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Salzburg or Cesky Krumlov

tinylady

By tinylady,
in River Cruising

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tinylady

tinylady

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Hi, we are leaving next Thursday for Scenic "gems of the Danube" with extensions in Prague and Budapest. I am a bit stuck on one of our choices and hope to get some advise on this board. We have a choice of a tour to Salzburg or Cesky Krumlov, both are included. I had originally decided to do Cesky Krumlov as I was concerned, perhaps foolishly, that the Salzburg trip would be a "sound of music" excursion. This would not interest me. Now I am reading on this board that Salzburg is "not to be missed" If anyone has done either of these trips I would really be grateful for any comments. There is a third option that is a tour of Passau combined with an afternoon cruising the European alps, should I be considering this?

Thank you.

Edited by tinylady
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sailawaybellaluna Great Review Rare

sailawaybellaluna

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I've never done a cruise tour to either place, but I was recently in Cesky Krumlov on vacation and loved it! It's very picturesque and quite easy to see and experience in one day. Not sure if you'd feel too overwhelmed by Salzburg in a day? Perhaps that would be better kept for a future vacation when you'll have more time to explore?

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Granny DI

Granny DI

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We went on the Cesky Krumlov excursion and our friends went on the Salzburg tour. Cesky Krumlov is WONDERFUL...one of our favorite places in Europe. Our friends said Salzburg was a Sound of Music "cheese fest".

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newfirsttimer

newfirsttimer

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Mary, we did Cesky Krumlov last year and although it rained the whole time, it is indeed a very charming town and easy to get around. We are doing Salzburg this year (since we had done CK last year) and truly hope it is not a "Sound of Music cheese fest". Not yet been to Passau. Tough choice for the one day.

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caviargal

caviargal

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Our friends said Salzburg was a Sound of Music "cheese fest".

 

I imagine the ship's excursion is. Too bad, as I have been to Salzburg many times since attending the University there as an exchange student many years ago and find it delightful.

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Granny DI

Granny DI

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Salzburg is wonderful. We had been before so we chose the Cesky Krumlov tour. Our friends were so excited to see Salzburg but they were so disappointed with the "Sound of Music" tour. Salzburg needs more than a few hours, but we were able to see most of the delightful village of Cesky Krumlov. We had a wonderful time but our friends were very disappointed with their tour. Their words not mine described their tour.

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fred111

fred111

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We have been to both within the last year and are going to Salzburg again this Christmas. That said, I would go to C.K. It is not to be missed and not as hokie (i.e. Sound of Music centric) as Salzburg.

 

All in all, you will have a good time at either.

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caviargal

caviargal

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We have been to both within the last year and are going to Salzburg again this Christmas. That said, I would go to C.K. It is not to be missed and not as hokie (i.e. Sound of Music centric) as Salzburg.

 

 

We are also headed to Salzburg for Christmas and I am so thrilled! We arrive on 22 December and from there will head to Berlin, with one more undecided stop in between.

 

Salzburg is one of our favorite cities for the holidays!:)

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Tarheel72

Tarheel72

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We have been to all three. We did CK on our own and Salzburg and Passau as part of a Uniworld tour. CK is the best as far as we are concerned. Salzburg is OK as well but a notch below CK. We did not find Passau all that wonderful. Just OK. The church there is nice, as it is a lot of white plaster which is much different from the others we saw in Europe. Of couse this is just an opinion and YMMV.

 

If you are going to stay over in Prague you can drive to CK on your own, either on the way to Prague after the cruise or when you leave Prague to catch the cruise. That is what we did. That way maybe you can take both the CK and the Salzburg excursions. We used a private car service and it worked out fine. We stopped on our way to the ship in Passau and had about three and one half hours in CK which was plenty of time.

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whatnot

whatnot

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We will be doing a transfer on our own from Passau to Prague when we leave our Uniworld cruise. Would love to stop in CK on the way. Can you tell me what private car service you used? Are you a Tar Heel transferred to Texas? We've been Tar Heels forever!

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Baybear

Baybear

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Just got back from a Uniworld Trip where we did Cesky Krumlov on the way from Passau to Prague via a van. Thought you might want some more info. on it.

 

It is a very quaint, old-World village down on a river where visitors ride floats, canoes and kyacks down a "mini rapids" underneath some bridges right in town, and then can pull up on a beach in town to shop or eat. Then can ride further down the river to a spot where the Company picks up the "float" and brings you back up to town again.

 

The town itself is FULL of restaurants, cafes and little shops (puppet shops, cheese, chocolate, pastries, clothes, etc.) that women just love! All this along very narrow, winding streets looking very midieval. On a steep climb up from town along a winding stone staircase you will come upon a castle up on the hill complete with real live (3 of them) bears that have been kept at the castle for hundreds of years. Then you can walk across a narrow, very high bridge like the top of a Roman aqueduct, across a high gorge and into castle gardens and various castle buildings. All this is VERY high above the town with spectacular views down into the village and to the river teaming with frolicing visitors. There is so much to do here that you probably would need a couple of days to see it all.

 

We ate at an excellent fish restaurant right near the main entrance from the parking lot, and it was right on the riverbank.

 

I"ve never been to Salzburg so cannot compare, but we didn't want to take the 2.5 hour bus ride from Linz on the Uniworld tour, and took the bus for one our to Gmunden and Steyr instead. We went to Cesky Krumlov, as I said, after the boat docked at Passau and we were taking 4 days in Prague on our own after the 7-day boat trip.

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Baybear

Baybear

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We will be doing a transfer on our own from Passau to Prague when we leave our Uniworld cruise. Would love to stop in CK on the way. Can you tell me what private car service you used? Are you a Tar Heel transferred to Texas? We've been Tar Heels forever!

 

We just used (last week):

 

Prague Airport Transfers Ltd.

www.prague-airport-transfers.co.uk

Prague Tel. (+420) 222 554 211

 

They were excellent and very reasonable since we were traveling six of us to divide the costs by three couples. We took them from Passau to Prague and stopped at Cesky Krumov and Budweiss along the way.

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tinylady

tinylady

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I just got home and was delighted to find fourteen replies to my question. I would like to thank you all for taking the time to share your thoughts. Thanks to all your advise I have been able to make up my mind and will go to CK and save Salzburg for when I will have more time,

Thanks once again.

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UKBayern

UKBayern

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I have another consideration which has not been mentioned yet. Salzburg has an airport and is also easy to do by land from Munich or Vienna on another trip. CK is a little harder to get to DIY.

I live in the area and both towns are pretty. However, CK gets my vote.

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tassietravellers

tassietravellers

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We had the same choices to make yesterday, for our day trip on monday....we chose CK...looking forward to it..be interesting to hear what others from our trip think of the Salzburg trip. They had actually added a 3rd day tour, that's to the Austrian Lakes..a slow pace tour I think.

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HokiePoq

HokiePoq

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We have been to both within the last year and are going to Salzburg again this Christmas. That said, I would go to C.K. It is not to be missed and not as hokie (i.e. Sound of Music centric) as Salzburg.

 

All in all, you will have a good time at either.

 

Agree CK is wonderful....have not been to Salzburg yet. Hokie is in the mind of the beholder, lol.

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HokiePoq

HokiePoq

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Loved Cesky Krumlov! Charming, relaxing, colorful, magical. Highly recommended!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Yes! Family members took a $$make a waffle or some such on Viking and we went to the included CK. All I could do not to brag it was the best included excursion we had!!

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