Good morning all.
We wish to spend several days in each of the following:
Flying into Budapest (2 nights), driving to Bratislava/Brno (1 night) , then driving to Prague (3 nights), and then to Krakow (3 nights), and then back to Budapest (1 night) .
Any information you could provide, specifically on * Drive Times *, road conditions/types, car rentals, and alternates would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance,
beanpods
(This is also posted in Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, and Krakow forums)
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I used to regularly drive between Prague/Bratislava/Budapest.
Prague - Budapest is about 6 hours.
Prague - Brno is 2 hours - but I don%26#39;t recommend you go there as it%26#39;s boring and for the most part, ugly.
Prague - Bratislavia is about 3 hours.
All times depend on traffic.
An alternative overnight stop if you think 3 Hapsburg Imperial cities are too much for one trip is the town of Mikulov which is a short diversion from thePrague-Budapest route and is nearby the castles of Lednice and Valtice in the wine region of the Czech Republic. I love the hotel templ www.templ.cz
If you get your hire car in Prague you should already have a highway sticker. You will then need to buy a highway sticker for Slovakia and then for Hungary. You can get the highway sticker for Slovakia at the petrol stations after Brno. You get the highway sticker for Hungary at the border, or at the first petrol station.
I have never driven to Krakow as a colleague once told me it took more than 8 hours and this put me off. I always got the overnight sleeper train. There is no highway between Czech Republic and Poland so the roads get blocked up with trucks.
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Also, allow at least 6-7 hours to make it from Krakow to Budapest. It%26#39;s only 400 km but you have to cross the Tatras and most of the trip is on secondary roads and almost nothing on highways.
Overall I%26#39;m not so sure driving is such a great idea since you will spend soo much time behind the wheel. Just checking expedia.co.uk for random dates 3 nights apart, FLYING the triangle Budapest-Prague-Krakow-Budapest would cost you about 207 GBP (415 USD) for this multiple segment itinerary - all taxes included (Czech Airlines).
Your whole itinerary is for how many days? At least 7 or 8 if I%26#39;m counting correctly. I%26#39;d expect a car rental to be at least as expensive (+ gas and highway stickers) Also street parking in downtown Prague is mission impossible and paid parking is not exactly cheap.
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To add to my previous reply: Bratislava is doable as an overnight trip either from Budapest or Prague either by train or bus.
Also I found itineraries for flying BUD-PRG-KRK-BUD for as low as 160GBP/320 USD (all taxes included) if you book a month or so in advance. Just check expedia.co.uk yourself
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if you can get a round trip by plane for as low as this, then this will almost certainly be cheaper than hiring a car (which when you are visiting cities will be sat in an expensive hotel car park).
Trains go direct between each city and are worth considering as an alternative, although generally trains take longer than cars. Agree with thirdpenguin that brno in not worth staying in - stay in bratislava if you want to visit a capital instead.
one advantage of a car is that you can go off an visit Auschwitz which is 2 hours outside of krakow. it is though connected by train if you go yourself and there are a number of tour companies in krakow who will also take you
budapest - bratislava - prague is all highway. prague - krakow is highway about half of the way. krakow - budapest is highway about 25% of the time. driving times are much as above. if you do hire a car, take the maximum insurance coverage possible - especially in poland, there are bad drivers who are more likely to crash into you
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Thanks for all the info.
We have decided against a car rental, and have booked air PRG-KRK and KRK-BUD.
Will be taking the trains BUD-VIE-PRG.
After reading your helpful posts we realized the time and difficulty involved and have decided to let someone else %26quot;do the driving%26quot; so to speak! What are vacations for anyway?! : )
Thanks again for all of your insight.
beanpods
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%26quot;We have decided against a car rental, and have booked air PRG-KRK and KRK-BUD.%26quot;
Just out of curiosity: what airline you%26#39;re flying with and how much were the tickets?
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only czech airlines flies from prague to krakow. only malev flies from krakow to budapest. malev and czech airlines fly prague to budapest.
both malev and czech airlines are members of the SkyTeam alliance which is why you can buy a Budapest - Krakow - Prague round trip ticket
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Actually we are flying LOT Polish air, one way to Krakow, and then again one way to Budapest. (Both flights are Via Warsaw with 2 hour layover).
Total cost was $310 USD.
Hope this helps!
beanpods
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Of course, with code share and such, it could be operated by Czech, but it did not say so in the booking process......
beanpods
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the flight is a lot flight via warsaw. you may find that your luggage cannot be checked through at warsaw and that you need to pick it up and check in again between the domestic and international legs. at any rate you will need to leave the airport as the domestic terminal at warsaw is down the street from the international terminal 2 hours though is ample time to change at warsaw
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