Day trip from vienna to Bratislava or Budapest

If it were me I would choose Budapest...one day doesn't even begin to do it justice but it is such a beautiful city with some very unique features. It's quite compact and a day trip is certainly worth it! Take a couple-hour-long river cruise, go up to see the view over the city, and soak in one of the opulent hot spring pool complexes.

Budapest has much more to see than Bratislava with only an extra hour each way for transportation.

Bratislava is one hour by train so you can get the full day there,it is like a time warp complete with bullet holes in buildings compared to Vienna fifty miles away.Budapest is at least two days,there is so much to see.
Mike

Go to the German train site bahn.de for the train schedule between Vienna and Budapest and decide if it's worth the time and cost for a day trip. Take into account that you have to get from your hotel to the Vienna train station (and there's more than one) and from the Budapest train station to the city center. I think it's too much travel time and not enough time to see much of anything in the city.

Melk is another good day trip from Vienna. Or just relax and enjoy Vienna

Melk is a good destination for a day trip.
Another one is Eisenstadt which houses one of the palaces of the Esterhazy family.
For connections and ticket prices go to the website of the Austrian railways: www.oebb.at/en/

I'd choose Bratislava, just 1 hour by train vs 3 hours to Budapest--so much to see there that a day trip will be a terrible tease. I was faced with a similar choice a couple of years ago and decided, heck, if Budapest was so close why didn't I just make that the second half of my trip to Vienna and stay a while? I spent 4 days there and fell hard for it, so much so that I'm returning for a week in a little under 2 weeks.

If it were me I would choose Budapest...one day doesn't even begin to
do it justice but it is such a beautiful city with some very unique
features.

That pretty much says it all, but why don't your take an evening train down. Budapest is beautiful when all lit up. Spend the night so you can wake up fresh, see a good deal of the town and then head back late in the evening. Give me a date and I will see if there is anything special going on in town.

Budapest is too far and there is too much to see to make sense as a day trip. Bratislava isn't worth it, in my opinion, as there are other day trips that are much better - such as the Wachau.

Of course it depends on the time of the year and what might be going on. For a day in bad weather I might agree with Emily. For a perfect winter day I might not.

We did a half trip to Bratislava when we were in Vienna with a tour group. We had a great time, and my husband said he liked far better than he thought he would. We had a local guide to show us around the main part of town which is very pedestrian friendly. We stayed in Budapest a couple nights on the same trip, and there's just too much to see to make it a worthwhile day trip especially when you factor in the travel time.

Well, what are the variables? If you only want to get away for a short time, then choose Bratislava. I wouldn't since I'm more interested in Brno for a short day trip from Vienna, not Bratislava. If you have the whole day, say 12 hrs including travel time, 10:00-20:00 hr, then Budapest is the choice, a much better choice.

BUDAPEST by far. I spent at least 4 full days there and it wasn't enough. I went to Bratsilava last September for a day trip.. Not too much there by wanted to see it.

responders seem to be missing the point.

Of course Budapest is a better destination than Bratislava ---but as a day-trip from Vienna it won't do. It's too huge, and too far.

Bratislava is a nice town, interesting and close by. Wien and Bratislava are the two nearest capital cities in the world.

Like Bratislava Brno is about equal distant from Vienna, both ca one hour. Brno was a province capital as was Bratislava until the country spit.

Since this one came back to life. What is the date of your day trip? Maybe there is something special in one of the towns.

Thank you all for your help, I think we will skip both places this year and concentrate our time in Vienna.