Recommendations for 3-4 small cities to add to RS Prague/Budapest tour

The Karlovy Vary is known for their spas too. Other places to stop in the Karlovy Vary are Kladskȧ and Mariȧnské Lȧznê (Marienbad).

In Hungary I really enjoyed the following:

• Pecs: Home of the Zsolnay ceramics company; a couple of good museums with earlier pieces and some buildings with ceramics on the exterior.
• Szeged: Art Nouveau architecture. Possible day trip by bus to Subotica, Serbia, for more Art Nouveau (though not as well kept). Large enough to keep you busy for a while.
• Kecskemet: More Art Nouveau architecture. Smaller than Szeged; a shorter stop would work.
• Gyor: About the same size as Kecskemet but felt smaller to me. Pretty historic center that has a lot of small museums (many art-related). Good base for side trip by bus to Pannonhalma Abbey, but check locally to be sure latter is not closed for some sort of special event. A side trip to Sopron would also be possible; it's about half the size of Gyor and also attractive but without the large number of museums, and it's similar enough that I wouldn't consider it essential after seeing Gyor. (Unless you need dental work...)

If you enjoy photographing interior architectural details, don't miss the tour of Budapest's Liszt Ferenc Academy, which has a lovely Art Nouveau interior. You often (always??) get a short classical music concert as part of the tour. Check on English tours as soon as you get to town; there may be just one a day. Budapest has a lot of eye candy. You could spend many days there photographing lovely buildings.

In Czechia (where I haven't yet spent much time outside Prague) I liked:

• Olomouc (I think Rick covers it in his book). The town was so quiet some would call it "dead" in the summer, but it would be quite a different experience if the university is back in session by the time of your trip.

The Obecni Dum (Municipal House) in Prague has a truly stunning Art Nouveau interior. Take the tour (check timing of English tours; they might sell out a bit ahead of time) and pay the modest extra fee for the photography permit. Also in Prague is a good glass museum, Museum Portheimka. The Prague Glass Experience, PRAGL is new since my visit. There is also glass in the Museum of Applied Arts in Prague.

We really enjoyed Olomouc. It has an excellent modern art museum, an amazing astronomical clock redesigned in the 1950s during the communist era in the socialist realist style, a very well curated diocesan museum and cathedral, a nice walk around the old city walls, a World War 2 bunker, and supposedly Czechia's "best restaurant" - Entrée.

The Entrée experience was memorable. The food was excellent, but the decor and music were like a nightclub. The techno music was a little loud and made conversation difficult and our table had a great view of a giant highway overpass and video billboards. The other diners appeared to be Russian gangsters who had spilled over from the adjacent casino. We loved it - it was one of those "only in Czechia" experiences.

We stayed in Sophie's Place guesthouse which was very well located but one night we had a lot of noise from drunken students getting pizza around 3am as we had a front room.

@MaryPat, I probably won’t sit around drinking the mineral waters, but maybe a spa massage if the weather forecast is rainy while I’m there. The hotels with the spas look very elegant!

@Acraven, thank you for that list of options! The descriptions sound very interesting!

@AussieNomad, thank you for mentioning Olomouc. I would go there just for the clock which hopefully is less crowded than Munich’s & the one I will see at Prague. It sounds like there’s plenty there to explore.

Since you have been to Budapest before, not sure why you would do this tour. 3 days of eight are in Budapest again. And the 3 days really don’t touch on much other than what I am certain you saw the first time. You get a half-day tour of District V on arrival after a 7 hour bus ride, a half-day tour in Buda on the second day and a half-day tour down Andrassy ut on the final day. Do plan for what to do with the two half days with no guide. There are interesting ideas, but you need to plan a little in advance.

But if the comradeship of a RS tour makes it for you, and I do get that, then to answer your question:

I am not the great expert on the Czech Republic, but I know I would return to Cesky Krumlov in a heartbeat. Sure a bit touristy, but that’s because I think it’s one of the most interesting and visually beautiful places in the region. There are easy shuttles there and back (spend the night) or if you can spring for a driver there are a few interesting castles to see on the way down and on the way back.

Beyond that I leave it to the Czech experts here.

At the Budapest end if you want to hang around, check out Szentendre for a half to full day trip and Eger and Pec each very nice overnight trips.

And for a final thing to think about. Do the trip as written, maybe add a day at each end; but after Budapest use the discount airlines to go a bit further. Budapest to “someplace” is how I have managed to see as much as I have. Just did a quick Budapest to Bucharest and Brasov a few weeks back; and in June its Budapest to Malta and back.

On 25 September your options would be:
Zadar, Croatia
Podgorica, Montenegro (which would get you to Dubrovnik)
Skopje, N. Macedonia
Sofia, Bulgaria
Bucharest Romania
Targu Mures Romania
Belgrade Serbia
Warsaw, Poland
Istanbul, Turkey
And most start at under $100 non-stop and for the most part under 1:45 flights.

@Mister E, wow, thanks for all of that information! I’m glad to hear, also, that you liked CK.

I have been to Budapest, but it was 48 years ago and under Communist rule! So, although I remember the beauty of the architecture & some places, most of the experiences will feel new to me.

Jean, my first trip there was only 20 years ago, and there is no comparing then to now.

With that information you need to add 1 day to Prague and two days to Budapest to do either justice.

Then, do your small town overnight trips.

And if you do stay longer in Budapest, don't buy the extension from RS. EDIT: Sorry, should have said: IF RS offers extensions, check out what you are getting and compare prices before you say yes.

Mister E, we have used our own independent itineraries for several years. What’s an RS extension? I don’t remember that from previous RS tours.

I just assumed Rick would sell extensions at each end. If I am wrong, my bad. I just know the extensions that some of the cruise ships sell in Budapest are pretty high dollar for what you get. So, should have said, IF RS offers extensions, check out what you are getting and compare prices before you say yes. Again, my bad.

There is nothing wrong with RS Tours if you enjoy the company. I envy people who are social and can travel like that. Sure, costs more than doing it on one's own and I wonder (really dont know) if one gets enough informational or guiding value out of it to make the extra cost worth while, but if one enjoys the groups and it improves the enjoyment, how do you put a value on that.

Just a note that the Museum Portheimka in Prague, mentioned upthread, closed last year.

Oh, that's too bad; I enjoyed my visit. A quick Google before posting didn't catch that; the notice does show up if you click the Portheimka link. I was really lucky to squeeze in a visit during the brief period it was open. I wonder whether COVID did it in.

Thanks to this sad news, I've discovered another glass museum I didn't know about, the Museum of Glass and Jewelry (Muzeum Skla a Bizutérie) in Jablonec nad Nisou. It's about 70 miles from Prague, and according to Google the 6 PM Flixbus headed to Wroclaw (Poland) stops in Jablonec nad Nisou. (I haven't verified that.)

https://www.visitczechrepublic.com/en-US/e3d720f3-97bc-473a-86e3-f94cf18235d4/place/c-jablonec-museum-of-glass-and-jewellery

I second Mister E's suggestion to visit Szentrende. We went in early November 2022 and it was not crowded and very picturesque. Go to the church at the top of the hill and check out the many artisan shops along the main street. Make sure to stop in the shop making and selling marzipan as they are really gems to look at and tasty too. It was a great side trip from Budapest.

Thank you, everyone, for all of the suggestions and helpful details! I’m looking forward to digging into the details of each one.