3 Cities/Areas in 3 weeks?

How aboutr Salzburg?

You're right about Vienna, of course.

To me it matters how much time you're planning to fill. Are you thinking a week each in Prague and Budapest, leaving 5 days or so to fill? I might be inclined to try 2 or even 3 smaller and/or less touristy places for a change of pace.

These ideas would add varying amounts of transportation time.

There are some smaller towns south of Prague that are reported to be very attractive (including Telc), but I haven't been to that area yet. Plus there's Cesky Krumlov. Olomouc in eastern Czechia is interesting, and Brno--though not small--doesn't get a lot of foreign tourists.

Graz in southeastern Austria is very pretty and has some worthwhile museums/sights. There were some other tourists about, but not all that many, and it still felt laid-back.

Bratislava is the place everyone seems to go in Slovakia. To me it was worth 2 or 3 days, but I do a lot of wandering around, staring at building exteriors. What Bratislava lacks is a good museum covering 20th-century history. The one in Kosice is good, but that's a long way east.

In western Hungary I enjoyed Sopron and especially Gyor. Gyor has not only the nearby Pannonhalma Abbey but also quite a lot of small museums (many art-related) scattered around its very pretty historic center. If you're willing to overshoot Budapest, there are some very good, architecturally interesting secondary cities accessible by train. Kecskemet and Szeged are on one rail line; Pecs, on another. Pecs is the home of the Zsolnay company that created weatherproof ceramics used on building exteriors. There are a couple of good museums of decorative arts, showing collections of Zsolnay objects.

Dresden isn't all that far north of Prague but would require doubling back as you head to Budapest.

TY Lin...Hadn't thought of Salzburg. I had been there for 3 nights on the same trip to Germany/Austria bk in '19. Again, there is always more to see. It was a beautiful city even though it had rained for the duration.

acraven, I was leaning towards a week in each place, which would include travel days. I haven't looked into Bratislava, and I see it is very close. I have a cousin who lives in Budapest and would plan to spend a day with him. I like the thinking with the smaller outlying towns. Graz for example. I will ask my cousin for some ideas on Hungary as he has been living there for 30 years.

Do you want to do three city stays or do you want to spend three weeks traveling with Prague and Budapest in the route?

Prague: For you to spend a week in Prague you need to plan day trips. At least 3 of them. I like to use Viator to find ideas.
Vienna: If you spent 4 days in Vienna already, 3+ more might not be a bad idea. No idea what you saw the first time and what interests you though, so again, look at day trips. Melk for instance.
Bratislava: Yawn.
Budapest: 4 to 8 days with day trips

Other ideas? If it were not for the train requirement I would say:

• Fly Wizzair to Brasov Romania and use that as a starting point for a week tour ending in Bucharest for the flight home. About an hour flight for about $50
• Start by flying into Dubrovnik, stay 3 nights then cross into Montenegro for a weeklong tour. Fly from Podgorica to Budapest. About an hour flight for about $50

Mr E, TY for the feedback. I was thinking more towards 3 cities with day trips. I had stayed in Bologna for 2 weeks with alternating day trips, for the most part. This gave me a chance to feel more settled and had a day or two to do some outside towns. That worked out well. So maybe Prague, Vienna, and Budapest or vice versa depending on air factors.

From Prague Dresden and Berlin (both Germany) are easy and fast reachable by direct train connections (journey planner).

Dresden is a nearly perfectly walk-able town which offers interesting top sights and a marvelous landscape with Saxon Switzerland. Berlin and close Potsdam offer many walks, especially Berlin is known for a manifold offering of self-organized and / or guided walking tours (examples), also through Berlin's underground.

Logistically, I would suggest going back to Vienna , besides you barely scratched the surface, a ton of sites to visit and explore, all depends on your level of interest.

How far are you willing to deviate by train in choosing a 3rd city? No problem for me deviating, backtracking, etc, if I am desperate enough to see a place. You have some good suggestions above for Germany .

I suggest one more place, not that far from Dresden....Leipzig, again it's up to your interest.

Like Dresden also a singular place in German cultural history, also in military history too . There took place at Leipzig that final undisguised defeat of Napoleon in Germany at the hands of 4 Allied armies, a decisive event in the general history of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars but also part of a civil war among Germans.

Okay then. Get a apartment in each Prague, Vienna and Budapest for a week each. Plenty of day and overnight trips out of each. Once you dates nailed down then you can fine tune all of the day trips. For the Budapest portion of the trip you might look at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/updated-budapest-events-for-january-june-2026 for a list of what is going on in Budapest in September. There might be something you want to plan around. Do the same research for the others. Its always horrible when you miss something great by one day.

I would be inclined to spend a night or two in Cesky Krumlov betweek Vienna and Prague (take the time from Prague) and a night or two in Gyor between Vienna and Budapest (take half the time from each).

Ty Mark, Fred, and Mr. E,

Love the suggestions. Def gets me thinking outside of my bubble.

Oh, you want to get outside of your bubble.

Okay, you fly from the US to Tirana, Albania and you spend a week working the southern coast. In about 10 years everyone will be raving about the Albanian Riveria and you can say, “went there, did that before it was an in thing”. I can hook you up with a guide. Then you take Wizzair for less than $100 and about 90 minutes to Budapest for a week, then train to Prague for a week.

Too radical? Okay, the same idea works with Montenegro instead of Albania, and you know they are up with the times because they use the Euro … hmmm … wait, they didn’t ask, they just did it. Anyway, you fly into maybe Dubrovnik and out of Podgorica to Budapest on Wizzair.

I am suggesting this direction, south to north, because the earlier in September the warmer the water. But the first half of September … great.

@ gritz....You're welcome.

Re: the bubble....I call that taxing my imagination in order to see what I can come up with. In the Czech Rep you have lots of places to check out , numerous small towns, depending on the level of your interest

If you do end up selecting Prague, have the time (it's almost always that factor), and want to check something quite esoteric re: history, then I would suggest the Czech Army and Military Museum. It's quite extensive, if you want to see ordinance. The Czechs in the inter-war years were big armaments producers since they had in Bohemia the city of Pilsen (Plzen).

Wait!! I have a great out of your bubble trip.

Fly to Prague for a short week. Then the RegioJet Night Train to Przemyśl where you transfer to a Ukrainian Railways train for the final leg to Lviv. What an adventure! After a week in and around Lviv (i can give you a list of the good stuff and there is a lot) there is a night train to Budapest (I did it last year there is a trip report on the forum). September is a great time for the region.

TY Fred and Mr. E for the additional information. It's all good stuff and gets me thinking on many possible ways to do this.

The easiest and most practical of the out of the bubble ideas i think is Montenegro. Here are some videos on destinations in Montenegro: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/bosnia/10-days-of-independent-travel-after-best-of-adriatic-tour.

Hi,

An absolutely fantastic idea taking the night train from Prague to Przemysl , the 12 hour ride , a direct shot.

Check with the Tourist Office in Przemysl if any of the forts from 1914, the immediate objective of the Russians along with Lviv (Lemberg) in the "guns of August" are still there and reachable by taxi. Between Lviv and Przemsyl absolute carnage in 1914 similar in the West to the Somme, Ypres, and Verdun but with vast open spaces.

If you want to do something quite different given the esoteric historical context, I suggest checking out this possibility. This horrific event is depicted even with realia of the battles from that site in the Army Museum in Vienna.

TY Fred and Mr. E. Montenegro is one place that keeps popping up as a destination for its lower cost, beauty, and climate. Regarding the overnight 12 hour train, maybe in my younger days, but I don't think I would fare well on it these days. Probably not sleep well. The military sites do sound intriguing I must say. I do thank you for all of your suggestions.

I'll be back to Montenegro again in June. Its just too easy and too nice not to return to. I only have 8 days so I am just doing half what I want to do. Maybe I return in Septembet for the other half.

@ gritz....You're welcome. Very glad to be of help on this type of information. As one in his mid-70s, my taking that 12 hour night train would be no problem at all but only direct shots (A to B) arriving close to 8 AM or afterwards.

I factor in these night rides on every trip, including this coming one starting the last week in May with 6 (max) planned.....stretches out your travel days. That Prague to Przemsyl is fascinating as its direct route stops at numerous historical sites modern European history in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and even close enough to Upper Silesia before proceeding to its terminus in the former province of Galicia .

Mr. E.....It looks like you are located in both Texas and Budapest, making it a bit easier to get to Montenegro. What a wonderful way to travel and have that option.

Fred, I'm pushing 69 this year myself. I do love the idea of a night train (almost did one from Vienna to Berlin back in '19 but thought it wouldn't give me the rest I needed, it had 14 stops along the route). Happy to see you still going strong.

Mr. E.....It looks like you are located in both Texas and Budapest,
making it a bit easier to get to Montenegro. What a wonderful way to
travel and have that option.

I havent been in Texas in almost 4 years. But being an extended tourist here has made me appreciate how small europe is with discount airlines.

Mr E. Definitely the low cost airlines have made it easy for cost and proximity to see places for a day or weekend, and/or choose train (for the environment) as often as possible. Happy to hear you have "settled" in one place.

I wish I had 3 weeks! I will be doing 3 “cities” in 10 days. I am a full-time working mom in my late 40s. And this is my annual solo trip.

Vienna looks like a great addition to itinerary. But to give you another idea…
How about Krakow in Poland? That’s where I will be before going to Budapest. I am flying but there is a direct train, I believe. Mr E will know.
There are a few day trips possible from there. Im spending 2 full days in Krakow and 1 day trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
There are lots of other interesting towns in Poland that I will need to leave for another trip.

Forgot to add. I switched the order of my itinerary so I could be in Budapest during their wine festival (September 9-12). I will attend one day as I love wine and the event is at the Buda Castle. How unique!
In case that is of interest to you, you can plan your September trip around it. I also tried to avoid the Budapest marathon the weekend before. As Mr Ee said, always good to know what’s happening when planning a trip.

TY Joy, your trip sounds like it will be a blast. I've been bouncing around on where to go also in Sept. First, was looking at Netherlands/Belgium but decided to wait until next spring for Keukenhof and include that of course. Then was thinking of Poland too (Auschwitz). I went to Dachau in '19 but I know there is something profound about Auschwitz. So much to see in such a short time. Kudos to you on your solo travel. I have as well but the last 3 trips were with my sister and her husband. (Italy 2 and France 1). Maybe I'll see you in Budapest. TY again for sharing.

I agree with the responses regarding Vienna. Lots there and plenty to do.

Or, it sounds like your planned dates would allow a trip to Munich for Oktoberfest. Some avoid it and some go back year after year.

TY JKH, I am leaning to go bk to Vienna or Munich as my 3rd city. I was in both places for only 3 nights each and definitely didn't see/do enough on that trip. I don't mind taking train or a quick flight as needed to do that. I do like Octoberfest but don't really drink anymore (meds) and would prefer to go with someone rather than solo, at least for that part. Man can't live on pretzels alone.