Paris to Prague to

[livinday2day02]

I'm trying to plan a trip from Paris to Prague to Budapest.  I am looking for advice on how to route my trip.  If you have any info on planning routes, finding routes, or have traveled this route please fill me in.  I've done research and have been only finding info in other languages.  I know about the paneuropean radweg but cant really find a map of it.  Please help me.  My travel dates would be from July 24th-September 1st. 

[tonythomson]

Hi did a Moscow to London '91 which took in those two cities.  I don't remember needing anything but a local map and camped along the way or youth hostels, whatever I came across, not much planning have to admit.  Maybe you could get info on European YH and camping.

I remember having a great time and no problems despite it being still Communist USSR and having a fake visa (not something I would advice  )

[livinday2day02]

Thanks for the vote of confidence tony,  I was curious if Europe was more bike friendly then the U.S.  I've done a cross-country toury and the done the pacific coast highway from oregon to LA, so I have experience with touring.  But I was worried that the road might be tough to navigate speaking only english.  Plus I've heard about a bike trail or main route that goes from Paris to Praha, but have had a hard time finding information on the route in english.  I found major points of interest but no route connecting these points.  I'm thinking that maybe it's not such a big deal riding on the highways in Europe or that its just easier to find connecting road in the EU than in the US.  What are your thoughts?

[BrianW]

Most of Europe is way more bike friendly than the USA!

My wife and I did a tour from outside Prague down to the Austria border. You can see a write-up here: http://www.brianwasson.com/trips/czechtrip/index.htm

Probably not pertinent to your route, but maybe it will help.

The German/Austrian "Bikeline" guides may be of some help. Also, we used "Shocart" bike maps for the Czech Republic, which were pretty good.

[tonythomson]

Plan your route using Google Earth, and a good map.

Language - make up flash cards with basic phrases and try and get someone to translate them or use one of the translation sites in internet.  On the reverse I used to write it phonetically and make some attempt to pronounce the phrase.

You will find plenty of people who speak English so don't worry.  Plus if you get stuck there is a good railway system. 

I promise you wont have any problems.
Tony

[csykes]

French people will be very helpful if you learn a few phrases in French and always begin with a greeting such as "Bon Jour."  Rick Steves' travel books are excellent resources for country/people information (not for bike travel.)  Cyclists are respected in Europe, even by the truckers!

[tsteven4]

Eurovelo  has a lot of routes, many of which are being developed.  See http://www.ecf.com/14_1 and http://www.ecf.com/files/2/8/EuroVelo-The_European_cycle_route_network-May2009.pdf

From personal experience it is very easy to wing it buying maps as you go and putting together the route as it happens.   I would tend to pick the smaller roads, which you may not consider "highways", because I think they are more enjoyable.  Most European maps have color coded roads indicating the the nature of the road.  For example on the Michelin maps in France the little roads are white (my favorite), one step up is yellow, and another step above that is red (which you may want to avoid).  See http://www.viamichelin.com/

The Passau to Wien (Vienna) bike route along the Donau (Danube) is a kick. 

[geegee]

I rode from Hamburg to Prague and Budapest (and on to Venice and Munich) a decade ago, and the roads were awesome. I've also ridden across France and Germany and in general all the secondary highways are great for cycling.

Campgrounds in France and Germany are well organized and very convenient to urban centres. There are also lots of hostels and cheap motels like Etap or Formule1 for when you want to stay indoors.

I entered the Czech Republic from Dresden, where a bike path follows the Elbe River. The river valley cuts a tight valley in the Ore mountains (Erzgebirge) with some interesting rock formations.

I really enjoyed the rolling countryside and small quiet roads between Ceske Budejovice, Telc, Znojmo and Mikulov (all very picturesque towns). Bratislava seemed really bleak at the time, but interesting for contrast.

Bicycles were banned from using single-digit highways in Hungary when I was there, they might have changed the rules. I definitely broke them in order to cross into Croatia.