Travel itinerary 10 days Paris, Prague and Budapest

Does that 10-day itinerary include your travel days to and from Europe? Also keep in mind that getting between each city will take the better part of a day so you're going to have to add another two days of no sightseeing. That really only leaves you around two full days in each city. If it were me, I would seriously consider leaving one of them off your list.

Of the three cities there, I think Paris and Budapest are the most wonderful, and if it were me, I would probably focus on those two. I've been to all three and those two are my favorites.

That said, Prague and Budapest are closest to each other, so it would really make more sense to travel to both of those and leave Paris for another trip. That's up to you to decide. And I would book a multi-city flight where you fly into one city and then leave from another. That will definitely save you time when you factor in time and the cost of public transportation. Even if the flight is a bit more expensive, you'll save money by not having to backtrack to your original city to fly home.

We arrive the 2nd and leave on the 11th. Paris is really a focus of the trip. We can fly into Paris and out of Prague…

Your schedule allows you only 8 full days on this trip. You may or may not be functional on June 2 after the overnight flight. (I'm always totally zombified.) If you travel to all three cities on this trip, you'll be down to just 6 full days and some scattered hours. Those are world-class capital cities and surely worth a lot more than the time you'll be able to give them.

Although I love Budapest, if you need to fly into Paris and out of Prague, or vice versa, I'd postpone Budapest this time around.

egillbi,
From your dates you have 8 full days there. Arrival day will be about a half-day, if you are arriving from the US in the morning. That first day you may be dealing with some jet lag, but even so you will be orienting yourselves after checking into your lodgings. Your full days are the 3rd through the 10th. Taking a day to move between cities, you now have 7 full days. I would definitely drop one city. That still gives you four and three full days (or five and two) to actually see the two cities. (For me, I would just stay in Paris.) I haven't been to Budapest, but I have been to Prague, and believe I would choose Budapest to go with Paris. Prague is popular with many, but I was underwhelmed during our 5 days there. (It does have numerous great musical offerings in lovely venues, however.) From reading MANY comments here and elsewhere, Budapest sounds wonderful. If you do decide on 3 cities, you will have only 6 actual "tourism" days.
Definitely buy your plane tickets "open jaw" (NOT two one way flights). Otherwise you spend a day returning to the city where you arrived.
A good start is to list the things you want to do or see at each place and whittle it down to what you can do in the time you have. That may help you choose where you want to go. You may find that 3 cities are okay, or maybe only one city will work. It's up to you. Planning for a trip is a good part of the fun! Enjoy!

Have you considered giving Paris all of the nights? My daughter and I didn't run out of things to do in 11 nights this April. She was 15 at the time, 16 now.

I would do 2 cities max. There's something about when you're planning a trip -it all seems doable and then you get there and you realize it's too much. Charles de gaulle is not a user friendly airport. If I was doing 2 cities during a 10 day trip I would prefer train travel instead of schlepping out to the airport.

I’m am open to suggestions. I still have not bought airline but the dates are set. Arrive on 2nd and leave on the 11th of June. Paris and Budapest or Paris and Pragie. I think sticking to 2 cities is best.

I would just do Paris. Take your time and really enjoy Paris. You won’t regret it.

We may cosider sticking to Paris for this trip. Can anyone recommend things to do for a day trip out of Paris? Also, can anyone recommend a place to stay in the left bank of Paris?

egillbi,
Some good day trips from Paris are Giverny, Chartres, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Reims...lots more but these are just ones off the top of my head. All are doable in one day. Some might take only 4-6 hours, so you could return to Paris for a late afternoon or evening excursion/activity.
Glad to hear you are prioritizing Paris. It is truly a magical place and a dream for a 16 year old girl! Your days will be full and satisfying and memorable and fun! You can mine the forum for ideas for the two of you. Come back with some info about what you and she are interested in and things you like to do.
Happy 2026!

Those who love Paris can easily spend 10 days on every trip for a dozen trips. Most discovered they loved Paris on a shorter trip. There is always the chance that a city doesn’t talk to you the way it does others, and that’s why for that once a year trip it’s a bit of a risk to spend 10 days in anyone city for the first time. I think you were correct to look at a few other places. If you love Paris or one of the others you can always return for that 10 day stay. My first visit to Budapest was a backup if Vienna wasn’t my cup of tea. Turns out Vienna wasn’t my cup of tea, and it would have been a less than desirable once in a year trip if it were not for Budapest. Likewise, Montenegro was the backup for Croatia and again, Montenegro saved the day.

Prague is interesting so that would be a perfectly acceptable backup trip. But I know more about Budapest and it’s my personal favorite so that’s the one I will put here. But maybe someone will offer a similar idea around Prague.

Arrive 2 June:
June in Paris. The last few trips I have stayed on the Île Saint-Louis. A tad pricy in a city that has already become crazy expensive, but a sweet place and close to Le Marais and the Latin Quarter and I enjoy both of those so it works. But I am no Paris expert and you will get better advice elsewhere.
3 June:
4 June:
5 June:
6 June:
Most of the good package tours of Paris, like RS tours for instance, are 5 to 7 days so that’s a pretty good indication of the time to do a good first view. Those tour days that get published include arrival and departure days, so this is day 5 of a 6 day tour.
7 June:
That makes this day 6 of a 6 day tour of Paris and its departure day.

Wizzair has a 9:10am flight out of Ory which is so much easier than Chucky D., that the earlier hour is worth it. But you will need to be in the taxi at 6am if that’s okay. It arrives at 11:20 which gives you half a day in Budapest. EasyJet has one out of CDG at 6:35 arriving at 8:45 pm if you want to spend the morning in Paris. Then there is Air France with a few flights during the day but a twice the cost of Wizz and EasyJet, but better hours maybe for you.

Now you are in Budapest. Where to stay. If you do like I suggest then my choices in order of preference (with no concern for cost LOL) would be the Budapest W which the hotel and the location on Andrassy ut which is the Champs-Élysées of Budapest (but better) and across the street from the Opera House will make you feel like you are back in Paris again https://www.marriott.com/ , then the Hotel Moments also on Andrassy ut and also with the elegance you would expect from a city like Paris or Budapest https://hotelmomentsbudapest.hu/ then last, the UpHotel https://uphotelbudapest.com/ about a block of Andrassy ut, a tad more modern, but in a lovely neighborhood with an old market hall and a park across the street. More casual Budapest but very well connected on foot and tram. Lovely place.

Today, if you got the early flight, you would do from the City Park to the Danube River, mostly walking Andrassy ut. Gotta see the river your first night. There is no view more beautiful than when both sides of the Danube are all lit up.

8 June:
Buda Day
9 June:
River Front day
10 June
Jewish Budapest Day
Depart 11 June

But otherwise I have no opinion on your plans. LOL

With these choices and Paris set, you simply have to fly east - a train would run 12-14 hours, too much time imho without an additional destination in between to split, and you do not have time for yet another city.
Never been to Budapest, but had 3 days Prague in 24 and 4 days Paris in 22. Both could have used 1-2 more, but I myself would definitely have two destinations instead of one, I second Mr E here - you might just not vibe with a specific city. That being said, you can do day trips or second grade cities from all that can solve this problem easily without switching countries - unless you do not vibe with the whole country.