Austria, Germany, Czech Republic

Chandler Austin · Jul 28, 2015

We just returned from our trip to Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic with Adventures by Disney. This was our 8th trip with ABD, and once again, they did not disappoint! One of our favorite things about traveling with ABD is that they take care of everything. Three members of our family are gluten free, and they did a wonderful job at taking care of that. Different trips have been easier than others with this issue, and this one was very easy to eat gluten free.

Two highlights from the trip included hiking up to the Eishole Ice Cave in the Bavarian Alps and visiting Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. I do reccommend going early to Prague and doing a bit on your own because Disney doesn't spend a ton of time there.

Our guides, Dean and Andy, were great, as the guides always are. I have a YouTube series where I play a silly character and both of them were willing to be in part of it with me in Vienna. The link is below. We love Adventures by Disney and will keep traveling with them!

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 · Jul 29, 2015

Glad to hear you enjoyed this trip. We are booked to take this trip in September 2016. We are arriving in Prague a day early so we can adjust to the time difference as well as see some of the city on our own.

Skatetigger · Aug 1, 2015

We had Dean as a guide for our backstage magic tour he's awesome, we're planning on taking the trip next year so hopefully he'll still doing the tour!

SingingMom · Aug 2, 2015

Skatetigger said:
We had Dean as a guide for our backstage magic tour he's awesome, we're planning on taking the trip next year so hopefully he'll still doing the tour!

We had such fun with Dean & Andy! Great guides make for a truly magical experience! We've had the best on all three trips!! <3

SingingMom · Aug 2, 2015

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 said:
Glad to hear you enjoyed this trip. We are booked to take this trip in September 2016. We are arriving in Prague a day early so we can adjust to the time difference as well as see some of the city on our own.

We just returned a few weeks ago - take 2 days before in Prague if you can! There really is a LOT to see!! We are so glad we did!!

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 · Aug 4, 2015

SingingMom said:
We just returned a few weeks ago - take 2 days before in Prague if you can! There really is a LOT to see!! We are so glad we did!!

We are arriving the day prior to the start of the trip. We arrive in Prague about 11am. We plan on using that day and the next, before the trip officially begins to look around Prague.

For those that have done the trip, any suggestions on places to see? We plan on hitting Prague Castle and the Jewish Quarter.

SingingMom · Aug 4, 2015

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 said:
We are arriving the day prior to the start of the trip. We arrive in Prague about 11am. We plan on using that day and the next, before the trip officially begins to look around Prague.

For those that have done the trip, any suggestions on places to see? We plan on hitting Prague Castle and the Jewish Quarter.

We arrived two days before the tour. Our first day we walked around the city to get our bearings, took a horse & buggy ride around Old Town, walked across Charles Bridge, and went to mass in the evening. We had dinner in the Marriott, and went to bed around 11 pm.

The next day we had breakfast, walked across Charles Bridge again, to get to Our Lady Victorious Church and see the Infant of Prague statue, which was on my bucket list. We then went to Petrin Hill, rode the funicular up to the top and walked the gardens. Great view of the city from up there! Then we went to lunch at an outside café and afterwards went shopping. Since lunch was late, we had drinks & dessert at the hotel.

The third day (ABD started that evening) we took the self-walking tour of the Jewish Quarter. That was very moving. I would highly recommend it. We then had lunch at Hotel U Prince, at the rooftop restaurant. The grilled lobster was spectacular! We headed back to the hotel to get ready for our welcome reception and dinner.

My advice would be to skip the Prague Castle on your own, since you will see that on the ABD tour. I'd spend more time exploring the city. There are neat sidewalk cafes to have a meal or a drink and people watch. We really enjoyed our time savoring the atmosphere, because, unfortunately, that isn't necessarily something you have much time for during an ABD!

Any other questions, ask away! I have a little trip report and Calfan wrote a very detailed report. You might find some good info there, too!

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 · Aug 4, 2015

SingingMom said:
We arrived two days before the tour. Our first day we walked around the city to get our bearings, took a horse & buggy ride around Old Town, walked across Charles Bridge, and went to mass in the evening. We had dinner in the Marriott, and went to bed around 11 pm.

The next day we had breakfast, walked across Charles Bridge again, to get to Our Lady Victorious Church and see the Infant of Prague statue, which was on my bucket list. We then went to Petrin Hill, rode the funicular up to the top and walked the gardens. Great view of the city from up there! Then we went to lunch at an outside café and afterwards went shopping. Since lunch was late, we had drinks & dessert at the hotel.

The third day (ABD started that evening) we took the self-walking tour of the Jewish Quarter. That was very moving. I would highly recommend it. We then had lunch at Hotel U Prince, at the rooftop restaurant. The grilled lobster was spectacular! We headed back to the hotel to get ready for our welcome reception and dinner.

My advice would be to skip the Prague Castle on your own, since you will see that on the ABD tour. I'd spend more time exploring the city. There are neat sidewalk cafes to have a meal or a drink and people watch. We really enjoyed our time savoring the atmosphere, because, unfortunately, that isn't necessarily something you have much time for during an ABD!

Any other questions, ask away! I have a little trip report and Calfan wrote a very detailed report. You might find some good info there, too!

We will have the afternoon/evening of arrival day and then the morning and early afternoon of trip start day to explore. It was Calfan's trip report that made us want to explore the Jewish Quarter. We won't be attending Mass as we are not religious but definitely interested in seeing some of Prague that we don't get to see on the ABD.

How did you find adjusting to the 6 hour time difference? I'm in Toronto, Ontario Canada so same time zone as New Jersey.

SingingMom · Aug 4, 2015

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 said:
We will have the afternoon/evening of arrival day and then the morning and early afternoon of trip start day to explore. It was Calfan's trip report that made us want to explore the Jewish Quarter. We won't be attending Mass as we are not religious but definitely interested in seeing some of Prague that we don't get to see on the ABD.

How did you find adjusting to the 6 hour time difference? I'm in Toronto, Ontario Canada so same time zone as New Jersey.

We did fine. We seem to have more jet lag when we return home than when we get there. Must be the excitement and adrenaline! After a week of intense activity, we are usually exhausted!

The Jewish Quarter was definitely worth it. One spot that we didn't get to but had been recommended to us was the Communist Museum. I would have liked to see that.

*WDW*Groupie* · Aug 4, 2015

How did you find adjusting to the 6 hour time difference? I'm in Toronto, Ontario Canada so same time zone as New Jersey.

We left Pearson last year for Prague! I so so love this amazing city.

You'll find the the time difference pretty easy to adjust to. Try to sleep as long as you can on the plane and drink plenty of fluids (not concurrently lol). Check into the hotel, drop the bags off and hit the city running. We try to stay up as late as possible on the first day (may 8:30pm - 9:30pm) and wake up the next morning ready to go! Eat lunch and dinner at the local time (not the time back home like your body will want to). It also helps to have a plan laid out on what you want to do the first day -- don't try anything too onerous.

Have a GREAT time. You are going to have so much fun! My son keeps saying he wants to go back to Prague and spend a few weeks he had such a good time (I'm pretty sure the beer played a big role in that).

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 · Aug 4, 2015

*WDW*Groupie* said:
We left Pearson last year for Prague! I so so love this amazing city.

You'll find the the time difference pretty easy to adjust to. Try to sleep as long as you can on the plane and drink plenty of fluids (not concurrently lol). Check into the hotel, drop the bags off and hit the city running. We try to stay up as late as possible on the first day (may 8:30pm - 9:30pm) and wake up the next morning ready to go! Eat lunch and dinner at the local time (not the time back home like your body will want to). It also helps to have a plan laid out on what you want to do the first day -- don't try anything too onerous.

Have a GREAT time. You are going to have so much fun! My son keeps saying he wants to go back to Prague and spend a few weeks he had such a good time (I'm pretty sure the beer played a big role in that).

This is great to hear. This is the first trip to Europe for my mom and I and we are definitely stepping outside our comfort zone.

carpenta · Aug 4, 2015

There are a number of tours that take in Prague by van with a local guide which can be reserved by your hotel front desk. They even will probably pick you up at the hotel at least that is what they did for us. One tour was a combo castle/ riverboat cruise which was pretty reasonable and not very strenuous. You will find a tour to your liking as far as time and physical ability. We also did a walking tour where the guide was fabulous on his knowledge for he was a professor at a local college and he did the guide "thing" as a way of "showing off his beautiful city". You could have not picked a more beautiful and authentic city IMO and to us it is like a city stuck in a time capsule.....I'm jealous....

Calfan · Aug 4, 2015

With regard to the advice to wait for Prague Castle until the ABD, just make sure you aren't going to be at Prague Castle with ABD on a Sunday. If you are, St. Vitus Cathedral will be closed to the public, and you won't be able to see it. This is a "must see" in Prague, so you will want to do it on your own if you can't go in with ABD.

carpenta · Aug 4, 2015

Calfan said:
With regard to the advice to wait for Prague Castle until the ABD, just make sure you aren't going to be at Prague Castle with ABD on a Sunday. If you are, St. Vitus Cathedral will be closed to the public, and you won't be able to see it. This is a "must see" in Prague, so you will want to do it on your own if you can't go in with ABD.

Oh yea!!!!! It is one of those definite "do-s"......

sayhello · Aug 4, 2015

Calfan said:
With regard to the advice to wait for Prague Castle until the ABD, just make sure you aren't going to be at Prague Castle with ABD on a Sunday. If you are, St. Vitus Cathedral will be closed to the public, and you won't be able to see it. This is a "must see" in Prague, so you will want to do it on your own if you can't go in with ABD.

Yay, I'll be there Thursday/Friday/Saturday, so it should be included!

Sayhello

SingingMom · Aug 4, 2015

Calfan said:
With regard to the advice to wait for Prague Castle until the ABD, just make sure you aren't going to be at Prague Castle with ABD on a Sunday. If you are, St. Vitus Cathedral will be closed to the public, and you won't be able to see it. This is a "must see" in Prague, so you will want to do it on your own if you can't go in with ABD.

I think they have changed the scheduling so that doesn't happen any more! Our guide mentioned that now it is on the ABD for Saturday's. St Vitus Cathedral is gorgeous! We liked it better than Notre Dame in Paris!

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 · Aug 5, 2015

It looks like the private tour of Prague, including the Cathedral is on Saturday. It's listed as being on the first full day of the itinerary which falls on a Saturday.

I'll look into some of the tours offered through the hotel, that might be a good way to see it sort of as the locals do.

SingingMom · Aug 5, 2015

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 said:
It looks like the private tour of Prague, including the Cathedral is on Saturday. It's listed as being on the first full day of the itinerary which falls on a Saturday.

I'll look into some of the tours offered through the hotel, that might be a good way to see it sort of as the locals do.

Then don't waste your time touring the cathedral in your own. You will have a lovely tour of it be inside with ABD. Pick another site - the Jewish Quarter, Petrin Hill, or one of those tours - but remember you will have a walking your with a local guide.

Jitzy · Aug 8, 2015

We toured Prague with a great tour company. The name is quite memorable, "Naked Tour Guides, Prague." They were excellent. We took three tours with them, the Early morning walking tour, the Naziism and Communism tour and the Nighttime tour. They were wonderful and very knowledgeable. My husband and I took the train over to Karlstejn Castle on our own. It was very easy to do on our own and took maybe 6 hours or so, including travel time. We stayed at the Hilton, which was very close to the center of town. We took a guided tour over to the Bone Church, which was pretty good as well. I also thought that it was very easy to change money downtown, their rates were good and the spread between the buy and sell rate was reasonable.

wdwtheplacetobe · Aug 9, 2015

Cinderella's Slipper 2015 said:
This is great to hear. This is the first trip to Europe for my mom and I and we are definitely stepping outside our comfort zone.

This will be my 2nd Europe trip as an adult. My DH has traveled extensively for Scuba. You are making a great decision to travel with ABD.

Austria, Germany, Czech Republic

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