Czech Republic/Poland/Hungary/Austria
The Best of Central Europe: Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, Prague
Program No. 12259RJ
Immerse yourself in the exquisite artistry of four of Europe’s great cities, gaining a comprehensive understanding of historical monuments, cultural treasures and world-class art.
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18 days
17 nights
39 meals
16B 11L 12D
1
In Transit to Program
In Flight
4
Auschwitz & Birkenau
Krakow
6
Welcome to Budapest
Budapest
8
Szabó Ervin Library, Downtown Pest
Budapest
9
Castle District, Royal Palace
Budapest
10
Welcome to Vienna
Vienna
14
Welcome to Prague
Prague
16
Architecture of Prague
Prague
18
Program Concludes
Prague
At a Glance
From the elegance of a Chopin polonaise in Krakow to the grandeur of the Habsburg’s summer palace in Vienna, embark on an exquisite journey to learn about Central Europe’s most artistically rich cities and the great thinkers and creative geniuses who called them home. Private concerts, viewings of world-class art collections and in-depth discussion of some of Europe’s leading intellectuals create a detailed portrait of these royal capital cities.
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Please note that although the activity level of this program is Keep the Pace, it is a long program, traveling to four different countries over the span of 18 days. Walking up to 5 miles or up to 5 hours per day with periods of standing, often in crowded areas. Terrain includes cobblestones, city streets and uneven ground; short uphill walks; standing at museums; many unavoidable stairs; use of public transportation.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
Best of all, you’ll…
- Enjoy a private concert at the Strahov Monastery and explore the library.
- Admire the illuminated city of Budapest on an evening river voyage along the Danube River, passing such important sights as parliament, Chain Bridge and Castle Hill.
- Explore Schönbrunn Palace, the former imperial summer residence and one of the most important cultural monuments in Austria.
Suggested Reading List
(27 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
The Best of Central Europe: Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, Prague
Program Number: 12259
Open Letters, Selected Writings: 1965 - 1990
This inspired anthology of writings by the Czech poet-president Vaclav Havel collects 25 essays, letters and speeches written between 1965 and 1990, including those that directly influenced the Polish Solidarity movement.
Bury Me Standing
This marvelous portrait of the Roma, also known as the Gypsies, offers insight into their music, foods, religions and folk traditions and also examines their influential but complex relationship with Eastern Europe.
The Habsburgs, Embodying Empire
With skillful scholarship and engaging style, Wheatcroft reveals the history of this family of eccentric monarchs.
The Magic Lantern, The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague
With a chapter each on Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague, this eyewitness account by an astute journalist and historian shows these vibrant cities during a time of great change.
Danube
Mixing history, personalities and literature, Magris traces the course of the Danube from its source in the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the Balkans to the Black Sea in this anything but conventional travelogue, first published in 1986.
Budapest, A Cultural History
This brilliant guide introduces the history and traditions of this Central European cultural capital, with emphasis on its most important artists and architects.
The Haunted Land, Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism
In this groundbreaking book, a journalist reports on how the newly democratized people of East Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic have confronted the horrors of their former governments.
Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956
In the much-anticipated follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Gulag, acclaimed journalist Anne Applebaum delivers a groundbreaking history of how Communism took over Eastern Europe after World War II and transformed in frightening fashion the individuals who came under its sway. Iron Curtain describes how, spurred by Stalin and his secret police, the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe were created and what daily life was like once they were complete. Drawing on newly opened East European archives, interviews, and personal accounts translated for the first time, Applebaum portrays in chilling detail the dilemmas faced by millions of individuals trying to adjust to a way of life that challenged their every belief and took away everything they had accumulated. As a result the Soviet Bloc became a lost civilization, one whose cruelty, paranoia, bizarre morality, and strange aesthetics Applebaum captures in these electrifying pages.
Vienna, A Traveler's Literary Companion
Organized by neighborhood, these 15 alluring tales introduce both the city and its writers, including Arthur Schnitzler, Robert Musil, Stefan Zweig and even Franz Kafka, who had a long and complicated association with the city.
The Girl in the Red Coat: A Memoir
As a child in German-occupied Poland, Roma Ligocka was known for the bright strawberry-red coat she wore against a tide of gathering darkness. Fifty years later, Roma, an artist living in Germany, attended a screening of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, and instantly knew that “the girl in the red coat”—the only splash of color in the film—was her. Thus began a harrowing journey into the past, as Roma Ligocka sought to reclaim her life and put together the pieces of a shattered childhood.
The result is this remarkable memoir, a fifty-year chronicle of survival and its aftermath. With brutal honesty, Ligocka recollects a childhood at the heart of evil: the flashing black boots, the sudden executions, her mother weeping, her father vanished…then her own harrowing escape and the strange twists of fate that allowed her to live on into the haunted years after the war. Powerful, lyrical, and unique among Holocaust memoirs, The Girl in the Red Coat eloquently explores the power of evil to twist our lives long after we have survived it. It is a story for anyone who has ever known the darkness of an unbearable past—and searched for the courage to move forward into the light.
The Hare With Amber Eyes
Edmund de Waal unfolds the story of his remarkable family, a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who "burned like a comet" in early 20th-century Paris and Vienna.
A Nervous Splendor, Vienna 1888-1889
A portrait of Vienna at the end of the 19th century, this book focuses on Crown Prince Rudolph, his devastating suicide and the rich texture of gossip and daily life at the Habsburg Court.
Mozart, A Life
Challenging myths surrounding Mozart’s health, religion and relationships, biographer Paul Johnson shows the great composer’s lasting impact on the musical world with insight.
Lonely Planet Central Europe
With dozens of maps, color photographs and sections on history and culture, this practical guide introduces Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and their neighbors.
Journey By Moonlight
One of the best-known novels in contemporary Hungarian literature tells the story of Mihály, who goes to Italy with his new wife Erzsi. When bride and groom become separated at a provincial train station, Mihály embarks on a chaotic and bizarre journey that leads him finally to Rome, where he must reckon with both his past and his future.
Prague, A Traveler's Literary Companion
This anthology of 24 vivid stories by Czech writers, both contemporary and well-known, brings the city, history, spirit and people to life.
Danubia, A Personal History of Habsburg Europe
Winder, author of Germania (GER270), considers the legacy of the Habsburg Europe in this charmingly digressive history and travelogue.
Dvorak and His World
A fascinating view of the Czech composer's personal life and his influence on the world around him.
Budapest 1900
Written by a distinguished historian and native son, this richly detailed portrait of the city at its zenith includes hundreds of illustrations.
Central Europe Map
This colorful regional European map, like the sister map Europe Grand Tour (EUR185), covers from Paris and Amsterdam to Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Rome and Dubrovnik.
The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages
This pocket-size encyclopedia of the art, architecture and culture of the Middle Ages features hundreds of drawings, color illustrations and a brief chronology.
Poland: A Novel
In this sweeping novel, James A. Michener chronicles eight tumultuous centuries as three Polish families live out their destinies. The Counts Lubonski, the petty nobles Bukowksi, and the peasants Buk are at some times fiercely united, at others tragically divided. With an inspiring tradition of resistance to brutal invaders, from the barbarians to the Nazis, and a heritage of pride that burns through eras of romantic passion and courageous solidarity, their common story reaches a breathtaking culmination in the historic showdown between the ruthless Communists and rebellious farmers of the modern age. Like the heroic land that is its subject, Poland teems with vivid events, unforgettable characters, and the unfolding drama of an entire nation.
Prague in Black and Gold, Scenes from Life in a European City
Both a history and an accessible guide to the neighborhoods and architecture of the city.
The Krakow Ghetto Pharmacy
One Polish pharmacist's eyewitness account of the history of the Krakow Ghetto. First published in 1947, Tadeusz Pankiewicz's memoir vividly depicts the horrors inflicted upon the inhabitants of the Jewish district. From his pharmacy in the heart of the ghetto, Pankiewicz watched a tragedy unfold -- a tragedy that would claim the lives of his friends and neighbours.
God's Playground Vols. 1 & 2
The most comprehensive survey of Polish history available in English, God's Playground demonstrates Poland's importance in European history from medieval times to the present. Abandoning the traditional nationalist approach to Polish history, Norman Davies instead stresses the country's rich multinational heritage and places the development of the Jewish German, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian communities firmly within the Polish context.
A Time of Gifts
Fermor effortlessly interweaves anecdote, history and culture in this exuberant account of a walk from Holland, up the Rhine and down the Danube, through Germany, Prague and Austria in 1933. Written not in the moment, but 40 years later, the accumulation of time and experience gives the book particular poignancy.
Kingdom of Auschwitz
Otto Friedrich's slim book is an intensely personal account of the infamous Auschwitz death camp. He covers the entire history of Auschwitz in short chapters punctuated with eyewitness accounts and testimonies.
