Hi,
I and my wife with my 15 year old son are flying into Vienna on 15th May. We would ideally like to do Budapest, Salzberg and Prague along with Vienna. Can someone please suggest an itinerary for the same. We would ideally like to stay in bed and breakfast apartments and do maximum things in minimum expense. Please suggest.
"stay in bed and breakfast apartments"
Most accommodations in Europe, especially in German speaking areas, include breakfast with the room, a few at an extra cost. The biggest exceptions are apartments (Ferienwongungen in German speaking areas), where a cooking area is included, thus they expect you to fix your own breakfast. Occasionally, you will find an apartment in the same building with non-cooking rooms that have an included breakfast, and there they will offer the possibility of breakfast, but that is not the norm. I did stay in an apartment a few years ago that had an optional Brötchendienst (roll service) - they delivered freshly baked rolls to our door first thing in the morning. We had sliced sausage and cheese, butter, and marmalade in the fridge to go with it.
What day do you fly out and is that also from Vienna? Ideally, you'll spend at least 3 or 4 nights in each of the bigger cities and at least 2 nights in Salzburg. See sightseeing ideas at https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/austria and related pages.
You can connect all four cities in a loop. Although Budapest is a bit further away, it has fast, direct train service. The leg that's not served by direct train is Prague-Salzburg, but it can be done with one connection at Linz. How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. The Austrian site, https://tickets.oebb.at/en/ticket, works similarly, and sells a couple of your tickets, available with advance-purchase discount, if you're ready to lock in travel dates and times soon. Any ticket is also available at nearly any train station. Budapest-Prague tickets are sold by Hungarian railways and Prague departures are sold by the Czech railways.
We don't know from where you are flying back home and how many days you have for your trip. Option one:
after staying in Vienna (3 to 4 nights) go by train to Salzburg (2 nights), go by shuttle to Cesky Krumlov (1 night), by Yellow Bus (Student Agency bus) to Prague (3 to 4 nights), then fly or go by train (takes 7 hours) to Budapest (4 nights). Fly home from Budapest.
Option two:
Vienna -> Budapest -> Prague -> Cesky Krumlov -> Salzburg and fly home from there or back to Vienna and fly home from Vienna.
Sorry , I forgot to mention that we will be flying in Vienna on 15 th evening and fly out from Vienna on 27th night. Please suggest itinerary for the same. Thanks in advance
In Austria, May 16 and May 26 are National Holidays, so shops will be closed and public transportation will run on a reduced schedule.
Thanks Emily for informing us about the national holidays. We were trying to finalize an itinerary for these 4 cities and that's why asked for suggestions :))
