Driving from Paris to Prague???

Has anyone have the crazy idea to drive from Paris to Prague?

I want to do it , but I dont know if it would be a smart thing to do

Help !!

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It is a pretty direct route to Prague. Through France then the autobaun (sp) to Check Republic. You could stop in Strasbough, Nuenburg (we stopped in Heidleburg too).......If you went direct you could do it in one very long drive probably (fast on the highway in Germany!) ...We went a couple of years ago, but did not get any farther than Pilzner, just a short way over the boarder from Germany, but fairly close to Prague....They said you could get a public bus from there...took less than an hour. Pilsner was a really neat brewery town.....old....some communist buildings on the edge of town....Not much in the stores.........Food just ok and cheap, beer good...lots of sausage and potato pancakes!. It is very interesting to see how the East has done....such a contrast to the West. Person from our hotel was paid to watch the cars in the parking lot....and my son was told it was safe on the street at night if he did not let anyone know he was American......I believe they are part of the E.C. now and things might be different.

Prague is reported to be a wonderful now..... I was there years ago and it is very beautiful. I am sure you have heard how lively it is now too and not too expensive.

We did not know we needed to pay a road tax, or something before entering the country. They did not even stop us on the way in..... noone said anything. But on the way back at the boarder, guards were not very friendly (actually sorta nasty) when they saw we had no certificate on our windshield. No English spoken by them, not to us.........Pulled us off to the side.........Grumble, grumble.......wait, wait, wait....We didn%26#39;t know what to expect....Finally after we sat there for quite a while, they said we had to pay the tax plus a fine...cash was fine! Guard took it (no receipt) and off we went, glad to be back in the West.........not too costly as I remember..........but pretty darn scary.

If you go, do better research than we did on what you need to get into the country.........AND out of it.

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P.S. Our trip was in 2001 or 02..........

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Bea, thank you very much for all your help. I%26#39;ve been to paris twice %26quot;magical city,%26quot; this time I%26#39;m taking my husband

and son for their first time.

Iv%26#39;e been to Amsterdam.Brugge,and a large part of Germany.

Have never been to Prague.

But I dont know if we would waste our precious time driving.

Any other recomendations to go?

We%26#39;ll be 5 days in Paris and 6 days to go..........

Also, I would like to know if it would be cheaper to rent a car as soon as we get to Paris or rent it from the USA.

Thanks again !!

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www.viamichelin.com can help you plan the road trip... giving you the tolls, showing where the sped radars are located, a fuel budget and highlighting interesting towns along the way. Its only a ten hour drive, but that sounds far for a five day visit. Have you explored the south of France? Marseille is a fun town and only a 3 hour train ride from Paris, with lots to see/do in the region.

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Hi Moony,

Are you having an extra 6 days to travel are do you have just 5 days total? Sorry, I%26#39;m not clear on that.

It generally is best to reserve a car from the U.S. (for price), however we have done it in Paris too. If you can%26#39;t find a good price in Paris and you can get to an internet cafe you could make a reservation through the net....sometimes better prices. It is sorta important you know where to pick up the car though.........to avoid traffic in Paris (HA). They have Budget, Dollar, Hertz, Avis.....a bunch of them....many companies at gare de Lyon, with offices and staff that speaks English. Try looking for rental companies on this net for the best price and then call them for a reservation so you dont have to give them your credit card number.....Generally we rent for a week at a time and the rates are not bad with unlimited mileage.....(gas is another story). Same cars as we have (except American made), generally........with or without automatic. Some use diesel some regular gas.

We sometimes make the reservation and then decide not to take the car...........No problem with most companies...no charge (we call them to cancel). We have even rented a %26quot;Smart%26quot; car, albeit 4 door ,for only 12 euros a day.............limited mileage. Sixts had a special last September. Dont know if you can find a deal like that now.

Driving in Paris is sorta like driving in Dallas traffic.........crazy, jammed...sometimes needing a great deal of patience, but not that different from any big city here. Once outside the cities the highways are great....as ours, limited access with ring roads around cities.....You can see some beautiful country driving.

Bonne chance with whatever you decide to do.

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Hi Bea

I am also the one who is asking about Mercure la defense, we bought it through Priceline and did not where it was, how far from downtown etc etc.

I%26#39;ve been to Paris twice, but this will be the first time with my husband and kid(14 years old) we found a triple room in this hotel for 62 euros, not bad he !! Jajaja but have no idea about it !

I am also the one asking about driving from Paris to Prague, as I told you we are going spend 5 days in Paris and will have 6 more days to go to Prague, although I know that It%26#39;ll be beautiful trip, I dont know if it%26#39;ll be a lot of driving and a little time in the city.

Thank you vrey much for all your help !

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crazy indeed...

it took us 8-ish hours to drive from Vienna to Prague, when mapquest (yeah, I know) said it would take 3. At least one hour of it was just trying to find our B%26amp;B in town--we finally called our host and he came to find us %26amp; escort us back to his place! Vienna is lots closer to Prague than Paris is, I think! Driving in the Czech republic is kinda scary, what with the language--they use letters we don%26#39;t even know about. It took us nearly as long to get from Prague back to Dresden in the former E. Germany. Prague is very interesting and gorgeous, but we found it somewhat dismal and also a lot of hard work. A far fewer percentage of Czech people speak English than say, German people or French people. I wouldn%26#39;t say I regret our days in Prague, but I think I would%26#39;ve rather stayed in Vienna!

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I drove from Normandy to Warsaw last summer. Apart from the difficulty with Germany motorway signs which are notoriously easy to get confused and to miss turnings - THE VERY IMPORTANT thing in the czech republic is to buy a car tax badge in a petrol station. They cost about 5 dollars for a few days but the fine is heavy if you don%26#39;t have one and the police check most motorway exits - scanning windscreens with binoculars. There are no warning signs or reminders. I only knew because I read it on the net.

Good driving - cheap petrol in Luxemburg if you drive that way.