Come with us on our journey through Central Europe in 10 days! This was an incredible trip, hitting 4 different countries and seeing 5 different cities, experiencing incredible wine and food tours, and immersing ourselves in captivating history. All the places we visited can be seen via train or tour, though we rented a car for our travels between cities. We hope this itinerary can help you plan your next epic trip to Central Europe!
Table of Contents
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Day 1 – Prague
Welcome to Prague, one of the most beautiful and charming cities we’ve ever been to! We arrived in the early afternoon and spent our first day getting acquainted with the Old Town. Our hotel in Prague was the Astoria Hotel in Old Town, which we loved as it was in a perfect location right next to Old Town Square and the famous Astronomical Clock. The hotel also included a wonderful breakfast.
After exploring, we happened upon 3 Gracie for dinner, a cute restaurant that has a beautiful view of the Vltava River. The food, wine, and beer are all fantastic and relatively inexpensive for the location as well! Some must tries include the braised beef and dumplings (traditional Czech dish), Gruner Veltliner (white wine), Frankovka (red wine, also known as Blaufrankisch), and of course a Pilsner. We highly recommend this restaurant to get acquainted with the city, and because it is not well known to tourists you shouldn’t have any issues getting a table!
After dinner, we strolled over the Charles Bridge and saw Prague beautifully lit up in the evening. This was the perfect end to our first day and made us very excited for what Prague had to offer over the next few days!
Day 2 – Prague and a Walking Food Tour
We started the next morning with breakfast at our hotel, then headed straight for the Museum of Communism. We really enjoyed this exhibit as it displayed in great detail how life under Communist rule oppressed and terrorized the Czechoslovakians. This museum is a lot of reading and we think the House of Terror Museum in Budapest is superior, but this is still a must see while in Prague. We spent about an hour and half in the museum, and we specifically really enjoyed the striking timeline at the end that showed a comparison between East/West developments from 1910 to 1989.
We then made our way to the meeting point for our walking food tour with Eating Europe. This was a fantastic walking food tour and one of the best we’ve ever done! The meeting point was Lod Pivovar, a brewery and restaurant on a boat on the Vltava River. Here we sampled some cheese and their own beer brewed right on the boat to start the tour. A truly unique experience!
The next stop on the tour was Three Sisters for their open face sandwiches and freshly baked cakes, each of which was so good! Our third stop was Vinograf for their fish soup, which was delicious even for those who might not be fish lovers. Our favorite stop of the tour was at Spejle, where they had fresh dumplings and beer for us. Spejle is actually a really cool concept, where you serve yourself and each dish (mostly small plates) has a certain number of sticks. Each stick represents a set value, so the price of the dish is that price times the number of sticks. At the end of the meal the waiter will come over and count all the sticks you have and that’s the total cost. A really cool experience even to go on your own!
Cafe Louvre was the next stop where we had our main meal and some more wine, and then we ended the walking food tour at Cafe Platyz where we had the best apple strudel ever! All in all this was an incredible walking food tour and we can’t recommend this strongly enough.
After the walking food tour we explored a bit more on our own, specifically walking the full length of Wenceslas Square. Wenceslas Square dates all the way back to 1348 when the Czech King Charles IV established it as the Horse Market. It was eventually renamed in the 19th Century to Wenceslas Square after a popular Bohemian duke. The square is a major center for commerce and business, but it is even more famous for the many historical rallies that have taken place there. From the Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution, when you walk Wenceslas Square you walk in the footsteps of history.
In the evening we got dinner at Nase Maso. This place was amazing and highly recommended to us by our tour guide and several others who have been to Prague. There is very limited seating, but the food is so good! The burger and the pastrami sandwich were both so fresh and so delicious – this restaurant can’t be missed!
After dinner, we ended the night going back to Cafe Platz for dessert and then Vinograf for a wine tasting as they have a huge selection of local wines. We loved Vinograf and highly recommend stopping in to sample some very good Czech wine!
Day 3 – Kutna Hora
We knew we wanted to get outside of Prague and experience one of the smaller, quainter towns outside the main city. We decided to go to Kutna Hora, which is famous for it’s “bone church” and as a center of silver mining in previous times. Kutna Hora is just over an hour from Prague by train and is relatively easy to get to. From the main train stop outside of Kutna Hora, we transferred to a smaller train with just local shuttle service between the bigger station and the Old Town.
We first stopped in Sedlec to see the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and the Sedlec Ossuary (the bone church). While these were somewhat interesting, we did not end up thinking it was worth it, especially when combined with the additional 30 minute walk from Sedlec to Kutna Hora’s Old Town and the main highlights we wanted to see.
Kutna Hora’s Old Town, on the other hand, was fabulous and we loved walking through it. After our 30 minute walk from Sedlec, our first stop was Cafe Lavande for a quick cappuccino and a coke for Matt. We then went to the Chocolate Museum and Chocolateria, as one of the other things Kutna Hora is famous for is delicious chocolate. While we didn’t go through the museum itself, the staff was extremely friendly and allowed us to try any chocolate we wanted while explaining the chocolate making process to us. Seeing the difference in chocolate flavors and richness was a top experience for Matt (he loves chocolate). We ended up buying a few different ones to take home!
From the Chocolate Museum, we headed to the Cathedral of St. Barbara, an incredibly beautiful gothic style cathedral that was as impressive as it was striking. The street up to the Cathedral is gorgeous, lined the entire way with statues, and it was easy to picture walking up to the Cathedral as if we were in the 16th Century. We paid to enter the Cathedral and explore, and it was definitely worth the price of admission. For us, this was by far the highlight of Kutna Hora.
One thing we did not do but would recommend is the Czech Museum of Silver. We ran out of time as we had to head back to Prague for a dinner reservation, but this Museum came very highly recommended as well.
The train ride back to Prague was, unfortunately, a nightmare! Not very many people spoke English (not their fault, of course) and we were not aware that the fastest train back to Prague required a switch halfway through, so we ended up staying on our train which took a circuitous route and added an hour to travel. At least we had a fantastic dinner to look forward to!
Once back in Prague we headed to Bricks Restaurant for dinner at 7:30. Bricks was beautiful and right on the Vltava River, which offered stunning views of the Charles Bridge and was a fantastic setting for a nice dinner. Bricks is not traditional Czech food, but their Italian and seafood were delicious and the cocktails and wine were some of the best we had on the trip. We recommend a reservation in order to get a table with a great view!
After dinner we meandered our way through Old Town in the evening lights. There is just always something so magical about seeing European cities at night, and it is one of our favorite things to do in every city we visit.
After meandering around the city for a while, we stopped in to Hemingway Bar for some cocktails to end the evening. Hemingway Bar transports you back in time and feels like a place where intelligentsia of yesteryear spent time. We loved it and would recommend visiting, though be warned it’s very popular and you may have to wait outside for an open table (for 2 it took about 20 minutes).
Day 4 – Prague and a Cooking Class
This was our last day in Prague and there were still several sights we hadn’t seen, so we set out to make the most of the day. First, we walked across the Charles Bridge towards the Prague Castle. Before climbing the hill to the Prague Castle, we first stopped at the Czech Republic Senate. We recommend first checking this area out as it has beautiful gardens and fountains and shouldn’t be missed!
After, we continued up a rather long hill to come to the Prague Castle itself, and right when we arrived we were able to see the changing of the guards. The sentries in front of the Castle change every daylight hour during the summer, but there is a grander ceremony right at 12 which is what we happened to see. It was very cool, though it attracts a very large crowd as you would expect. We then entered the Castle grounds, which were free to walk around but it cost money to enter any of the buildings, including the majestic St. Vitus Cathedral. We ended up not going inside, but the grounds were still very beautiful.
On our way back to Old Town, we wandered through Mala Strana (“Lesser Town”) exploring the different shops and cafes. One of the absolute must tries while in Prague is a trdelnik, a Czech cinnamon pastry that we had filled with strawberries, nutella, and vanilla ice cream. It was so tasty but very rich and easy to split between two people.
We then walked back across the Charles Bridge to the Old Town Square to watch the Astronomical Clock’s hourly show. It is a fascinating spectacle, though again it draws a crowd so be prepared for many people to crowd around as the top of the hour approaches.
We then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and walking the city. We went back to Spejle for a small bite for lunch. We just loved the concept and thought it was so cool! We also went to the Pilsner Museum to pick up some traditional Pilsner beer mugs, though we did not end up exploring the museum itself. Then we headed to the meeting point for our cooking class, which was far enough away that we needed to Uber about 10 minutes.
The cooking class was spectacular! While it wasn’t billed as “private”, we ended up being the only ones to sign up so we had the chef all to ourselves! He was so nice and helpful, regaling us with tales of his life, family, and Czechia while teaching us to make delicious Czech food. We tried some amazing cheese and homemade jams, we made potato pancakes, bread dumplings, rabbit, and sweet fruit dumplings for dessert. The chef provided us with wine from a family friend’s winery in Moravia, and it was probably our favorite wine we tried on the trip. We were able to try a red, rose, and a white and we enjoyed each so much we bought a bottle. We would have bought more but didn’t think we’d have room on the way home!
Day 5 – Salzburg
This morning we made our way to Salzburg for our second stop on this trip. After evaluating the train situation and what we wanted to do in Salzburg, we decided to drive (see our helpful guide for renting a car in Europe). The drive from Prague to Salzburg took about 4.5 hours including some stops, but thankfully there were no tolls and the drive was easy!
In Salzburg we stayed at the Altstadthotel Weisse Taube in Old Town, which was the perfect hotel in a perfect location. Old Town is very restricted for cars as you can only enter the Old Town with a code and then there is a time limit, so we parked in a small parking lot 5 minutes from our hotel for 10 euros a day.
We started our tour of Salzburg by walking around the markets and getting our first Schaumrollen, which is a popular flaky pastry filled with a marshmallow cream that is absolutely delicious and so light and fluffy.
We then made our way up to Hohensalzburg Fortress via the funicular. Construction on Hohensalzburg Fortress began in 1077, and the complex was gradually expanded until it reached it’s final form around the year 1500. In the near millennium since it’s groundbreaking, the fortress has never been captured by enemy soldiers. It is definitely worth visiting and exploring the grounds for the history itself, but the view of Salzbrug and the surrounding areas make this a can’t miss destination! If you want to spend even more time up top, there is a restaurant with a gorgeous view of the city below.
After exploring Hohensalzburg Fortress, we returned down the mountain via the funicular and made our way across the Salzach River to Steinterrasse Rooftop Bar for dinner. This restaurant offered a stunning view of Salzburg with very enjoyable food and drinks. We can’t recommend this enough and it should be at the top of your list for restaurants in Salzburg!
Day 6 – Hallstatt and the Eagle’s Nest
This morning we made use of our car to combine a couple of incredible destinations. We got a fairly early start at 7:30am in order to make the drive to Kehlsteinhaus, colloquially known as the Eagle’s Nest. When we arrived we parked (and paid, 5 euros when we visited) near the bus station as direct private vehicle access is not allowed on the road up to the Eagle’s Nest – for good reason, as this is the steepest road in all of Germany and the busses are specially equipped to handle the incline and the hairpin turns. Entrance to the Eagle’s Nest requires a ticket, though the bus trip is included in the price. If you are feeling adventurous, you can do a roughly 2.7 mile, 2500ft elevation gain hike as well.
So what is the Eagle’s Nest? Perched high above the town of Berchtesgaden, the Eagle’s Nest was the “Crown Jewel of the Nazi Empire.” Many Nazi officials had holiday homes in Berchtesgaden, including Hitler himself at the Berghof. The Eagle’s Nest was built in just 13 months from 1937-1938, and was used mostly as a diplomatic facility where Nazi officials would entertain foreign dignitaries. Hitler is documented to have visited at least 14 times, though he never stayed the night due to his fear of heights and would instead retire to the Berghof. This is one of the few Nazi buildings that survived WWII and the “de-nazification” of Germany, and as such is a very interesting historical monument. The Eagle’s Nest was also famously featured in the HBO series “Band of Brothers.”
The bus dropped us off at an old car park outside a tunnel which led us directly to the gold plated elevator that would take us directly inside Kehlsteinhaus. The views at the top are spectacular! We first got breakfast at the restaurant, then toured the rest of the facility. There is only a small pannel exhibit that details the history of this unique building, but if you are interested in history and WWII specifically, this is a can’t miss on a day trip from Salzburg!
When we were finished at the top we headed back down the way we came and started the drive to our second destination, Hallstatt. The drive from Berchtesgaden took just over an hour and was filled with rolling green hills and magical scenery the whole way. There are several parking lots to choose from, but we had to get lucky to find an open space in the one closest to town.
We first stopped for a small bite to eat and a coffee. This was our first time trying the famous Austrian Sachertorte, and it definitely did not disappoint! This was easily one of the best cakes we’ve ever had. We spent the next few hours meandering through Hallstatt, taking in the beautiful scenery, before heading back to Salzburg.
When we got back to Salzburg we walked around Alstadt (that is, Old Town) and did some shopping in the evening, though the shops in Salzburg close fairly early so don’t plan on any late night purchases!
We stopped for dinner at Trattoria La Stella, a cute Italian restaurant with a ton of patio seating right next to a beer garten. The food was so tasty and our service was excellent as well. After dinner we walked through Salzburg at night to see it all lit up and explore its quiet streets on our last evening here.
Day 7 – Salzburg and Vienna
Our first stop on our last morning in Salzburg was the Mirabell Gardens. These grounds were absolutely beautiful, especially when we first arrived around 8am in order to beat the crowds. We also were able to explore inside Mirabell Palace, which featured one of the most ornate staircases and concert halls we’ve ever seen.
We then walked back to Alstadt to Café Tomaselli 1703. We arrived around 9:30 for breakfast, and we had no wait since we were there before the main crowds. We were able to seat ourselves on the upper outdoor patio for a lovely view over the town square. The breakfast itself was extremely tasty, with an incredible omelet, fresh squeezed orange juice, cappuccino, and samples of their different cakes that they are most famous for. Cafe Tomaselli should be at the top of your list for places to eat breakfast in Salzburg!
We then drove to Vienna which took just over 3 hours (compared to ~2.5 hours on the train). We first dropped the car off at the airport since we wouldn’t need it anymore, then took an Uber to the Singer Strasse 21/25 Apartments where we stayed. We really enjoyed this hotel since it was in a perfect location just a few blocks from St. Stephen’s Cathedral and had a yummy breakfast and comfortable rooms.
We then began to explore Vienna for the evening. Our first major destination was St. Stephen’s Cathedral which was a marvelous piece of engineering, and we were able to peak inside for free.
After exploring for a while, we happened upon Jonathan & Sieglinde near our hotel for dinner. We initially wanted to eat around the Cathedral, but decided that all the restaurants looked too touristy and we were very happy we chose this place instead! We had schnitzel (an absolute must) for the first time and had a traditional apple dessert that was delicious as well.
After dinner we walked back towards St. Stephen’s for a glass of wine at Wein & Co. We then wandered the streets in the evening light and saw the beautiful Viennese architecture in it’s full glory. We both couldn’t stop saying how magical it felt!
Day 8 – Wachau Valley Bike and Winery Tour
This morning we had booked a bike and winery tour of the Wachau Valley. We made sure to bring a backpack since we knew we’d buy some wine and that allowed us to easily transport the wine on the ride.
We met our group at the tour office at 8:30am then took a quick metro over to our train stop. The train to the Wachau Valley took about 1 hour and then we picked up our bikes and helmets at the local tour office in the charming town of Krems.
We biked at a very comfortable pace through some beautiful vineyards over to our first winery called Domaine Wachau. Domaine Wachau was beautiful, and we did a nice tasting of delicious (mostly white) wines. We purchased a few bottles of Gruner Veltliner, the white wine Austria is most famous for.
We then set off to the next town over, Durnstein, for lunch and some free time exploring. This was the cutest town with beautiful cobblestone streets and brightly colored buildings. We had lunch arranged for us through the tour at Durnsteinerhof and the food was amazing! We then had time to explore the town on our own, so we stopped in some shops and had some apricot gelato, which Emily said might have been her favorite ever. We also were able to walk right down to the banks of the Danube River and experience it’s majesty up close.
We then continued our tour through another little gorgeous country town where we caught the the ferry to cross the Danube. After crossing the river we biked through some beautiful apple orchards.
We then arrived at our second and last winery, RF. This was another wonderful winery where we sampled many wines and bought a few more (of course!). Once we finished at RF we biked back to Krems to drop the bikes and helmets off and catch the train back to Vienna.
This was such a fun experience and the biking was pretty easy. Flat for the most part and the ride through the countryside and towns was so gorgeous. We learned that biking in Austria is part of the local culture and we were thrilled to get to experience it for a day. We enjoyed this tour so much that we plan to incorporate it into future trips where a bike and winery tour is offered!
Back in Vienna we got pizza for dinner and then walked around the city in the evening lights again. We stopped by Café Schwarzenberg for a slice of Sachertorte cake for the perfect end to a wonderful day.
Day 9 – Bratislava
Today we took a day trip via train to Bratislava, Slovakia. It’s only about an hour by train, and the train station in Bratislava is about a 15 minute walk from Old Town. On the walk from the train station, we passed Grassalkovich Palace, which is where the President of Slovakia lives.
We then walked to the main downtown area and meandered through the quaint streets. We first walked through Michael’s Gate, then continued on the main street exploring different stores and then stopped at Café Verne for a quick refreshment. Café Verne is so cute, with an endearing patio surrounded by beautiful trees. One must try drink in Bratislava is a Kofola. Kofola has a really interesting history, as it was invented by Slovakians during the Communist period when they were not allowed to have American Coke products. Slovakians therefore tried to make a drink as close to Coke as possible, and thus ended up with Kofola. If you like Coke (Matt does), it actually is pretty good!
After our refreshments, we walked down to the Danube before returning to the main part of town to continue to explore. We stopped for lunch at Krcma na Zelenej and had the sheep cheese gnocchi and pierogi, both staples of Slovakia. They actually are the national dishes of Slovakia so we knew we had to try them!
Since we’d only be in Bratislava for a day, we decided to head to the National Slovak Wine Collection so that we could try some Slovakian wine. We were able to do a tasting of 6 wines of our choosing, though if you are adventurous you can sign up for a 100 minute wine tasting experience where all the wines (generally the top 100 in Slovakia) are open and you are free to try whatever you want. We really enjoyed our tasting and ended up buying a Slovakian wine and a Ukrainian wine as well!
After our tasting we walked up to Bratislava Castle, which was interesting and looks almost like an upside down table. We did not pay to go inside as it was getting late, but the gardens were free and the view over Bratislava was very nice!
After we were done exploring the Castle grounds, we took an Uber back to the train station and caught the train back to Vienna.
For dinner, we went to Magazin and had some delicious schnitzel and goulash! Once again to end the evening we wandered through the streets and stumbled upon Palais Ferstel, which had by far the most ornate staircase we’ve ever seen.
Day 10 – Vienna
For our last day on this trip we made sure to hit all the remaining sites in Vienna. We started the day by getting chocolates from Laderach, a very popular chocolate shop that had potentially the best chocolates, pralines, and truffles that we’ve ever had. We bought a sampling of a bunch of different chocolates to take home.
We then went to the Spanish Riding School and were hoping to attend the practice they do in the morning, but unfortunately we visited on Saturday when they don’t do a practice before their show. Tickets to the afternoon show are very pricey, so the practice is a great way to see it without having to pay as much. When we go back to Vienna we’ll make sure to visit on a different day of the week!
We then took an Uber over to the Schonbrunn Palace (not walkable from the main area of Vienna). Schonbrunn Palace was the main summer residence of the Hapsburg monarchs, and their wealth is on full display throughout the gigantic grounds. You do have to pay for a tour of different areas of the palace which gets fairly pricey, so we just decided to walk around the gardens for free instead.
We walked all through the gardens before heading back to Vienna and Hotel Sacher for lunch. This is definitely a popular spot, but we found it worth the hype. We’d recommend making reservations ahead of time if you are visiting during the busy season as the wait outside can be fairly long, but we got lucky that the line wasn’t too long. We waited about 15 minutes to get a table and then we had a caesar salad, and we honestly think it might have been the best we’ve ever had. Matt tried the traditional Austrian drink Almdudler, which is a sparkling herbal refreshment and he really loved it! That is definitely something you must try in Austria. We ended the meal with the iconic Sachertorte from the Sacher Hotel, which was probably the best one we had the entire trip (obviously).
We then walked around Vienna and made sure to see the remaining sites one last time. We ended up getting some Italian for dinner and headed to Café Central for a last drink and a sweet to end the evening and our trip. It is very ornate and grand, and they even have a lovely pianist play every night except Tuesday from 5-9PM. Listening to the pianist while have a last drink and dessert was the absolutely perfect way to end our trip.
And there you have it! That is our incredible 10 day trip to Prague, Salzburg, and Vienna. We absolutely loved this trip and highly recommend it for everyone hoping to experience the best that Central Europe has to offer. Leave a comment/suggestion below or let us know if you have any questions about your next trip!