Long distance VFR pilot here! This trip is easily doable in three weeks (even accounting for weather delays), especially if your route consists of waypoints rather than all being overnight stops.
The idea of picking a route so that you spend 2 nights in many places along the way is a good one.
I will join the chorus in saying that you should go to Croatia (which, frankly, I prefer to the South of France). But you have the time to do both.
I would recommend LOAN (Wiener Neustadt) over LOWW. It’s a 30-40 minute train ride into Vienna (well worth a couple days). I would skip Trieste LIPQ, exit Schengen through Portoroz LJPZ, do Croatia, and then return up the coastline (unless you fancy overwater flying) to Lido LIPV (wonderful choice!) and there is this town called Venice accessible by vaporetto which is worth a look.
BTW Slovenia will want you to file one of their VFR routes. Once you’re on the way, they will often clear you direct. Also, they have a problem with flight plans filed by SkyDemon (they need named waypoints rather than the GPS coordinates).
I think your route through France can be improved and agree with the recommendation to stop at Avignon.
I recommend a subscription to SkyDemon. Invaluable for this sort of trip. I use an iPad mini with built in GPS so follow the route on the charts. It also makes flight plan filing easy.
More advice coming…
(Trieste is worth a trip if you enjoy poetry—Duino Castle is nearby—where Rainer Maria Rilke composed much of the Duino Elegies, but otherwise the city is not so interesting.)
Peter wrote:
A somewhat flippant comment: a pilot based at my base was also trying to “avoid LOWW” and killed himself trying to get into LOAV. N403HP. There are times when the “avoid this airport” (as posted on aviation forums regularly, on the UK sites for any airport that charges more than £10 ) is not good advice, especially for a one-off trip when the extra cost is not an issue, compared to cost of avgas, food, hotels, etc. At the time LOWW was about €50.
Large airports are always a good backup / last resort (and then costs don’t matter) but mixing with the big boys is no fun.
As smallish GA you are put aside until it suits the tower folks ;-) And quite rightly so, given traffic density.
Leipzig was different last week, but then that’s traffic light.
I would still suggest to lock at Stockerau LOAU with their courtesy car. A great option to get around (particularly, if you drive on the same side of the road at home anyway 
)
LKKB is military airport, you should rather replace it by LKLT if you want to visit Prague. For LKKB you need special permission to land there. LKLT is just about 3km from LKKB though. Or you can go a bit further east and visit me at LKHK where I can help you with fuel, hotel, local transport etc.
Peter wrote:
A somewhat flippant comment: a pilot based at my base was also trying to “avoid LOWW” and killed himself trying to get into LOAV.
I’m really sorry to hear that Peter.
Never a good feeling or experience hearing about pilots dying.
In addition to a monthly SkyDemon subscription, I’d recommend using a time-based subscription on topmeteo.com for the area you’re planning to be in during the upcoming days. I usually use my home country’s aviation WX subscription (DWS) but when I feel the info provided is not enough for a trip outside of the country, I enhance this with a 3 day or 2-week subscription for the respective area on topmeteo. I quite like their way of presenting weather data and found it very helpful on my long trip through Southern Spain and to Morocco last year.
The consensus here seems to be to avoid big airports in favor of small airfields. I find on trips that a mixture of both adds to the overall experience. Not all larger airports are crazy expensive.
For Prague, I was in LKLT last weekend and it’s really good and easy and cheap access to the city, both by metro and taxi.
Regarding overflying the Alps: As you are on a loose schedule, if you are down south and the weather is fine, don’t miss out on the Alps! The views are splendid, there’s lots to explore on the South side, too, and you can also always (depending on WX) circumvent the Alps on either side if you don’t want to overfly on the way back.
Many large airports are both really nice to light GA and not very expensive. Hannover comes to mind.
I would tell you to use EasyVFR instead of SkyDemon
But definately electronic is the way to go…not paper. But no matter what system you go, don’t get it the week before. Get it in plenty of time and learn how to use it properly. Learn all the different settings and how you want them set up, and try a few flights with it first (best as passenger, so you can work with it). Leaning to use a modern GPS system while flying on a trip like this isn’t realy the right way. They are complicated systems and take some time to learn to get the most out of them.
I also agree with the prospect of staying in one place for 2 or 3 days. You’ll no no sightseeing worth talking about on the day you arrive. Two other days allow for relaxing and changing plans.
Book hotels in advance (to save wasting time on arrival) but make sure that they are cancellable to avoid the pressure of trying to get there. Accor Hotels are good for this offering a slighly more expensive rate in return for cancellable up to 6pm on the day of arrival.
LOAV and Wiener Neustadt are both good airfields … if i wouldn’t land where pilots killed themselves there unfortunately wouldn’t many places be left.
LOWW is something like € 300 today incl. 2 days parking
Many large airports are both really nice to light GA and not very expensive. Hannover comes to mind.
Yes definitely. Münster-Osnabrück is also cheap and friendly afaik. Bremen is not expensive either.
Hamburg is very good for light Acft aswell, in Germany also Dresden, Erfurt, Leipzig, Bremen, Nürnberg too. All easy and not too expensive.
