Vienna and Budapest how many days in each

Well, it might be hard to do Christmas markets full time, so then you decide what else you are seeing and doing.

If it were me, I would give Budapest an extra day. Do you plan to hit a lot of art museums? That might be what informs your decision.

Six days in Vienna is a lot of time. And Vienna is quite expensive compared to bargain Budapest. With ten days you could easily add a night or two to Budapest.

To maximize your time, I would stopover in Bratislava on the return train ride from Budapest to Vienna.

For me, your proposed schedule is fine. IMHO, Vienna deserves more time than Budapest. (Mr. É surely will disagree.)

As already proposed, you could visit Bratislava on your way between Vienna and Budapest, but it may be a bit complicated.
I have not noticed it whether there are lockers for your luggage in Petrzalka station, but I think so. Trains from Vienna servicing Bratislava's main train station will commence on December 15th as the Slovak train tracks to Vienna are under maintenance. Trains from Petrzalka station to Budapest require a change in Hegyeshalom. Alternatively, after your arrival at Petrzalka station you could go (by bus #93) to Bratislava's main train station, store your luggage, and finally depart from there to Budapest using a direct train.

Wmt1, it’s not about you or me. It’s about what interests someone I know nothing about. Given that I just go on scale.

So the OP is saying ….
5 arrive Vienna (1/2 day)
6 vienna
7 vienna
8 vienna with a day trip to Bratislava. Not my favorite place, but okay.
9 vienna
10 vienna
11 train to Budapest
12 Budapest
13 Budapest
14 return to Vienna
So you will spend 4.5 days (subtracting the Bratislava day) in Vienna with a tourist area of about 1.5 square miles and 2.5 days in Budapest with a tourist district of about 10 square miles.

Just to begin to get balance I would skip the day trip to Bratislava and use that day in Budapest … and the train from Vienna to Budapest I would make as early as you want to start moving in the morning. Still, you may wish you had spent more time in Budapest just because of the extent of what you see and do there. Or, maybe not.

But, before you decide, here are some travel videos
Budapest: https://youtu.be/1nd5AtZIrTk?feature=shared and https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0?si=aa0c19KaJHEtabkX
Vienna: https://youtu.be/HhuP2_Cf-54?si=anKLnVrXriseC_4o

And if you go to my profile (click on my name) there are links to a little more information on Budapest with ideas on what to do with your time and it may give you a better idea if it’s the sort of place you can enjoy for a longer period or not. Then do what seems to make most sense to you.

And since Bratislava seems like so much trouble right now, two other options are stopping in Gyor on the way to Budapest (its on the same track so no issues). I like it better than Bratislava as its more real. Bratislava is a tad Disneyland. Or from Budapest take a day trip up to Szentendre. Smaller than Bratislava's old town, but better quality and a bit more "real". Of course "real" in that it still functions as it did 100 years ago, is the major difference between Vienna and Budapest but thats another thread. If you do either Szentendre or Gyor you should probalby add time to Budpaest. A good minimum general interest stay in Budapest is not less than 3 full days in Budapest not including day trips. A full day is when you wake up and go to bed in Budapest. Four days is better but I am trying to be open minded.

So you will spend 4.5 days (subtracting the Bratislava day) in Vienna with a tourist area of about 1.5 square miles and 2.5 days in Budapest with a tourist district of about 10 square miles.

To use the area in square miles as a reasonable argument would hold only if the density of sights (number per square mile) would be similar, i.e. more area meaning more sights. But this is not the case. In Budapest the sights are just dispersed across a larger area than in Vienna, so you need more time to get from one place to another. (I did not count all sights in either city.)

But I agree that everything depends on what you want to see and to explore in a city. Making your mind up regarding a place you have never been before is not the simplest task.

I think the art-museum question is pretty critical. If you don't plan to go to a bunch of art museums (not mentioned in the original post), I would shift a day from Vienna to Budapest and/or skip Bratislava. I spent several days in Bratislava this year. I liked it. But in my view, on a trip of this length, the reason to go to Bratislava is more or less so you can say you've been to Slovakia. I think on a nine-day trip to this area--especially when time is going to be spent a Christmas markets--the nine days are better spent in Vienna and Budapest.

I was trying to stay out of the argument of which is a “better” city to visit. Each is "better" depending on what interests you.

So I stuck to raw time to run past the top ten. You can walk from point to point in and on the periphery of the Ringstrass in a day. How much time you spend in each point is up to your interests. But they are mostly museums and dead things under glass and if that is an interest then you can spend months in Vienna. If you tried to walk from point to point within the tourism area of Budapest it would take many days. Even using public transportation it would take at least two days.

Both cities the fabric mood and atmosphere and architecture of the tourist area is a part of the attraction. But each is totally different in that regard. Vienna is more polished and museum like, Budapest more like what it was in 1900, warts and all. In Vienna it’s 1.5 sm in Budapest its 10 sm so if that sort of thing interests you there is more of it in Budapest. More of it = more time. That Anthony Bourdain video I posted was intended to demonstrate this to some degree.

But none of this matters if you don’t like what you are seeing and for that I cant help. Here is some more information but its all going to be biased one way or another. Read, look at a lot of videos and decide. You probably can not do wrong.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/vienna-vs-budapest-as-central-europe-destination
https://www.wheretogoformyholiday.com/city-comparison2/vienna-or-budapest-tourism-comparison-city-guide.html
https://versus.com/en/budapest-vs-vienna
https://www.ourescapeclause.com/budapest-or-vienna/

Thank you Thank you thank you!! Seems like a small question so I very much appreciate all of the thoughtful responses and the links. I did decide to add a day to Budapest, subtracting one from Vienna. We have visited many amazing museums during our almost 3 years in the Washington DC area (moved to NC in Sept),so we will be selective as to which we visit on vacation. And after learning about the logistical changes in traveling to Bratislava, I have moved this excursion to the back burner. We will evaluate once we are in Austria. Great idea to stop there on the way to/from Budapest but the bags would be a question. Again, thank you so much! Decisions have been made!

Great idea to stop there on the way to/from Budapest but the bags
would be a question.

There is a luggage storage near the train station. Then getting from the train staiton to old town isnt exactly a short walk so you will have to call a taxi or do public transportation..... I was in Bratislava about 6 weeks ago (went up from Budapest) and while it was very "okay" it lacked what was good about Vienna and Budapest
.

You might consider a stopover in SOPRON, Hungary between Vienna and Budapest. It’s a fascinating historic town founded by the Romans with fortified walls and an intact medieval center.
SOPRON is 1:15 by train from Vienna.
Continuing by train from Sopron to Budapest takes between 2:20 and 3 hours.
A friend from Hungary recommended SOPRON to me for a trip years back and it was a real interesting gem of a find. Right on the border of Austria and Hungary, SOPRON was not damaged during WW2 as Vienna and Budapest both were, so it would be a unique addition to your itinerary. It’s a city of just 60K residents— much more compact than Vienna or Budapest.
And, yes, there are luggage lockers at Sopron’s train station that make a stopover practical.
Have a great trip!

Sopron is very pretty. So is Gyor; I'd be more inclined to return to Gyor since, in addition to the very nice architecture, it has a bunch of nice, small museums (mostly art-related) and the easy side trip to Pannonhalma Abbey. It's also seems as if it would be a more convenient stop-off between Vienna and Budapest. What I cannot say is what arrangements there would be in either city for dropping off luggage.

Luggage storage at Gyor https://themadtraveler.com/travel-tips/storing-bags-in-luggage-lockers-at-gyor-train-station/

All the posts about Gyor and Sorpron and Bratislava assume you have more time than you really do. Maybe, just maybe time for a day trip. From Budapest that would be Szentendre and I imagine there is a Vienna equivelent to look at . I think you are as much long on Vienna as short on Budpaes now, but thats really an individual thing. Find a day trip out of Vienna to use some of the time. Or move it to Budapest, even if you use if for a day trip out of Budapest. There is more than just the cities and you have time to do a day trip or two or a nice overnight to a place like Eger if you wanted. But only if you split the time a bit different. Or leave it like it is becuse at this point we are beating the horse too much .... LOL.

You cant really do bad or wrong.

So now you are:

5 arrive Vienna (1/2 day)
6 vienna
7 vienna
8 vienna
9 vienna
10 Morning train to Budapest;
9:40 to 12:19 (2:39) RJX Train

• MAV for 31euro (choose "Detailed Search" and add seat reservation) https://jegy.mav.hu/
• or from OBB for 43euro https://www.oebb.at/en/tickets-kundenkarten

Pick up Travel Card at BKK office at lower level of Keleti train station.

• You could get by with a 72 hour card (about $14.50) and a few single use tickets but the difference in price for a 15 day pass (about $15.50) is so minimal that it actually comes out less expensive https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes/prices/15-day-budapest-pass/
• If by chance you are 65 or older, buy nothing. You ride for free.

Hotel along Andrassy ut / M1 Metro Line.
Christmas Market Information https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/the-christmas-markets-open-soon-in-budapest
11 Budapest
12 Budapest
13 Budapest
14 return to Vienna in time to catch flight home.

I guess the only thing I would do different is to split the time in Vienna equal before and after Budpaest. That way there is no rushing around at the end of the trip.