Hi..I am planning to extend a business trip to Vienna- we are there for 6 days... I cannot stay for an extended period of time unfortunately (possibly 10-12 days total)-- looking for some advice:
1) Couple of days in Halstatt and Prague? Skip Salsburg?
2) Skip Halstatt altogether and do a couple of days in Prague and a couple in Budapest?
Thoughts?
It depends when you are there. In summer and early fall I would do Salzburg, Hallstatt and the Alps around. In spring, late fall, winter I would do Prague and Budapest which would be rushed with just 6 days (including travel time by train { V - P 4 hours, P - B 7 hours, B - V 3 hours}). Or not to rush decide just for one of them: http://www.bbqboy.net/prague-budapest-visit/
I'll start by saying that I haven't been to Prague or Budapest. With that said, we did Salzburg, Hallstatt, & Vienna in September. Salzburg was one of our favorite places, ever--we've done Ireland, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and all the major spots in Italy as well as Tuscany, and would easily rank it in our "top 5." Beautiful scenery, charming old town, great bier halls, cozy restaurants. We loved the people and the atmosphere in the city. Lots of easy day trip options from there as well. We also spent a night in Hallstatt on our way from Salzburg to Vienna, and I think it is the most beautiful place I've seen. It was still a high tourist season when we were there, so be forewarned...but at night when the day trippers leave, it is so charming and quaint. We did a tour of the Salt Mine there (said to be the oldest in the world) which was really fun and informative. If you do Hallstatt, stay at the Hotel Grunerbaum--lakeside and beautiful!
Not sure of your flight situation, but if you can fly in/out of different cities, that would help enable travel:) There are so many options and Vienna is so convenient. I would recommend looking at http://www.rome2rio.com/ for planning on how you would get from one place to the next.
I would probably skip Halstatt and head to Munich. On the way to Munich, you could just spend the day in Salzburg.
Prague and Budapest are opposite directions, so you may want to pick just one, ether could easily fill a few days.
Another option to consider would be a trip to Krakow, Poland (lovely town and very moving day trip to Auschwitz/Birkenau).
