travel to Prague, vienna and budapest

When you compared the price of round trip to multicity did you account for the train tickets you'd have to buy to get you back to Vienna?

Like Jules wrote, cost of train tickets. Then maybe cabs to and from train stations. Also the inconvenience. Plus another travel day chops one day off of your sightseeing days in Budapest.
You have to weigh all the factors.

I can't add much, but I am taking a train from Budapest to Vienna in a few days. The cost was around $30 + $3 or $4 for a seat reservation. I booked it through OBB. Overall, I think it was pretty cheap for a 2-and-a-half-hour fast train.

Mark

Look at working your way from Vienna directly to prague by way of Salzburg. Then from Prague take a discount airline to Budapest, then train back to Vienna. Not sure if it will save time or money, but worth the look. Its the round trip out of Vienna as others have pointed out, that is making things difficult. If your savings is $200 (as a guess) then how much are the extra transportation tickets and how much is your time worth? But excellent destinations. Dont do too much, give Pague and Vienna and Budapest the time they deserve. With that in mind you might want to keep this trip to either north or south. That would be Vienna/Salzburg and Prague or Budapest and Vienna/Salzburg. In the future you could do Budapest and places east and south from there or Prague and places north from there. Just an idea.

If you are locked-in on round-trip air travel to Vienna, then your train research may well find that your fastest trips will be hub and spoke out of Vienna. Yes, you can do Salzburg-Prague and Prague-Budapest, but I think you will find that you need to be on multiple regional trains that will take most of a day.

This all depends on how much time you are taking for this trip. If you are going for two weeks or more, then regional trains, with maybe a stop or two in some of the smaller Czech cities will be great. If you are pressed for time, you'll have to decide what is most important.

BTW, Markrb paid $4 for a seat from Budapest to Vienna. Well worth it! Trains can get very full in the summer, especially if there is an event that people are traveling to/from. If you don't have a reserved seat you may find yourself sitting on your luggage.

However, next time I would suggest if you are leaving from Budapest you get your ticket from MAV.

The reason Mr E suggested air between Prague and Budapest is it really is quite far. Another decent option, what we did, would be to take an overnight train. Its been a good 5 years, so double check that there is still one.

If you are bound to flights to/from Vienna I would suggest the following route for your trip, not knowing how much time you have, though.

Arrive in Vienna, go directly from the airport by an express train to Salzburg (about 3 hours), visit Salzburg, go by train to Prague (about 5:30 hours, one change in Linz), visit Prague, fly to Budapest (e.g. Ryanair, about $100), visit Budapest, go by train to Vienna (about 2:40 hours), visit Vienna, fly home.

Is there a way to break up the Salzburg to Prague trip?

thanks everyone for your replies. It gave me a lot of ideas to rethink about the trip. BTW, the round trip tickets are $1000 cheaper than the multip city and it was with Austrain Airline. I was really shocked by that.

I just flew Austrian Airlines a week ago. It wasnt a remarkable experience. For $1000 savings you are smart to do a little back tracking. On that Prague to Budapest flight, it isnt every day so you have to check that. And the time of day varies too. Looking forward to having you in Budapest. Safe travels.

Here is an idea. The dates are sort of the minimums. The trip is really a 3 week trip if you want to get the most out of it. Less than what I show and consider skipping Salzburg.

EDITED as recommended by wmt1

Day 1 Arrive Vienna
Day 2 Vienna
Day 3 Vienna
Day 4 Afternoon or evening Train to Salzburg 2.5 hours
Day 5 Salzburg
Day 6 Morning Bean or CK Shuttle to Cesky Krumlov 3 hours
Day 7 Afternoon Bean or CK Shuttle to Prague 3 hours
Day 8 Prague
Day 9 Prague
Day 10 Flight Prague to Budapest (no non-stop flights on Sunday. Flights begin at $15)
Day 11 Budapest
Day 12 Budapest
Day 13 Budapest
Day 14 Morning Tran Budapest to Vienna 2.5 hours
Day 15 Vienna
Day 16 Fly Home

If you skip Cesky Krumlov, consider https://daytrip.com/configurator?adults=2&children=0&currency=0&departureAt=1716973200000&dropoffAddress=&isOtherDirection=true&luggage=2&passengers=2&pickupAddress=&routeId=39089de7-7021-44a7-b387-99d58f113e49&vehicles=0

Here is an idea. The dates are sort of the minimums.

As we can see, Mr. É has a little Budapest-bias (as I have a Vienna-bias). :-)

Consequently, more time in Vienna than in Budapest, that would be my choice.

I would never spend so much time in Cesky Krumlov. It is a small, albeit remarkable town, but in half of a day you have seen erverything. Therefore I would arrive in the morning and leave in the afternoon.

Is there a way to break up the Salzburg to Prague trip?

Yes, in Linz, where you have to change trains anyway. Linz is very underrated, unfortunately. Having had the biggest steel mill in Austria for decades the city still struggles to shuffle off its old, now unjustified reputation of being full of smoke, dust and pollution.

Consequently, more time in Vienna than in Budapest, that would be my
choice.

Too bad we cant do emojis any longer. ROFL would be appropriate. I get it, and I appreciate it and am indeed unashamidly biased. Vienna grows on me a little more with each shopping trip. You have to admit, its unlikely anyone love both as they are so different. You would probably disargee on what drove me to Budapest the first time some 20 years ago. But i did give 3 full days in each. And thats a minimum for each. The OP will have to do some research and try and guess which talks most to them. My preference would be 5 in Budapest and 4 in Vienna.

I would never spend so much time in Cesky Krumlov. It is a small,
albeit remarkable town, but in half of a day you have seen
erverything. Therefore I would arrive in the morning and leave in the
afternoon.

I think you are correct. Arrive early before the busses arrive. Be there late after the busses have left. Do the next moring and you can move on. Its what i should have outlined I just get nervous because so many here are so critical of one night stays. But I was trying to break up the long haul to Prague; and it is beautiful depending on the time of year (August, no). The change makes it a two week (16 days with all the weekends) trip.

Mr E, what do you mean that your filight with Austrian airline is 'unremarkable'? not good, or not bad?

First of all I am so glad that I posted my question on this forum instead of some other ones since everyone on this board seems so eager to helpl!!

Some basic questions: What are the preferred airline to go to Austria in terms of price and service combined? Also, what would be recommended website to book? thanks.

Austrian Air is basically Lufthansa's discount airline brand. You get a discount experience. But you get ther and fairly cheap.

The best airline to go to Austria? An airline for me is a tool tò get from A to B. I just want the cheapest. I go to Google Flights and find the cheapest. Then book direct with the airline. The only difference between airlines at the Economy level is the quality of the lunch and that's worth $4. Service quality? What service? Nothing worth a hundred dollars in ticket cost.

Austrian Air is basically Lufthansa's discount airline brand. You get a discount experience. But you get ther and fairly cheap.

Oh boy, if you had posted this remark in social media, you might have experienced a sh*t storm.

Austrian Airlines, for 70+ years Austria's national airline, is as iconic in this country as Donauwalzer, Mozartkugel and Wiener Schnitzel. It was always known for providing a better service than its competitors. Austrians like to fly with Austrian Airlines.

Problems arised, for all air carriers, when the deregulation of ticket prices started, lowering profits significantly, forcing cost reductions. Austrian Airlines was federal property. To prevent a fate like this of Swissair, Switzerland's national airline, which went bankrupt, Austrian Airlines was sold to Lufthansa, including a €500 million gift of taxpayer's money.

The way Lufthansa - the Germans - treat Austrian Airlines is frowned upon in Austria.

But for 2024, the statement was inaccurate? I flew them a few weeks ago, not much different than Wizz. Like Wizz, they got the job done and at a price I can live with. I prefer them over United if that helps any?

But I understand. We lost Malev to EU regulation (and I suspect some mismanagment). Realy shame. Sweet airline.

I guess I will stay away from social media ..... wait? Hmmm?

Austrian Airlines is in no way a budget airline.