Planning 2-3 weeks Sept./Oct ... stay in each area for 4+ nights? Travel options? If by car or train stops between cities?
Flights from Phoenix to ? Open jaws always seems the way to maximize you travel time.
Not in this necessarily in this order.
Vienna
Krakow
Budapest
I like this because it saves the best for last.
Some nice day trips out of each city. The Archabbey at Pannonhalma and Gyõr are exactly halfway on the rail line between Vienna and Budapest.
Very helpful. Thanks!
One issue about driving between those three cities is that Open Jaw will likely be impossible, or exceedingly expensive, even if a rental company would let you pick up in one country and drop it off in another country.
If you were to drive within Kraków, where we visited 2 months ago, be prepared for LOTS of tram tracks, especially on the south end of town, which appeared to me to be confusing, for where cars fit in on the roadways.
We didn’t rent a car, but extensively used the Bolt app for rides. Bolt is like Uber, but much cheaper.
If you wanted to drive, then:
The issue is the cost.
You said three weeks. Maybe two of that will be with a car. So probably not less than $1500 rental / toll / gas / insurace / parking cost (wild guess) + traffic fines that arrive six months after you get home + rip off auto repair on pre-existing damage + time in the local lock up for hitting a cat. Just the usual. You will have no use for the rental car within Budapest (which is why I say rent it just before you leave town) or within Krakow or within Vienna. But you will pay 30 euro and up each day to park it. You might get some use out of it for day trips out of town, but not really so in Budapest (public transportation is better).
Flight and train would be under $200 per person.
Another idea is DayTrip.com.
Budapest to Krakow with stops at Oravsky hrad (great castle) and Banská Štiavnica so you get to see a little of Slovakia is about $660 for a private transfer for up to three people, or half the cost of the rental car. They provide the transportation to the stops but the sight seeing is on your own. They are not tour guides.
UBER vs BOLT:
In Budapest, first you probalby will not need either, but if you did, they cost the exact same amount. In Budapest both Uber and Bolt are little more than dispatchers for independent taxi drivers. The Bolt and Uber cars are yellow, very new, in perfect condition, the drivers are licensed taxi drivers and you are charged by a meter in the car just like a taxi, because they are taxis. Nothing wrong with using either. Bolt is more popular for some reason. But I prefer CityTaxi in Budapest. Download their app. It works just like an Uber or Bolt app.
In Vienna both Uber and Bolt work like they do in the US.
In Krakow, I have no idea.
Another idea. Instead of DayTrip.com use Sidetriptours.com. With these guys you could have up to 8 people in a van. They stop at Vlkolinec, Oravsky hrad and Banská Štiavnica. While Daytrip just provides transportation, these guys do actual tours at the stops. The cost is about $310 per person.
