Christmas 2026

Peter, in Prague I like the Ventana Hotel. Impossible to beat the location for tourism.

In Budapest, all the hotels listed in this thread are well located. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/budapest-updated-hotel-list
About the markets in Budapest https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/budapest-christmas-markets-d26f8ab1-2048-4160-bfb3-bf13b096683e
Theater https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/updated-budapest-performance-venue-list
Food https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/restaurants-in-budapest-revisited.

Have a great trip.

Oh, since you are skipping Vienna (amount of time I guess), I woud fly from Prague to Budapest. Saves a bit of time and the arrival times are early enough that you still get that day for activities. Right now Ryanair isnt showing any flights in November but there is a good chance they just dont have them posted yet. Discount airlines sometimes do that. I know they are making the trip this month and all year up until October. Wait a few months and keep checking, Otherwise its a 7+ hour train ride in which case a couple of nights in Vienna to break up the trip isnt a bad idea. Good markets too. Almost as good as Budapest LOL.

Thank you. Any advice on Krakow(Poland) to Prague? Train or Plain.?
For history a lesson, can Auschwitz’s be done in 1/2 day?
Also Vienna will be to long. My wife & I have been to Austria & Switzerland. Loved Salzburg and Zermatt.

I havent been to Krakow yet, so this isnt first hand. How from Krakow to Prague? That’s a depender. If I were going to fly it would have to be nonstop, but Ryanair only does that a few days of the week so that would have to line up. Then the flight time would have to be okay. Sometimes they depart crazy early, like 5:30. Not doing that; but an 8am flight would be okay. The November and December flights aren’t being sold yet so it will be a few months before you can check.

Next option are trains. RegioJet has trains. About 6:40 hours for the trip and interestingly train without a change is a sleeper. It departs a little after midnight and arrives about 7am. Not much sleep but saves on a room and it looks like you can buy the entire compartment for 130 euro which is crazy cheap. So cheap in fact that maybe I read something wrong. DB or OBB would clip you that times 3. Now RegioJet isnt sellling tickets for November or December yet, so you have to wait to know for sure. Czech rail wants about 20 euro for their direct train in 2nd class, but for that long a ride I would do 1st class for about 60 euro. Depending on the train 6 to 7.5 hours. I would shoot for an early one to have some of the day in Prague.

That Budapest Christmas Market link I gave you has this year’s dates so move them to the corresponding weekend or day of the week for this year. They generally don’t change. When this years dates get published the list will get updated. Here is a link with other events. Again, what little is here is this year’s dates for November and December but the list will get updated as the new dates come out and other events get published. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/updated-budapest-events-for-january-june-2026 You can’t go to Budapest without seeing a show or a concert, so here is the list of the venues. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/updated-budapest-performance-venue-list And the only problem with food in Budapest is there is too much good food: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/restaurants-in-budapest-revisited
I have a couple more links on my profile page.

Thank you again👍