We plan to visit Austria this May for about 10 days, and on my agenda
are:
10 days is good for
- Prague / Vienna / Budapest (but a tad rushed)
- Austria from Vienna to Salzburg with maybe a stretch to Innsburck
(but a tad rushed)
- Vienna / Budapest / Salzburg (but a tad rushed)
1) Vienna (3-4 days), including 1 day at Budapest as a day trip, is
this a good and feasible timeframe?
You will need 3 full days in Vienna to make the trip to Vienna worth the effort. That will probably exclude seeing Budapest. If you were to go to Budapest I would strongly suggest that you take a morning train down, spend the night at a hotel on the river, then take a morning train back the next day. Really doesn’t cut into the time in Vienna much more than a very few hours over trying to bounce down and back in one day.
2) Salzburg - is 3 days good to see the sights, "experience" the place
at a relaxed pace
Two full days is all of Salzburg that I needed. I really wanted to love the place but Salzburg and I never got to that relationship. But sill worth the visit.
I want to do a day trip to Hallstat, Innsbruck and Zel Am See while
being based here, so that we don't have to keep loading and unloading
bags.
You mean while you are based in Salzburg for 3 days? When will you see Salzburg? Hallstatt is best as an overnight. If you can’t do that, I wouldn’t mess with it. The other day trips I will leave to someone that knows them. But I am guessing overnights as well.
3) Salzburg - Prague - Is 2 days in Prague good to see the main
sights. Most forums say a minimum of 3 days.
2 full days where you wake up and go to bed in the city wouldn’t be terrible.
We plan to arrive and depart from Vienna. This is the first time we
will be visiting Europe, so I would like it to be a relaxed
experience.
Your trip is not terribly relaxed and you are extra time and money backtracking. You need to fly into Prague and out of Vienna or Budapest (or the reverse). Then do the stops in order and spend no less than 16 days doing it. Less than 16 days then you cut things.
Also, I am ok with missing a few sights, and would love to explore and
experience the place.
That’s good cause you will.
Open to suggestions!
Above. And sorry. No criticism of your plans intended. Planning a trip is a series of discoveries and as you plan and discover your priorities and ideas will change. I suspect in no time at all you will have an amazing trip planned.
