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Czechia x Germany trip help

Discussion in 'Europe - General' started by pangolin12, 23 Jan 2020.

  1. pangolin12

    pangolin12 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Hi, I’ve booked a trip to the Czech Republic, Germany (and Wroclaw zoo), but I only have 8 days full and would like to know which day I could possibly swap with a trip to Prague

    1. Half of plzen zoo + bts
    2. Other half of plzen + akvatera
    3. Nurnberg zoo
    4. Jihlava zoo
    (Drive to Dresden, not in same day as jihlava)
    5. Leipzig zoo
    6. Tierpark Chemnitz + rübeland hermannshöhle (for olms)
    7. Wroclaw zoo
    8. Magdeburg zoo + tierpark schonebeck

    thanks
     
  2. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    You can do Plzen as a single day, and Akva Terra is open til late so can be done as an evening.
     
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  3. pangolin12

    pangolin12 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Including the bts?
     
  4. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Usually you'd be pushing it, but at present v.little is offshow (and access may not be granted due to construction work) so you should be fine.

    However I would suggest you're doing collections in a somewhat erratic order which would make things harder for you - particularly the placement of Wroclaw and Jihlava.
     
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  5. pangolin12

    pangolin12 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Thanks,
    I thought about the order when I posted, looked at my planning sheet, and noticed that yes, that is wrong, my mistake:confused:
     
  6. pangolin12

    pangolin12 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Hi, after heated discussion with my family who are coming with me, I’ve come to Nuremberg vs Prague as we would like to take our time at each of the classic “hexagon” exhibits at plzen.
    Which one should I pick?
    Thanks
     
  7. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Visit Prague, no contest.
     
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  8. pangolin12

    pangolin12 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Thank you! Prague it is then:)
     
  9. CGSwans

    CGSwans Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Not so fast.

    @pangolin12 , are you a ‘collection’ person or an ‘exhibit’ person? If what you enjoy seeing is big mammals and are not terribly fussed about species rarity, then Nuremberg is the superior choice to Prague.
     
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  10. HOMIN96

    HOMIN96 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Is Nürnberg that much better?
     
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  11. CGSwans

    CGSwans Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    For that specific thing? Yes. On balance I still think Prague is the better zoo: the collection really is a good standard deviation above Nuremberg's. But it comes down to what pangolin12 enjoys most about a zoo.
     
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  12. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    I was thinking both in terms of collection and in terms of how it would fit with the presented itinerary with regards to travel - although this latter point somewhat depends on @pangolin12 providing us with the updated itinerary he alluded to, I think that Nuremberg will still be tricky in combination with the other collections presented.
     
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  13. CGSwans

    CGSwans Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    That's true. There's a direct train from Leipzig to Nuremberg - I took it. But I'd actually say the zoo to drop for logistical reasons would be Wroclaw, not either one of Nuremberg or Prague.
     
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  14. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Very true, but in combination with the suggested order which he aims to visit the collections in, it's a lot trickier :p bearing in mind that the presented route plan looks something like the following:

    silly route.PNG

    However, the biggest problem with the presented itinerary isn't Nuremberg, or even Wroclaw - it's trying to visit Tierpark Chemnitz and Rübeland Hermannshöhle in a single day, given that they are over three hours apart by car, and not linked by public transport.

    Wroclaw and Prague aren't too hard to get between by car, which I presume will be the mode of transportation used given some of the distances between some collections, and if trains are to be used there is now (as of Dec 2019) a direct service between the two.
     
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  15. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    If this is a serious trip proposal which is genuinely in the works, then given the suggested collections and timespans (and assuming the starting and ending points are fixed, but the order of collections and stopping points can be fiddled with) I strongly suggest the following itinerary:

    Day 1 - Plzen (staying in Plzen)
    Day 2 - Plzen/AkvaTera (travel to Prague in evening, staying there)
    Day 3 - Jihlava (staying in Prague)
    Day 4 - Prague Zoo (travel to Wroclaw in evening, staying there)
    Day 5 - Wroclaw Zoo (travel to Dresden in evening, staying there)
    Day 6 - Dresden and Chemniz, scrapping Rübeland Hermannshöhle (travel to Leipzig in evening, staying there)
    Day 7 - Leipzig (staying in Leipzig)
    Day 8 - Magdeburg and Schonebeck

    This results in the following routeplan - compare it to the one above :p

    sensible route.PNG

    In terms of mileage, this route comes to 985.45 km as opposed to the 1,909.34 km of the initially suggested route :p
     
  16. pangolin12

    pangolin12 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Thank you! I’ll have to do Prague last as I fly home from Prague, and I’ve got to keep my family happy so I think it would be best to go to hermannshöhle (they get bored of zoos after a while) and it would benefit me as I get to see olm:). But yes, I will follow this route and tweak it slightly, which I will post when it comes round to the trip in April.

    @CGSwans I’m more of the rarity type person;)
     
  17. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    You do realise they aren't actually on-display in a captive setting per se, and that your chances rely on happening to see one in the pools within the cave?

    If you're serious about trying to go there I suggest you do it on the Magdeburg day instead of Schonebeck.
     
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