Hello!
My husband and I will be traveling to Prague on May 2, 2016. We want to visit Prague, Vienna and Budapest. i am planning on spending 4 days on each city and traveling from Prague to Vienna and from Vienna to Budapest by train. Are 4 days per city enough to see the major places of interest in each city?
I welcome any comments or ideas regarding planning this trip and thank you in advance for your time.
Elvy
Four days are usually enough. Have open jaw ticket: fly to Prague and back from Budapest or vice versa whatever has better and cheaper connections. Read most recent R.S. books about your cities. Go on this forum and read about them under Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. I found a lot of information about Prague on these websites:
http://www.praguepost.com
http://www.pragueexperience.com
You will find many more useful websites under Czech Republic in posts by Unclegus and under Hungary about Budapest by James.
If you were to change your plans just a little you could witness one of the world's great air shows https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WuAcgHsqLi0
For my taste, and everyone is different and everyone is correct, Prague is 2 to 3 full days, Vienna is 2 full days and Budapest is 3 to 4 full days. If you have time in your schedule break up the trip with a night in Cesky Krumlov on the way from Prague to Vienna (Bean Shuttle for both legs) and a night in Gyor on the way from Vienna to Budapest (mid point on the train service) A day trip out of Vienna to Melk is also interesring.
We did that exact trip late April / early May 2016 and loved it!
We spent 6 days in Prague (1 day recovering from jet lag) and went to Cesky Krumlov via Bean Shuttle stayed 1 day then onto Vienna via Bean Shuttle. There are cheaper ways to travel than Bean Shuttle but we (4 of us ) opted for convenience & comfort, from our hotel in Prague to Cesky Krumlov to Vienna.
We spent 5 days in Vienna with a day trip to Melk Abbey (in the RS book) via train then back via boat & train.
Then on to Budapest via train for 6 glorious days. We had a guide for the 1st day (Peter Polzman, who was in his TV show!) show us how to get around the metro & tram system along the sights and we were off & running.
Gene
Thank you all of you so much to everyone that has posted. The information is really helpful.
We are looking at spending 5 days in Prague and taking a day trip to Cesky Krumlov or spending four days in Prague and one day and evening at Cesky Krumnlov and onto Vienna the next day.
I would like your recommendation on which of the two is a better plan.
Also in his post Gene refers to taking Bean Shuttle . Can you tell me what that is?
Thanks again for all your recommendations.
Elvy
Here's the Bean Shuttle website:
Emily posted the website which is easy to navigate and we booked at this time in 2015 (per Emily instructions) as we were traveling on May 1st a holiday & weekend
The details of our use:
We took minibus van that seated 8 (another family) and it picked us 4 of us from our Prague hotel, Hotel Hastal and delivered us directly to Hotel Mlyn in Cesky Krumlov. Then the next day we took a private Bean Shuttle (for 4 of us) from there directly to the Pension Hotel Suzanne in downtown Vienna.
We found both the drivers to be excellent..........Gene
Better than day trip is to stay overnight in Cesky Krumlov so you can see it after day time mobs leave.
Like Ilja said, the day ducks show up mid morning and leave mid afternoon. By spending the night you get to be there when most of the crowds are gone. Much more enjoyable. Look at the hotel Dvorak and see if you can get a room with a balcony or at least one facing the castle.
I would agree about having an overnight stay in Cesky Krumlov, it is a long day trip from Prague, so as you are going in that direction anyway use some of your travel time in a better way.
http://www.livingprague.com/
this is a very good website run by my friend Jason,loads of good info and helpful instructions for things in Prague, also links to offers and discounts.
I am meeting up with Jason for a few beers in April and will be experiencing his new Old Town tour.
http://www.prague.net/
this is a great website for deciding what to see and do in Prague,even a section on intinaries , some of the info is a little out of date in regards to entry prices and opening times but still good info and you can double check prices and times of any place you want to go to.
http://www.praguebeergarden.com/home/
this link is excellent to find some great places to drink beer, might not be your type of thing but in Prague you just have to try the beer and this website gives lots of suggestions, if the weather is nice when you visit you may want to try Letna beer garden, stunning place for a drink (Not just beer) the views from there are just wonderful.info on how to get there is on the Beer garden website.
One of our favorite stays on many trips was in Prague at The House at the Big Boot, Dum U Velke boty. Excellent location in the secure Embassy district and easy walking or transport access, welcoming and friendly staff, very nice breakfast. Our double room was gigantic, but the people are what I really remember. Very helpful, friendly and kind. We also spent some time in Cesky Krumlov via train from Prague. One day we spent with a canoe on the river that was great fun. Leaving Cesky Krumlov, we took the CK Shuttle service to Linz train station where we went on to Salzburg. They also offer routes via passenger van to other cities; I believe Vienna is among them, but I only looked as far as the Linz station. They were professional, courteous, the whole nine yards. You can check them out on their website. Our trip (5 days in Prague) was in early May. Some time up on Petrin Hill among the lilacs and happy Czechs if the weather is fair was a nice "time out". My only hindsight regret was a day spent going to Kutna Hora and the bone chapel...just not worth the time IMO. Enjoy your stay in beautiful Prague. I was never much of a beer drinker....until I went to Prague. I learned 3 Czech words...Prosim, dekuju, and pivo.
Denny is right about three most important words in Czech but it is in this order: pivo, prosim, dekuju.
Thanks a lot everyone. My trip is beginning to shape nicely thanks to your great suggestions. I even have begun working on my Czech words!
Does anyone recommend a hotel in Vienna Center close to St. Stephen's Cathedral?
Thanks a million,
Elvy
We stayed at Pension Hotel Suzanne for 5 days within the Ringstrasse, from RS book, a few yards from the Opera House and it 5 to 10 minute to St. Stephens directly on Karntner Strasse.
We found Michael & Brigitte (the owners) to be excellent hosts and VERY helpful in giving us suggestions in all our sightseeing plans, restaurants etc.
Gene
I agree with Ilja & James on saying overnight and spend some walking the town without the crowds. I had a room with a view of the castle, had a tripod and got some very nice photos of the castle at night from my balcony.
Also we ate at the Two Mary's, a riverside tavern, had nice lunch also with great views of the castle & church.
Gene
Hotel in Vienna center: We stayed in pension Nossek on Graben. Huge room, high ceiling, big windows, view of Graben, excellent breakfast. You cannot possibly be more in center.
I like the Imperial.
Thanks again to all that have replied to my questions.
We now have reservations for all the cities we are visiting.
This forum is AWESOME!
Elvy
I haven't read through any of these replies. But I will say that my wife and I did that exact same trip in May a few years ago and absolutely loved it. Four days in each city is exactly the perfect amount of time. Don't second-guess yourself on that. I will just mention a few things that were highlights for us.
Vienna: If you like wine, look at having dinner in the wine villages on the outskirts of the city. We liked that so much we did it twice. You can take a bus there. Also, if you like wine, we did a great bike trip through the Wachau Valley with a tour group. Very beautiful and memorable. And the Kunthistorichies (probably spelled that wrong) Museum is a must.
Budapest: Try to see a show at the Opera House. We took a tour of the opera house in Vienna. But for about the same price, we saw a ballet at the Budapest Opera House. It was fantastic. Buy your tickets online in advance. Also, be aware that many of the cheap seats in the upper areas have obstructed views. Fork out a little more for a decent seat. Also in Budapest, there is a museum called the House of Terror or something like that that is housed in the building where they used to jail people in the Cold War. This was unexpectedly poignant and fascinating.
Prague: The whole city is beautiful. Look for hidden gardens.
All three cities are great. Vienna has the most big "attractions," Prague is the most stunningly beautiful, and yet Budapest was probably my favorite of the three cities.
