Baringogiraffe12
Well-Known Member
Myself and my now fiancee did something similar back in 2023, we did six days in seven cities, being Berlin, Budapest, Cologne, Frankfurt, Prague, Vienna and Zurich and did four collections in total (I did try and sneak more in, however, I thought I was pushing my luck with fourHello again, everyone! Over the past almost two months now, my partner and I have slowly-but-surely continued to chip away at the planning of our trip to Europe! The past couple of months have been particularly busy for the both of us at our respective jobs, so planning has not quite progressed at the speed we had hoped, but it has come along. Prices have remained pretty consistent, and they have actually remain cheaper than what is expected for Spring 2025, so at this time, we are still looking at fall of this year!
As we have been working out the details of the trip, it has become clear that my partner's work will not allow him any more than two weeks of vacation, so we are going to be limited to 14-to-16 days, in total. As such, we have decided to narrow the focus of this trip and forego The Netherlands, Belgium, and likely western Germany for this trip, with the hopes of being able to return to Europe for a focused trip on that region plus France in a year or two. Our current plan is to have Berlin, Prague, and Vienna as our three main bases.
With the flight options available, we are currently debating between a couple of different feasible routes (of course, the cheapest route available (via Munich) would cause us to lose three extra days to travel one-way and four days to travel round-trip). The cheapest of the still feasible routes would be to fly into Frankfurt and out of Vienna or into Berlin and out of Frankfurt. For roughly $200 more, we could fly into Berlin and out of Vienna and keep ourselves completely contained within our "hubs", and for about $100 more than that, we could fly into Nuremberg and out of Vienna.
All three of these routes have their potential positives and negatives. Flying in or out of Frankfurt would allow us to potentially include Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg in our itinerary, but the travel time would cause us to lose time in the "Big 3" cities. Flying in and out of Berlin and Vienna would minimize our travel time and maximize our time in/allow for day trips from the "Big 3" cities, but it would effectively eliminate any possibility of including the previously mentioned cities and their respective facilities. While flying into Nuremberg allows us time to explore Nuremberg and to visit the zoo there without losing too much time to travel, it is the most expensive option and would shorten out time in the "Big 3" cities and eliminate Karlsruhe and Stuttgart.
With all of that said, for those of you more familiar with Berlin, Prague, and Vienna, how long do you think is appropriate to spend in each city for a first time visitor to not feel too rushed while also being the most efficient with the time available?
Also, when previously talking about interests beyond zoos, I somehow forgot to mention natural history museums! How would you all say the natural history museums in the cities along our routes stack up against one another? Which ones are "must-sees" and which ones are more skippable if time doesn't allow?
) and these were Berlin Zoo, Berlin Zoo Aquarium, Prague Zoo and Zoo Frankfurt. I visited all three Berlin collections back in 2019 and can say that Tierpark needs the most time, with a full day and a half day for any mop-ups required. Berlin Zoo and Berlin Zoo Aquarium can be done in a full day, provided you arrive at opening and leave when the zoo closes. I'm not sure if it's something you've looked into, however, Flixbus are a really good option to explore if you're travelling through Europe. We cut costs on flights by using them to across countries and cities to our next location.
there are plenty of worthwhile daytrips possible from Vienna, and moreover a few worthwhile half-day options. For instance, although I agree that Bratislava isn't worth a visit for the zoo, it *is* worth a visit for the old city centre.... and it is entirely possible to visit Bratislava in the afternoon after doing something in Vienna during the morning, before returning to the latter city in the evening.
