Just starting our thinking and planning for a 2010 trip in the fall.

I found out this afternoon that our former exchange student will be getting married in about 10 months and we will plan to go to the wedding in Tubingen, Germany.(near Stuttgart) We have been thinking about trips to Prague and/or Paris and/or other parts of France and we plan to stay after the wedding to go to Prague and maybe back through Paris before flying home.

Do you have any opinions about traveling between the Stuttgart and Prague? Rental car, train, bus?

Also what travel arrangement websites have you found to be the best for airtravel inside the EU.

Is it possible to take a rental car from Germany into the Czech Republic? What about leased cars?

To answer your last question first: it is possible to take rental cars from Germany into the Czech Republic but some companies do not allow any of their cars to be taken and others restrict the makes of car you can take. It is essential to check before you book. Europcar has been one of the least restrictive in the past.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with taking a car to Prague is parking it. I solve that problem by only booking accommodation which provides parking - in the centre, hotels may offer valet parking - they take the car off to a public multi-storey car park where they have allocated spaces and park it for you. At a price of course.

Going by train from Germany to Prague is very easy - check on the www.bahn.de site. There is an English version.

Finally, don't believe anyone who tells you that Prague is expensive. We go there regularly, as we live only 2 hours from Prague, and even restaurants on the Old Town Square are cheaper than Germany, which is one of the cheaper places to eat out in Western Europe anyway. As with all capital cities, you need to be 'aware' and make sure you are not ripped off.

Thanks, Margaret, for your reply.

This will be our first trip to Prague. What is your suggestion for a reasonable amount of time to allow visiting Prague. We are history, art and culture people, not shoppers. Of course, we are always interested in food and wine.

That's a difficult one to answer because it depends on how much you can take in one go. I love history and culture but in limited amounts. I would say a couple of days is probably a good start - you could spend a couple of weeks there and not see everything!

Bill, we spent three days in Prague as part of a Christmas/New Years trip a few years ago. I felt like we got a very good overview of the city in those three days. We were there over New Years. A highlight was attending a classical concert at the beautiful Municipal Hall. (And even though you're not shoppers, I thought the shopping was fabulous.)

You definitely don't need a car in Prague. We walked most everywhere and also took a trolley. We came in from Vienna by train and then took a train to Munich at the end of our stay. I think the www.bahn.de website is the easiest European train website to use. You might look at www.whichbudget.com for possible budget airlines.

Kathy

Public transportation in Prague is great! The three Metro lines are easy to navigate and trolleys are lots of fun. You can buy passes for as little as 20 minutes of travel, up to several days, then just validate the ticket once and be ready to show it in spot checks after that.
If you like architecture, just walking the central areas on both sides of the river is such a treat.

We were in Prague this past May during the Spring Music Fest. Four nights and three full days worked well for our first time visit. Each of the first 2 days we had half day private guide services to make the best use of our time in seeing sights. Concerts in the evening at Prague's beautiful venues were spectacular. If you stay in the Old Town, heart of the City, you can walk everywhere. Our location was http://www.retezova.com/ and we could not have chosen a better place to start and end each day. Food was great and beer was the best I had during the trip.... that included St. Gilgen Austria and Munich following our Praha stay. NO car needed or desired while in Prague. We rented a car when leaving, through Auto Europe and dropped it in Munich before returning home. Prague is magical...enjoy your trip.
Tim

Bill,

I second what others above have written about Prague. I have been there three times over the decades, most recently two years ago. It does, indeed, have a very good public transportation system, and you can get multiple-use passes which make getting around quite easy. (Passes aren't always checked, but make sure you have yours with you in case they are.)

We've arrived in Prague by car (our own, from Germany), train, and plane. I agree that a train may be best for you.

As an experienced traveler, I don't think you'd need to hire a guide at all. Prague is easy to get to know and navigate. There are several excellent websites which outline the things to do and see. I and others listed some of them in a previous thread. Here is a good one to start with.

The last time we were in Prague, we stayed in the Vinohrady section of Prague 2, just outside of Nové Mesto (New Town) and found it a good central location. On previous occasions, we actually stayed farther from the center. If you are interested, there are a few restaurants I could recommend.

Ann

Hi -- three nights minimum in Prague. Truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. If you do drive, plan to just drop the car once you get to Prague, I'd say...location on the outskirts of town. And on the drive, if you have time, you could stop in charming Regensburg (Germany), which wasn't damaged in the war and is charming.

Best wishes,

Have you considered flying to Prague (unless seeing more Germany was the plan, hee hee). You will pass right by Amberg on the A8 going toward Prague, it is a nice walled city.

Stuttgart airport is large and modern, you can check HLX, TUI and German Wings websites to look for cheap airfare.

I only went to Prague once, in November when I was pregnant and miserable so I have nothing to offer you there except that we drove and stayed in a Marriott just becuase they had a secured garage. Prague was quite ugly on the outskirts (concrete blocks) but once you were IN the city, it was very nice.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Ann, I would like the recommendations on restaurants. ....and recommendations for hotel, B&Bs etc. I am of the "fly cheap, sleep cheap, eat well and enjoy the sights" School of Travel.

I have decided to fly to Prague first, about a week ahead of the wedding, then go to Germany for the wedding and then to France after that.

There will be another couple going with us, and possibly a third couple as well. We've traveled with them before to Europe and we're all very compatible.

Bill,

We (spouse, brother, SIL, their two adult children) stayed at the Hotel Tyl in Prague and found it a very convenient location. It has a 4 1/2 rating from TripAdvisor. We got good rates from Venere, which today shows a double at $84. (Hmm! Less than we paid 3 years ago. Strange!).

As for restaurants, there are a number of inexpensive and moderate ones right near the Tyl. We went twice to a very reasonable pizza and pasta restaurant (Pizzeria Matylda) right down the street from the hotel. I think a desk clerk suggested it. I wouldn't go out of my way to get there, but if you happen to wind up at the Tyl, it's a good place to go for a casual lunch or dinner or if you're tired and don't want to go far.

The best restaurant we went to was in a residential area and was suggested by someone now working in Prague - the Mozaika. We all enjoyed it very much. Perhaps a little high for Prague, but not by New York standards. It was easy to get to from the Tyl by public transportation.

A very different experience was The U Kalicha Pub & Restaurant which is only a short walk for the Tyl. It is a famous beer hall (ah, Pilner Urquell!), complete with an um-pah-pah band. It honors the "Good Soldier Švejk". A little heavy on the calories, but lots of fun and a good place for a group of friends.

Ann

Thanks, Ann