So I have a week to spend in Central Europe before arriving in Budapest for work.

I definitely spending a couple days in Prague. I am trying to decide though to fly into Berlin then travel to Prague before going to Budapest. Alternatively I could fly into Prague then cut into Poland (Krakow) then head South through Slovakia to Budapest.

What would TWW recommend.

4/27/2016 12:03:50 PM

There's this political party that originated out of Berlin that you'd probably be interested in. j/k

4/27/2016 1:20:57 PM

^You try and take over the world only two times and the world just won't let you forget about it.

4/27/2016 1:28:10 PM

BTW if I hadn't already been to Germany twice it would be a no brainier. Plus i'll be spending a night in Frankfurt as a stop-over before Cyprus on the front end of the trip. I thought Berlin would be interesting as a contrast to Munich and Stuttgart that i've visited before.

I've never gone to Poland so this could be my chance.

4/27/2016 1:51:39 PM

i visit Berlin pretty often as my sister lives there, great city. it's history is that it grew out of a collection of nearby villages, so it has a number of distinct neighborhoods with their own personalities. add to that the whole soviet occupation of east berlin thing and large turkish, brazilian and american populations, it's a pretty unique and diverse city. and it's very spread out - there's (sort of) a central business district near potsdamer platz and an area where the government buildings were rebuilt, but the sites are generally spread out throughout the city so a good guidebook would be highly recommended.

the food is meh, but the beer is fantastic, as one would expect. if i had to compare it to frankfurt or munich, i'd say (other than during oktoberfest) berlin is much more interesting city to visit. there's more history and culture than those two combined, everything from the old palace of Frederick the Great in nearby Potsdam (Sanssouci, kinda like a prussian Biltmore Estate) to the Soviet installations in east berlin, the city covers a lot of history. plus there are museums housing old Mesopotamian artifacts the germans gaffled from the middle east back in the day which are pretty cool.

Never been to Krakow though so can't comment on that one. Enjoy your trip

4/27/2016 2:52:07 PM

Is the food really not that great? Or do you just not like German food in general?

4/27/2016 3:47:16 PM

Go to Krakow. No experience with either city; that's just my vote.

4/27/2016 4:06:44 PM

it depends largely on the things you like and the type of scene/atmosphere you are looking for. Its europe so the beer and history are great in all of these places.

berlin is a co-capital of the hipster world and amazing for deep house night club scene. It might be my favorite city to hang out in the world but if you hate the "hipster" scene it will just seem pretty ordinary for a european city.

krakow is super tourist-friendly but not quite as "tourist-trappy" as prague. Its small, compact but busy with bars and some of the wildest nightlife because its small, compact and cheap. You also have auschwitz really close.

Vienna is definitely a place you should consider as well. I'd call it the paris of eastern europe and it has much more to offer than small mideival towns like prague, bratislava, and krakow.

4/27/2016 7:04:41 PM

You can drink on the street and it's cheap. Foods surprisingly
Good.

Two thumbs up for Berlin.

4/27/2016 10:07:25 PM

Quote :

"You also have auschwitz really close. "

sold!

4/28/2016 9:47:59 AM

4/30/2016 9:48:09 AM

I'm ok with German food, just don't crave it. That's why i said it's "meh". I'm sure there are great examples of German food in Berlin when compared to other places, just not something I ever am drawn to. I mean, asparagus and schnitzel gets old pretty quick

5/2/2016 8:59:41 AM

Thanks for all the advice.

Is language barriers a major issues in eastern europe. I never had issues in germany on my previous trips. Though there a large many people speak english and i was able to learn quite a few german phrases.

With an itinerary of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Poland (potentially), and Hungary this doesn't seem feasible.

5/2/2016 7:31:09 PM

Spend the week in Prague. Unless you really wanna see Auschwitz, Krakow doesn't have much to offer, while Prague is amazing. I spent 10 weeks on a trip throughout Western and Eastern Europe and 2 of those were in Prague.

5/2/2016 8:35:07 PM

Berlin is a world class city with a booming arts and music scene. I'm sure Krakow is nice because it's cheap and something different, but it's sort of like asking if you should go to London or Manchester. Seems like a no-brainer to me...

5/3/2016 5:17:24 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldQGPwuHhkM

5/3/2016 5:54:22 PM

Holy crap NW Kearny is one block from me!

5/4/2016 4:39:11 PM