Looking For Recommendations On Prague And Vienna

[Hoc]

Some friends and I were going to go to Istanbul in about two months (their request), but it looks like they will be flaking out on me. If they are not coming, I would much rather go to Prague and Vienna.

I have not been to either city before. Also, my RHC timeshare in Prague does not look that nice, nor does it appear to be centrally located.

That leaves me with nowhere to stay in either city. I think that the Vienna timeshares are almost impossible to get, so I was considering staying at a bed & breakfast or at a hotel. Does anyone have any hints, tips or recommendations regarding either city?

P.S. -- My plans are still open. I am flying into London, but I can go anywhere in Europe from there. I have been to many places in France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland and I have been to Amsterdam. But if there is another "must see" city or country, I am still flexible enough to try it...

[Carolinian]

The hotel I always use in Vienna is the Hotel Post, which has a great location inside the ring near the Schwedenplatz and the ''Bermuda Triangle'' nightlife and dining district. It is a three star with good rates for that class of hotel inside the ring. The building goes back to the reign of Emporer Franz Josef. There is a metro stop a block away on the Schwedenplatz for longer journeys around town.

In Prague, I have always stayed at the Grand Hotel Europa, a landmark Art Deco building right on Wencelas Square, and in walking distance of the major sights. A bit quirky two star, with a nice buffet breakfast room looking out over the square. Good rates for the location.

Prague and Vienna are great cities.

[Hoc]

Thanks, Steve. That Grand Hotel Europa looks like it has a lot of character. Unfortunately, it looks like it's not available for my dates.

I took a look at the Hotel Post in Vienna, but it was more expensive than the Intercontinental Vienna (where I always get upgraded to a suite which includes breakfast, high tea, cocktails/hors d'ouerves, daily fruit, water, candy and free internet), so I decided to go with the Intercontinental for $139 a night.

I've never been to either city, and I gave up on trying to trade into the Vienna timeshares a couple of years ago. I've heard good things about both, so I'm looking forward to going.

P.S. -- My friends officially "flaked out" today, so I'm free to plan my vacation without guilt. Looks like it's Prague from about Sept. 24-29, possibly a sleeper train to Vienna on the night of the 29th, and then Vienna from Sept. 30-Oct. 4 or 5. Two nights in London on 22/9-24/9, and possibly another night there or somewhere else on 4/10. Should be a nice trip, but now I have to start planning.

I heard that Copenhagen is breathtaking, but very, very expensive (according to Bill Bryson).

Edit: I just had to edit this to say that I am quite shocked at the hotel prices in Prague. I had always heard that Vienna was a very expensive city, and that Prague was very cheap. In fact, the Prague hotels and Pension prices seem to be about 150 percent of the price of the Vienna hotels.

[Carolinian]

While in Vienna, I would suggest a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia, which is a bit less than an hour away by train, or if they are still running when you are there, a hydrofoil down the Danube. Another good day trip, less than an hour by train, is Sopron, Hungary. Both have nice medieval old towns, and are cheaper than Vienna or Prague, with many interesting restaurants. The restaurant in the old ice house is my favorite in Sopron.

The Czech Republic, generally, is fairly cheap, but Prague is an exception to that. Of course, when they joined the EU, they had to put on a VAT, as did the other new EU countries, which raised prices substantially in eastern Europe. The second part of the EU price shock will be when they adopt the euro and prices go up substantially again. Now is the time to visit eastern Europe, before that happens.

[nerodog]

I know when I was there there were lots of pensiones or bed and breakfast places to stay.. have you looked at Frommers guide maybe ?? Vienna is a beautiful city and nice to roam around... also, others mentioned Copenhagen.. another fun place but I liked Vienna better... in Dennmark we had good luck with Kros which are bed and breakfast and used Frommers for some tips...once there, even the locals suggested places.. Tivoli Gardens is not to be missed... Little Mermaid was little but worth the walk...friendly and lots of public transportation around.

[Hoc]

Would you recommend Prague over Budapest? Budapest is much, much cheaper, but I have heard so many good things about how much fun it is in Prague. I've also heard that the food in Budapest is not that good, and it is supposedly great in Prague. Food is definitely a big part of my travel experience.

I'm set with the Intercontinental in Vienna for €109 a night, including all taxes. Still looking for a place in Prague, though. The cheapest I'm finding there is the Bed & Breakfasts for about €100 a night, with the decent hotels (like the Hilton or Intercontinental) going for closer to €170. So, I figured that I would look at some other cities.

I can fly from London into Prague, Budapest, or somewhere else and out of Vienna for about $150, including taxes, and it looks like a night train, with sleeper, into Vienna will be close to another $100 (which also saves on a night of hotel or b&b). So, everything is set except for the first city where I will stay, which I would like to be Prague, if I can find some reasonable accommodation there.

[nkosi278]

For Prague, apart from the Europa where we have stayed several times:
- Adria. Opposite the Europa. Nice, smallish rooms, but all renovated.
- Regina. In the suburbs, very nice proprietors, who do everything to make you welcome. Tram #57 to center, or Metro (Skalka station).

For Vienna: Vienna
- ‘Capri’, Praterstrasse (by the Nestroyplatz U-bahn station).
Also Nkosi-kazi and I have stayed at the Starlight Suites (Salzgries) and the Merkur (Fleischmarkt), right in the center

nkosi

[Laurie]

Hoc, have you been to Salzburg? It's beautiful and worth the trip. I could dig up the name of the hotel we used in 2000 if you're interested. I can't tell whether you've narrowed this down to Prague and Budapest at this point, or are trying for 2 different countries rather than 1.

We visited Copenhagen last month. Quite a bit to see and do, but between these I liked Salzburg better... but I'm partial to smaller cities with more older stuff - Copenhagen burned so many times, much of it was rebuilt. Prices were high in US $$ all over Denmark.

And the food was outstanding in Salzburg... I guess the menus would be similar in Vienna.

Oh, one more thing: never been to Prague but here's a "cheap apartments" website I'd bookmarked: www.fox-in-prague.com/ - all their apts are $65 US for one person per night... last-minute discounts but here's the standard schedule:
US$ apartment rental prices for one night:
1 person - 65.
2 people - 77.
3 people - 90.
4 people - 105.
4-6 people – Budget Holidays Prices!

[Hoc]

Originally Posted by Laurie

Oh, one more thing: never been to Prague but here's a "cheap apartments" website I'd bookmarked: www.fox-in-prague.com/ - all their apts are $65 US for one person per night... last-minute discounts but here's the standard schedule:
US$ apartment rental prices for one night:
1 person - 65.
2 people - 77.
3 people - 90.
4 people - 105.
4-6 people – Budget Holidays Prices!

Thanks, Laurie. How did you hear of them? Have you heard anyone say that they are reliable, or make any comments about the quality of the accommodations?

Salzburg sounds interesting. It will cost me around $130+sleeper supplement to take the train from Prague to Vienna (a sleeper can't be booked in advance -- you can only book it at the train station in Prague), but for $212, I could get an Austria/Czech pass that would get me 4 days of rail travel, so that would mean that I could do the Prague/Vienna leg on the pass, plus a day trip to Salzburg from Vienna (about 2 1/2 hours each way) via train for just $82 more than I would pay for the Prague/Vienna trip alone, and I would have 2 additional days of rail travel if I wanted.

Definitely a consideration. . . .

[Laurie]

Hoc, I have no personal knowledge of the Fox Apts. folks. I stumbled upon their website recently when googling for images of Prague, when idly thinking ahead about a future trip, and had 2 weeks booked starting in UK with an open week inbetween - I was looking at Brugge too, both are smaller historic beautiful cities that travelers fall in love with - like Salzburg maybe. I doubt I'll ever get an exchange into Prague, so this looked great to me because we really like having a kitchen, and would want to be near or in the Old Town. (Turns out we're going to Brittany instead so this will have to wait for another year!)

Here is a link to a better URL
http://www.prague-holiday-apartments...tments/prague/ or
http://www.prague-holiday-apartments...ue/apartments/
Their other site's a little hard to navigate. They also have a testimonials page. Quality looks basic, it says "clean" and "safe" and they speak my language, price was right and I liked the tone of their site. I didn't get as far as googling around to see if tripadvisor or virtualtourist or anyone else had anything to say since I now have other plans - if you end up using them please let me know how it went!

[Hoc]

I looked around, and it seems like they are clean and nice, but nothing spectacular. They are about 15 minutes out of the main part of town by tram, but the tram near them runs supposedly all night. Looks like the trams run about every 15-20 minutes.

Seems like it might be a good option.

[Kathleen]

Dear Hoc,

How do you and I keep not meeting like this???

I will be im Prague the 9th-14th of Sept. We used Bookings.org and the reviews from trip advisor to narrow down the list. We're staying at Hotel Residence Mala Strana.

I hope that you have great time wherever you land.

Kathleen

[Hoc]

Originally Posted by Kathleen

Dear Hoc,

How do you and I keep not meeting like this???

You know, it's almost scary.

[Kathleen]

Hi Hoc,

You rascal!! Very Scary!! You don't do VooDoo, do you?

Love ya anyway. If you get there a week early, you'll know where to find us.

Sorry for misspellings. In the last few days we've been grandparenting the CT bunch. The beach for two days. Horseback riding and lizard catching yesterday and today four and half hours in the James River tubing. Sam is burned to a crisp. My mind is gone. We're packing for Williamsburg(Thank God for Spence and wine ) and Busch Gardens first thing in the morning.

Kathleen

[Jeni]

I recommend Prage over Budapest. I loved my stay there- toured the old city, the castle, the churches, the shops, etc. Prague is still somewhat of a deal until it converts to the Euro. Beware when eating out- confirm that the price contains EVERYTHING at dinner, otherwise they will try to tack on charges for salt, pepper, ketchup, etc.

I also visited the Jewish cemetery and museum, and went out to Thereisinstadt, the 1944 "show camp" of concentration camps.

In both Prague and Vienna I went to the opera, various art museums, coffeeshops, etc. I was there in college, about 10 years ago...so the names of places are not coming to me, but Cafe Mozart was a wonderful late night coffee bar. Also had some fabulous schnitzel and wine somewhere on the ringstrasse. Saw the palace and changing of the guard in Vienna, and had coffee and Sacher Tort at the Sacher Hotel.

I can't remember where I stayed in Vienna, but I would not recommend it. The maid stole my perfume, then they tried to charge for a bunch of phone calls (we never used the phone).

In Prague we stayed at the Hotel Esprit and I remember it was nice enough, on the tram line, about 10-15 minutes from the heart of the city.

Jeni

[Carolinian]

Prague and Budapest and both nice cities, but if I had to do only one, it would definitely be Prague.

Salzburg is also a great city, but I would try to exchange into Schloss Grubhof, about 40 minutes from the city to see it. With a car, you can also easily see Innsbruck, Munich, and Bertesgaden from Schloss Grubhof.

[Hoc]

Originally Posted by Carolinian

Salzburg is also a great city, but I would try to exchange into Schloss Grubhof, about 40 minutes from the city to see it. With a car, you can also easily see Innsbruck, Munich, and Bertesgaden from Schloss Grubhof.

Wonder how I would do on the Autobahn.

At the moment, I'm leaning toward five days in Prague at the aparments Laurie mentioned, followed by an overnight sleeper train into Vienna, and five nights at the Intercontinental in Vienna (four of which are already confirmed). I'm also thinking about that train pass, so that I can use the train for a day trip to Salzburg and a day trip to Bratislava, given your recommendations of those cities. If I really feel I should spend more time in Salzburg, I can do that on another trip, where I would try an exchange into Schloss Grubhopf, and do day trips to the German towns you mentioned.

Wasn't the Sound of Music set in Salzburg?

[short]

We did the Sound of Music 1/2 day tour while we were there several years ago. Also did a 1/2 day tour of Hitler's Eagles Nest which was very interesting.

As a side note, the hotel we stayed at did not take credit cards and we had to scramble to find enough cash to pay for the room on Euros before we left. We luckly did have cash but mostly uncoverted US dollars so we had to wait until the banks opened to go down and exchange money to pay for 2 hotel rooms

Short

[225chs]

Hoc

Just came back from Prague last week. Cannot reccomend it enough. Took an apartment at RESIDENCE MASNA. You can email them at info@prague-apartments.cz or go to the website where they have real time chat. They answer all your questions, are a pleasure to deal with, are reasonably priced, perfectly located(one block from Old Town square) and no! i have no $$$ interest in them. They would be a standard European timeshare if they were a timeshare. As an added bonus, if you book for 3 nights or more, they pick you up at the airport. Check it out (no pun intended) and if you want more info, let me know

[Hoc]

Originally Posted by 225chs

They would be a standard European timeshare if they were a timeshare.

My questions are: What do they cost, do they have washers, how large are the rooms (and are they clean and do they have kitchens), and were the beds comfortable?

Edit: I just checked out some reservation sites, and it looks like they're charging around $180 a night for a room, which is almost as much as an Executive Suite at the Hilton. Could I be checking out the wrong site?

[225chs]

Hoc

Here is the web site
http://www.apartments.cz/

I paid in Koruna not in Euros. I rented a studio for 7 nights and paid @$670 for the seven nights. This included pick up at the airport(one way).

The was a european washer in the bathroom. There was no dryer.

They tell you the square meter of the room. There are some pictures on the web site. I found the room a decent size(the bathroom was modern and huge(shower,no bath)My daughter joined us(additional $15 fee per night) for 4 days and my wife and I did not feel crowded. The kitchen was in the corner, plain but functional(didnot use it)small refridge,four burner stove and microwave. All utensils and appliances were supplied. The rooms were clean and maid service everyday. Also 24/7 person at the desk AND free internet access.

My wife and I thought the beds to be comfortable altho they did not look like the would be.

They have several locations. We were at Residence Masna.

Hope this helps

[Neesie]

I'm sorry I can't give you any reccomendations since I have never travelled overseas (yet). I envy the trip you are planning!

Rick Steve's hosts "Europe through the Backdoor" on PBS and he always has wonderful suggestions including bed & breakfasts and local pensions. I would prefer to stay in a unique, charming place when visiting Prague or one of the other cities you mentioned. Why don't you google Rick Steves and see if he has a forum for the cities you want to visit? I hope you have a wonderful time.