15 day Itinerary in Eastern Europe

You could easily spend 2 nights in Salzburg for one full day there. To do that take the nights in Vienna down to 3. I think this is a good trade off as I loved Salzburg a lot more than Vienna. I would also considering moving one of your nights from Prague to Krakow.

So subjective it's impossible to really answer except "for my taste", but who am I?

In May, like most months, Prague will be a zoo. I would spend 3 nights to see the high points, then get out as fast as I could.

3 nights in Krakow sounds right, but I've never been there, so just a guess.

5 nights in Vienna? Only if .... no, I'll be nice and just say after night 3 you would find me at the train station buying a ticket to .....

3 nights in Budapest? If after all your research that's what sounds right to you, then skip it and spend the time in .... the other stops. Otherwise, Budapest is s 4, better 5, night city.

Ignore me, I'm in a mood 😊

We are visiting Prague next May and I have been interested in several posts that mentioned the large number of tourists. We have been to many, many cities in Europe during the last 10 years - Rome, Florence, Paris, London, Munich, Vienna etc - and though tourists are there I have never felt that they overwhelmed the cities - is there something unique to Prague that causes some bigger problem?
Thanks for your insights

I liked Vienna better than Salzburg-the Kunthehistoriches Museum, the Music Museum, my husband loved the standing room opera, the palaces.

We have been to many, many cities in Europe during the last 10 years -
Rome, Florence, Paris, London, Munich, Vienna etc - and though
tourists are there I have never felt that they overwhelmed the cities
- is there something unique to Prague that causes some bigger problem?

All of those cities, especially London, are A LOT larger, more spread out and populated than Prague. So squeezing in crowds there won't be felt as much as squeezing the same crowds on the Charles Bridge in Prague. When you're in Prague, you feel like you're largely among tourists, not locals, all congregated in the same few spots.

Just personal opinion of course, but I would take 1 night from Prague and 1 from Vienna and do 5 nights in Budapest. That's after visiting all 4 of those cities.

Although I agree that 3 nights is short for Budapest, I'm concerned about shortening the time in Prague if it's the first stop, because jetlag may have a significant impact there.

Prague? Three very tight tourist zones filled with 250,000 tourists. Picture Disneyland in August on half price day.

I have my strategies how to avoid crowds in Prague.I mentioned it many times in my previous posts By the way Rome, Venice, Florence are no less crowded, Venice certainly more.

Ilia, do those strategies involve missing the sights that 95% of Prague tourists go to see, or traveling in February or g-d forbid involve getting up at some ungodly hour of the morning after sitting in Vinograf till closing time? Thanks to Kadarka I rarely hit the streets of Budapest before 10am. Of course Budapest is still navigable all day (but getting a bit pesty on weekends)

It's 2.5 hours by train from Vienna to Salzberg and you need to add time to get to/from the train stations in both cities. That makes for a really long day. I just looked at My Day Trip - 3 hours each way and €700 total for 4 people, YIKES.

If you are interested in WWII and the nazis, consider a day trip from Prague (about an hour by bus) to Terezin. If you are planning to visit the Jewish sights in Prague, note that they close shortly after noon on Friday and reopen on Sunday, so Sundays are usually very crowded due to the backlog.