5ish days after Budapest - where to go??

London or Istanbul are great choices. Istanbul has certainly beautiful scenery. What about Berlin? Exciting city but does not have scenery like some other hilly cities because it's flat. Did you think about Paris? Prague has beautiful scenery but you've been already there. I would vote for Istanbul. Scenery hard to match by other cities and prices lower than in other European big cities.

Vienna seems like an obvious choice. A short train ride from Budapest, full of museums and churches, the Danube and Vienna Woods for scenery, plenty of good food. No nonstops to Seattle but Frankfurt would work, or Lufthansa also connects through Toronto. Your tiny German would do some good.

Or follow your interest in London or Istanbul, though Istanbul would be more planning and maybe less "easy to enjoy."

Hope your work will leave you enough time to enjoy Budapest, a wonderful city. I'd choose it over Vienna if I couldn't do both.

Vienna is so easy to get to by train from Budapest, and it's another great large European city. And after controlling so much of the western world, the Hapsburgs have superb residences and museums.
And the city is THE music city of Europe. There are also some great day trips outside of the city, including Bratislava, Slovakia.
We're getting ready to leave for Budapest and Vienna in 2 weeks--our 3rd trip there.

Thanks for these opinions! I spent 3 months in Berlin a few years ago, so I'd rather go somewhere new. I also think I might rather save Istanbul for another trip, since I do think it would be better appreciated about a little research.

So, I'm now thinking either:
- Budapest + Vienna, about 12 days total
- or extending our trip to 18 days, for Budapest + Bruges + Paris, London, or Amsterdam, since we can catch a direct flight home from any of those cities.

My partner suggested Budapest (5/8-14) + Bruges (5/14-17) + Paris (5/17-21) + London (5/21-25)? Or BUD, Vienna, Bruges? BUD, Vienna, Bruges, Paris? Ha. It's tempting to pack in as much as possible, since you're already over there.

I think what I'm most inclined toward right now is a couple smallish charming cities (like Prague, but not Prague). Bruges looks perfect. So, my questions now are:
- Is there another smallish, accessible European must-see city I'm not considering? (Like Siena, Prague, cities that can be happily experienced in a couple of days.)
- If we can easily fly out of London, Paris, or Amsterdam, is it worthwhile spending a couple days at the end in one of these three?

Well, Prague is not really smallish city, it has over million inhabitants. If you want really smallish charming city, it's Cesky Krumlov. One overnight. Nearby Salzburg is not that smallish (but smaller than Budapest, Vienna, Prague, etc.) but certainly charming. At least one overnight but better two.

What you are describing is not a city, it is the High Tatra Mountains of Slovakia. From Budapest there is a pretty nice route that will end you in Vienna for your flight home. Bike riding, hiking, scenery, lakes, rafting, magnificent castles, green forests, fishing, quaint villages; it pretty much all there. You go Budapest to Kosice, Slovakia by train then, by train or car you work yourself through the mountains to Bratislava and Vienna. My wife and I come to Budapest a few times a year for business and have made the trip to Slovakia a few times and love it enough to go back the next opportunity we get,

Hello Raven. I like James' suggestion of traveling from Budapest to the Tatra mountains in Slovakia, and from there to Vienna. That is what I would do. But if you think going to the Tatra mountains would be too complicated for you, an other route that has good scenery is : train from Budapest to Vienna, stay there a few nights, visit Shonbrun palace in Vienna. And in one day : train from Vienna to Melk (charming old buildings with pastel colors) and ride in a boat on the Danube river from Melk to Krems, and train from Krems to Vienna. Fly from Vienna to the U.S.A.

@ Raven...three months in Berlin...fantastic. The obvious choice, as has been pointed out, in your situation is Vienna. Good arguments can be made for choosing that city. But, under your particular circumstances, I myself would pick London or Paris, most likely London over Paris.