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This is our first time travelling in Europe.   We are wondering the best mode of transport along the way and would greatly appreciate any advice we could find. 

We have the first part of our trip booked:  London, Amsterdam, Paris.  Now we are trying to find the best way to travel from Paris to Vienna by either rail or car rental.  We have two children ages 7 and 9.  We are leaving Paris on July 18 and arriving in Vienna on the 23rd.

Looking for suggestions for the most scenic route and most affordable means of getting there, as well as recommendations of places to stay along the way.

Originally we were going to take the train to Frankfurt, Nuremburg, then onto Prague and Cesky Krumlov for a couple of nights in each place. 

Thank you for any advice you can offer!

Options to travel from Paris to Vienna in 5-6 days are so numerous that it is even difficult to count them all. But we will try to outline a few and then you can take a closer look and decide which one suits your interests:

a) Paris to Strasbourg (high-speed train with discounted ticket purchased in advance), then to Stuttgart with Baden-Württemberg-Ticket (special group ticket allowing unlimited journeys within the region, thus you can for instance arrive to Stuttgart around noon, drop you things in hotel and then continue exploring places around Stuttgart using the same Baden-Württemberg-Ticket with the idea to come back in the evening), then travel to Bavaria (Munich) with short stop in Ulm and/or Augsburg (here you can also use similar ticket, but this time not only for one region, but entire Germany - depending on the day of the week either Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket or Happy Weekend Ticket), while from Munich you can make a day trip to Salzburg (with Bavaria Ticket), then to Nuremberg (again Bavaria Ticket). From there to Czech Republic (Prague) with either Bavaria Ticket + Czech domestic ticket, or Bavaria-Bohemia Ticket (basically the same as Bavaria Ticket, but includes neighboring regions of Czech Republic). Prague to Cesky Krumlov is easy and cheap with Czech domestic ticket (in advance purchase will get you slightly cheaper price). And finally from Cesky Krumlov to Vienna also not very difficult - domestic ticket till the Czech-Austrian border and then group ticket (Einfach-Raus-Ticket) for Austrian domestic leg.

b) Paris to Strasbourg the same, then from Strasbourg through Offenburg to Singen (so-called  Black Forest Railway) and stay somewhere around Lake Constance (again Baden-Württemberg-Ticket is your best option here). From Lake Constance you can either make a side trip to Switzerland (e.g. Zurich) or simply continue along the lake to Bavaria (maybe stop somewhere along the route, like Lindau or Fussen). While Munich you can either travel as described above (through Czech Republic) or simply go south to Innsbruck/Salzburg and from there to Vienna

c) travel from Paris to Geneva (discounted tickets for high-speed train can get you a good deal), then continue through entire Switzerland (either using SuperSaver Tickets or Swiss pass) and from Zurich get to Vienna (with potential stopover in Innsbruch/Salzburg) with a help of either high-speed daytime or overnight train

d) Paris to Cologne (discounted tickets for high-speed train can get you a good deal), then make you way south-east (via Frankfurt-Nuremberg), again using either regional group tickets or already mention group tickets which cover entire Germany

Obviously in all of the above itineraries stops on the way can be easily adjusted (choice highly depends on sightseeing preferences), so perhaps it makes sense first to decided general direction (e.g. through Switzerland, through Baden-Württemberg, through the norther route with Frankfurt as a must), then, once you already know the approximate route, start researching places which might interest you (nature, castles, old towns, etc.) and finally when you have a list of those we can already work on exact travel times/ticket options