a Eurorail pass to go to Interlaken, Prague, Budapest, Ljubljana and Venice. I'm tentatively planning for us to see some sights around Interlaken and Prague but not sure we'll leave the city limits of the rest of stops. We can really go anywhere, but we want to see some places we haven't been - all 3 of us have been to Switzerland but not Interlaken, only I have been to Prague and Budapest and it's been many years since any of us have been to Venice. Really we can go anywhere.

tripplanner001

With 17 days, you could comfortably see 4 to 5 places. As you are already set on Paris, Prague, and Interlaken, I would look at Munich or Vienna and perhaps a smaller town stop along the way so you have some variety. You could easily spend more time in Paris and Prague but 3 or 4 nights would give you a good look while leaving time for other places. It is easy to travel among Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest; I would budget 10-12 nights for these.

Jean

As I mentioned in your other thread, I don't think you're account for the time lost traveling from point to point. Before you start adding/subtracting destinations, you need to get a better handle on the length of the various train journeys.

You can search here:

https://www.bahn.com/en

bilboburgler

I'd go to Hungary at a shot except their racist government would put me off

jeffreycwuk

17 days for the countries scattered across different parts of Europe could be a stretch. In Central European countries (Czech, Slovakia and Hungary etc.), the rail speed is much lower than the TGV and ICE. The rail network is decent, but you can't expect the 300 or 400 km/h speed. Rail tickets here are also a lot more affordable, so you may not need a pass to cover these cities.

In addition to the national rail, there are a lot of open access railways. Their fares are competitive.

If the interest is in Central Europe, maybe landing at Munich or Vienna makes more sense.

To try to come up with substitute of Interlaken, for mountains, maybe consider the Julian Alps in Slovenia.

For lakes, how about Lake Balatan in Hungary?

Or Saxon Swistzerland on the border between Germany and Czech?

andyoinsefl

Im looking at slimming down my itinerary and possibly hitting the Julian Alps. We’ve decided Interlaken won’t work out. Started looking at Lakes as well and trying to decide if Bled or Balatan is doable.

MichGuy

OP -- Good idea to slim things down. Your initial thinking was all over the map, literally. Since you're dropping Interlaken, why don't you drop Paris as well? You could fly in and out of Munich and do a loop like this:
Munich - 3 nights
Nuremburg - 1
Prague - 4 (and surrounds)
Vienna - 3
Ljubljana - 3 (Lake Bled and Julian Alps too)
Salzburg -2
Munich - 1

That's 17 nights. You could swap some time out for Venice if you wanted. I second Bilboburgler about spending my money in Hungary. Leave Paris for another trip.

northie

we"ve travelled by train from Budapest (you could stop off at Lake Balatan) , then Zagreb, then Sarejevo then Mostar..
Another trip we went by train form Vienna to Graz then to Ljubljana-both trips beautiful scenery

andyoinsefl

———
This type of itinerary is something I’m strongly considering. Thank you. How’d you like Sarajevo and Mostar. I’ve thought a lot about how pretty a train ride it is through the Czech Rep, Austria, etc.

andyoinsefl

I was definitely all over. I like your itinerary. We were thinking we’d stay out of Germany this go around. I am reading as much as I can about Lake Bled and the Julian Alps. Wondering if Slovenia, Vienna, Prague and maybe 1 other stop (a Czech town?) would be our best bet.

jeffreycwuk

Maybe consider an open jaw flight of
Munich (first or last) +

Vienna, Ljubljana, Venice or Zagreb (first or last)

That will save you some time returning to Munich.

Move Salzburg to before or after Munich for its proximity.

MichGuy

Then you could go into Prague and out of Zagreb, Salzburg, or Munich. BTW, for what its' worth, when I was in Slovenia we spent half a day at Lake Bled. It's very picturesque but that's it unless you want to go to the church on the little island. We spent our time walking completely around the lake on the trail. Didn't rent a boat and didn't go to the castle on the hill for lunch. We spent the rest of the day driving around the area and I wished I had planned on more time hiking or driving in the Julian Alps.