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December in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and Salzburg questions

Working on finalizing our plan so we can book our trains for our trip around the holidays. Here’s my preliminary plan, but open to suggestions. The only dates we are tied to are December 15 for the Vienna boys choir and someplace fun for Christmas Eve. Right number of nights per city? Doing in the right order? Seems there is no way to avoid going through Vienna multiple times. ( We looked at overnight train to Vienna, but then we’d need to take Frecciarossa train from Milan to Venice Mestre)
Looks like I can prebook all the train tickets on ÖBB website. (Including Barley’s)

Any suggestions for apartments in these four cities? Or hotel in Salzburg (hotel Carlton looks interesting). Suggestions for must see places, especially around the holidays?

Dec 13- Nightjet Overnight train from Milan to Salzburg
Dec 14-ÖBB train to Vienna, arrive by 10:00 am
Dec 15- Vienna boys choir
Dec 16- Vienna
Dec 17- Vienna
Dec 18 - train to Prague-arrive by 3:00
Dec 19- Prague
Dec 20- Prague
Dec 21- train from Prague to Budapest (7 hours with change in Vienna)
Dec 22- Budapest
Dec 23- Budapest
Dec 24- Train to Salzburg by 3pm (with change in Vienna)
Dec 25- Salzburg
Dec 26- 10pm Nightjet overnight train to Milan

Posted by
1576 posts

Karen do you plan on exploring the Christmas markets in all the cities ? Spend an additional day in Salzburg and drop a day from Budapest.

Posted by
1626 posts

Since the travel time from Prague to Budapest is 7+ hours and and 5+ hours from Budapest to Salzburg, thought 1 full day wouldn’t be enough. We could add a third night to Salzburg, which gives us 3 1/2 days, but is that too much. (We have a full day before we catch the 10pm train.)

We’ll wander through Christmas markets as we see them, but not the primary mission for our trip.

Posted by
5362 posts

All Advent Markets will be finished in Salzburg by the time you arrive. Dec. 24 (from noon onwards), Dec. 25 and Dec. 26 are public holidays in Austria, making your stay in Salzburg very, very quiet.

Posted by
1576 posts

Karen - Here are some highly recommended hotels to stay at from the cities on your itinerary.

Vienna:

K&T Boarding house - http://www.ktboardinghouse.at/index.php/de/

Hotel Austria - https://www.hotelaustria-wien.at/en/

Prague:

Hotel Hastal Prague Old Town - https://www.hastal.com/en/

Hotel Grandium Prague - https://www.hotel-grandium.cz/en/

Budapest:

K+K Hotel Opera - https://www.kkhotels.com/products/kk-hotel-opera-budapest/?utm_source=GoogleMyBusiness&utm_medium=ButtonWebsite&utm_campaign=GoogleMyBusinessReferral

Hotel Victoria - http://www.victoria.hu/

Salzburg:

Hotel Elefant - https://www.hotelelefant.at

Hotel Weisse Taube - https://www.weissetaube.at/

Hotel Imlauer Salzburg - https://imlauer.com/hotel-imlauer-salzburg/

Posted by
26840 posts

Salzburg is a pretty place, but it's readily accessible from Munich and probably easier to include on a future trip than Prague or Budapest. I'd nix Salzburg and add the time to Prague and Budapest, which are getting shortchanged on the original itinerary.

Posted by
1875 posts

From Prague to Budapest there are very cheap flights available (Czech Airline).

Posted by
5362 posts

Well that’s great for the OP - but it will still be very quiet, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Posted by
3961 posts

I may be late on this thread but I would also recommend Hotel Hastal in Prague and Hotel Austria in Vienna. If you are looking for an apartment in Budapest, I would recommend Paty’s Place. It is close to K & K Opera that was mentioned up thread. We stayed at all of these accommodations recently.

Posted by
3938 posts

I think you’ve done a good job with the days you have available but if there would be any to take a day away from Salzburg and add it to Budapest I think you’d be very grateful. BTW we’ve been to Prague, Salzburg and Vienna in various winters and Budapest in the summer.

Posted by
17641 posts

If you cant spend more time in Budapest, skip it.

As for the Nightjet, sounds romantic. Still, for from between $22 and about $100 (depending on flight and luggage) you can fly on Wizzair or Ryan, Direct, Nonstop in 1:45.

Posted by
3809 posts

Have you considered a 65-70 minute, non-stop Ryan Air or Czech Airlines flight from Prague to Budapest? Ryan Air is around $50-$100 per person (the higher end for a checked bag). That sounds a lot better to me than a 7-hour train ride.

It appears you are looking more for a taste of the places where you are stopping than an in-depth experience. If that's your goal, I think you're fine keeping the itinerary as is. I went to Budapest for a long weekend to visit friends and spent three nights there. It was worthwhile.

Posted by
1626 posts

We have our 90 pound dog with us so overnight train is the only option for that distance and time.

Posted by
62 posts

Wouldn't it make more sense to travel from Prague-Vienna-Budapest or reversed instead of going from Vienna-Prague-Budapest?Seems to me that you are back tracking and wasting a little time, but either way you will be spending a lot of time on a train since flying is not an option.

Posted by
17641 posts

Actually a good option is Vienna to Budapest to Prague; because flying from Budapest to Prague is a very good option. Its what I would do.

Here is something I came across about Budapest that was interesting. Will Smith has been filming his new movie Gemini Man in Budapest. The story is here: https://www.towerbudapest.com/en/property_management/news/will-smith-budapest-is-a-gemstone/792?utm_source=Budapest+Property+Market+News&utm_campaign=643270a858-NEWSLETTER_Property_Market_Oct_2019_Re-Sale&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_51591c27d6-643270a858-337363353

A quote from the story:

Will Smith has revealed that he sees Budapest as a gemstone with its
beautiful, historic buildings and blending of the modern world.

“My family and I have had a good time here, and I have been here three
times since Gemini Man now. I really like this city,” he said, but
added that learning the Hungarian language is extremely hard for him.

The actor held a huge concert in the square in front of St. Stephen's
Basilica where an enourmous crowd gathered.

Posted by
3961 posts

After a recent visit to Budapest, I agree with Will Smith's description: he sees "Budapest as a gemstone with it's beautiful, historic buildings & blending of the modern world." I can visualize the concert by St. Stephen's. Sorry we missed it. Budapest is special.