1

Personally, i would skip Vienna. Berlin sounds more like the town for you. Maybe from Ams-Ber-Pra-Bud...? Although it is a lot of travelling in a short time. To enjoy the cities a bit more, i would also skip Prague. So a bit more than 3 days in Amsterdam, Berlin as well as Budapest.

Have a good trip,
Matthijs

2

Shame to miss Prague as it's a really beautiful city, but agree with #1 though in terms of the amount of travelling you are going to be doing and that Berlin with its nightlife, culture etc is a better place to head to than Viennna.

3

Good advice above. It's a bit difficult to know what to suggest since they are all worthwhile cities, but it's just too much travel for 11 days. Berlin would be a good swap for Amsterdam. Leipzig would not (although the small Stasi museum there is excellent if you have the chance).

If you're still in the stage where you would consider anything, Switzerland would be very interesting for your transport interests, and Poland has a long tradition of love for jazz. But in terms of transport between the 2 - still a problem. Budapest is lovely but I'm not sure it would be my first choice for your stated interests.

This is probably the least helpful post I've written in a while - heh heh.

4

Thanks for the help guys. The only problem I found with Berlin is getting there from London - as far as I could see the flights from London left at either about 7am in the morning or late at night. 7am would result in very little sleep - hotel by airport the night before isn't really an option as my mate only finishes work the day before - and going late at night is more expensive for the flight that I see, and it would mean less time on holiday.

Thanks for the suggestion of Switzerland - I agree it's great but I've been there on holiday many times before with many mountain railways, so would prefer to do something different this time!

Poland is very tempting, we could consider it. Budapest looks tempting because of the cogwheel and funicular railway and the caves that you can visit. Some of my other 'clubbing' mates went to Prague earlier this summer and really enjoyed it. So I added Vienna because it's pretty much straight in between Prague and Budapest - I think it added only about 40 minutes extra to the time on trains between Prague and Budapest, and the 3 cities seem pretty close together by train anyway - so do you think that makes Vienna worth it? It's not just the clubbing we're after - as long as 1 or 2 of the cities have a good nightlife then that's fine :P I have fond memories of Vienna from when I was a child - and the Riesenrad might be nice! Would also love to experience a Viennese orchestra playing Strauss II if possible - he's one of my favourite composers.

I would have liked to do just Prague - Vienna - Budapest, but there's the same problem with flights to Prague on that day - either very early, very late or expensive!

Cheers we'll avoid Leipzig then (maybe it's for another time!)

Many thanks again,

Neil

5

I see - I forgot about the funicular in Budapest. What a shame about the flights. I trust you've looked at skyscanner or something similar. When are you going?

I didn't mean to pan Leipzig - it just does not have the vast variety of things to see and do that Amsterdam or Berlin would offer.

About concerts in Vienna from another thread: Avoid the "concerts" promoted by people in the streets. I got talked into one by friends and it was miserable. Full of disinterested tourists who want to "check the box" that they went to a "concert" in Vienna and who cannot keep quiet. Dumbed-down excerpts from the most familiar works. If you are at least semi-serious about a quality experience, go to a proper concert. Sometimes churches have performances. If the notice is only in German, even better.

If you make it to Poland on a future trip, you might find this interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Riese

6

I was using travelsupermarket. Thanks for the skyscanner suggestion - I've just checked it, and it's the same flights as TS for Prague, but for Berlin there is a Lufthansa flight leaving the UK just after midday - it's about £50 more than the Amsterdam flight but it's certainly an option to consider!

Thanks for the advice regarding concerts in Vienna. I'll try to find that thread and I'll do some research on the internet before going to Vienna! I'm a big fan of classical/romantic music, but my mates not so, so I'll discuss it with them too.

Project Riese certainly does look interesting - thanks for the suggestion - I'll remember it to try and do on a future trip!

7

There are definitely more flights into Amsterdam then direct to Berlin, although don't forget British Airways for Berlin as well.

Most if not all the Lufthansa flights are codeshare's operated by BMI.

If you wanted to go down the Budget airline route check out Easyjet for both Berlin and Amsterdam.

8

In case it helps with the alternative airline schedules, Leipzig is full of trams and to get to Prague you would go via Dresden which also has trams and some old funiculars up the hillsides in the Loschwitz area on the east side of the city. Just south of Dresden on the way to Prague there is a tram route from Bad Schandau which goes up the valley through some beautiful scenery - mainly for tourists and hikers but I think it runs quite frequently about once or twice an hour.

Leipzig is a big student city and if you're travelling in term time you should find quite a bit of "evening entertainment" - try the Karl Liebknecht Strasse. Also worth checking out concerts in the Thomaskirche of course, particularly if you're a Bach fan.