Cesky Krumlov Lodging

Ok, we're close. Just need something for our one night in CK.

The train station is on the northern outskirts of town. The downtown is located on the east side of Vlatva River, inside a little meander. There are no cars (awesome). I picture it similar to Gamla Stan in Stockholm. It's probably 15 minutes from the train station.

They appear to have a lot of small bed and breakfasts and a few big hotels. The hotels seem to be $150/night or more. I'm not sure if there is a better chance that hotel employees speak english.

1) Pension Ametyst. Looks nice. Breakfast to your room or on the patio. Its like $50/night. Or $75 for the suite. May not have wifi, only plug in internet. It's located north of downtown on the other side of the river, near the edge of the pedestrian area.

2) Hotel Barbora if we feel more comfortable with the hotel route. $100/night. Breakfast not included, but there is a restaurant. I can't tell if it has wifi.

3) Penzion looks nice. About $100/night. Free breakfast. In the downtown area. Had to email them about availability. Not sure about wifi.

4) Also sent an email inquiry to Hotel Zlaty Andel

Plenty more out there if we don't like any of these. We could always wing it. Or priceline it. It's only 1 night.

I like #1, but would prefer wifi. I suppose we can probably survive being "unplugged" for 24 hours. It might be nice.

Budapest Final 2 Hotels

I've narrowed it down to the  Centrum - $110/night.

And the Radisson Blu - $100/night, but I'm not sure that includes taxes, which are probably $10/month.

Centrum is south of city center, Blu is east. You can walk to the train station from Blu. Centrum is right off the metro.

Both rates are pre-paid rates. Neither includes breakfast, but they both offer it.

Centrum is along the main walking street (I think).

Blu is closer to city parks.

Both have bars.

Both offer free wifi.

Equally easy to get to either from the airport.

I think either one will be good. Preference? Or I'll just pick one. Probably Radisson? I dunno, why not? I can't really decide.

More on Vienna Rentals

Following up on this:

Now, I cant't promise these are all still available because my inquiries are a bit old.

Autgarten has a good price (<$100/night) but is a little far out there. It's not far from city center, but kinda far from any of the train stations we'll need, like 2 U-bahn lines. This is east of the city center. The train for Budapest/Prague is west of the city center and the train for Bratislava is south of city center. The public transit system looks pretty good. I've got a handle on the U-bahn, but there is a whole tram system too that supplements that. There may or may not be a washer/dryer in this unit, but if it doesn't have one, there is a shared one on the floor.

I like No. 11 at this place. The location is good, but it's about $120/night.

I have photos, but can' t post them, but its in this house. It's a 3rd floor studio, so it's kind of small, but it's only $80/night, in a good location, with washer/dryer and wifi.

More on Train Travel

Following up on this post, wanted to look at individual ticket costs so we can decide if there is a pass/passes that make sense. We can look at schedules most closely when we have a better itinerary. It looks as if we have at least 3 daily options for each of these routes.

All prices are for two tickets.

The Triangle Pass gets us from Budapest to Vienna and Vienna to Prague is $280. No reservations.

With reservations, our costs look like this:

• Budapest to Vienna - $128
• Vienna to Prague - $204
• Prauge to Cesky Krumlov - $84
• Cesky Krumlov to Prague - $84

Total cost is $500.

We also need to get from Vienna to Bratislava, but I assume there is some sort of commuter train, rather than  using the national railways.

The European East Pass covers unlimited travel on the national rail networks of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary. Valid for 5 travel days in 1 month. $490 for the two passes. No reservations.

It's $426 if we take Bratislava off the list.

Kinda seems like we should do the Triangle pass and book round trip for Prague to CK.

Prague Rentals

Prices are quoted as Thursday 5/24 to Monday 5/28. I know our schedule may change.

Prague Residences. Good location, wifi, washer/dryer, $450 for those dates, or about $115/night.

This is the only other one that got back to me with availability. More like $150/night and it doesn't specify if it has a washer/dryer. It's also on the west side of the Vlata, even far west than Hotel Julien.

We may have a winner.  $435 + $200 refundable deposit for Friday May 25 to Monday May 28. Non-smoking. Walking distance to city center and train station. Washer/dryer in unit. Wifi. 3rd floor with a small terrace.

Laundry

I did a little research. It appears most people in Prague have a washer at home, so there are few laundromats.

It might be easier in Vienna, but could cost as much as $50 at a laundromat, who knows how much at a hotel.

I think we should plan on staying somewhere where we can do our laundry ourselves.

Vienna Hotels

Seem to be kind of expensive.

We can stay at the Suite Novotel Wien Messe for $420 for 3 nights. Fitness center, wifi, breakfast is an extra charge. It's east of city center, near the Danube. Two metros to/from the train station.

NH Atterseehaus is $150/night. Seems to be like the apartments we stayed at in Copenhagen, but without the washer/dryer. Free wifi, complimentary breakfast. It says it has a fitness center, but it appears to be one cardio machine. It's a 20 minute walk to downtown, but right on a metro line. It's probably walking distance to the train station.

NH Belvedere is $130/night. Breakfast does not seem to be included, but is available for purchase. It's got wifi in each room. There is a fitness center, but I couldn't tell what it included. I think, in general, we can expect these fitness centers to suck, which is ok. We're on vacation. It's two metros and a walk/tram to the hotel from the train station. But it is a direct metro ride to the city center.

Renaissance Wien Hotel. $160/night. Away from city center. Metro ride to city center and train station (different metro lines). Wifi in the room. Fitness center. Breakfast is not included.

I think that's good for now. Obviously there are a lot of hotels, but these seem reasonable. Seems a rental in Vienna is cheaper than a hotel. We lose the fitness center, and have to deal with additional hassles, like meeting the owner, exchanging keys, etc. I'm not sure which is "safer" - hotel or rental. Seems like it should be a hotel, but there are people in and out of your room all day.

So, What Did We Decide Saturday?

We'll be in Budapest Friday May 18 to Monday, May 21?

Vienna Monday, May 21 to Thursday, May 24? Or Friday, May 25?

Prague, Friday, May 25 to Monday May 28?

Cesky Krumlov May 28? Budweis May 29?

Prague May 30?

Home May 31?

Try to do laundry in Prague? We are open to hotels or rental places, since we don't need breakfast every morning? Man, that's a lot of variables. I'll see what I can find.

Vienna to Cesky Krumlov

So, there are a bunch of options, but I'll try to summarize.

We can take a train from Vienna to Cesky Krumlov, but we probably have to connect through Linz, Prague, and/or Budweis. If we buy the train pass, it's cost effective to travel by train.

A bus ticket from Vienna to CK is about $60/each. The ride is only 3 hours, but it generally leaves at like 1 PM, so you don't get into CK until 4 PM or so.

So, we could travel to to CK Friday morning, spend Friday night there, hike and Saturday, and then either head to Prague and/or Budweis Saturday evening or Sunday morning. I guess I'd like to hike and get drunk in CK. I'd prefer to hike first, but if that take s whole day, we'd have to do that on Saturday, not Friday afternoon.

Or, we could head to Prague Friday, then do a couple days in CK Sunday or Monday. We don't leave until Thursday.

I don't mind keeping our options open, but it would then behoove us to have open-ended lodging plans, i.e. hotels, not apartments. Also, we'll want to pack light, maybe do laundry more than once. That's hard in a hotel, but I'm sure we can pay them to do it, although it expensive. I'm sure places also have laundry mats, I don't think everyone in Europe has their own washer/dryer like we do in the US.

I don't know if we think Linz is worth seeing. We could take a train from Vienna to Linz, look around, then catch an afternoon bus to CK. I think it leaves from Linz at 2, is cheaper, and only takes an hour and a half. It's probably the same bus that left Vienna at 1. But again, that means we don't want to be hauling too much luggage around.

Vienna Rentals

Here's what I go so far. Vienna seems kinda spread out, but has a kick ass public transit system (if we can figure it out).

Basically looked for location, free wifi, and a washer/dryer.  Figured we're not going to spend a ton of time there.

I looked at May 21-24, so 3 nights? Is that right? Anyway...

Apartment Leopold, $360.

Mozart Apartments, $330 for a 1-bedroom, $300 for a studio, although it might only have broadband internet (the kind you plug in).

This one is a little off the beaten path, but it looks nice. I don't think it's more than a mile from the old town/tourist district. He said 255.00. Not sure if that's euros or dollars. Everything on the listing is in dollars. Either way, it's not bad.

Apartment Swittalek is right near the city centre and has a confirmed washer and dryer, but it close to $400 for the 3 nights.


That's all I found that's available so far. There's a bunch of stuff on VRBO. I'm trying to keep this as close to $100/night as possible