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8 Days Christmas Markets, Two or Three Cities?

Posted by (Marble Town, Earth) on

Is 8 full days enough to see Budapest, Vienna, AND Prague? How should I split my days?

I have 8 full days (9 nights but I arrive in Europe late and leave early) for Christmas Markets this year. Currently I have plane tickets to arrive in Budapest and depart from Vienna, but I can easily change the departure to be out of Prague instead, if needed.

I was originally thinking doing 3 nights Budapest, 3 nights Prague, and 3 nights Vienna, but I'm wondering if this is too short for each city. Would it be better to just split my time between Budapest and Vienna and save Prague for another trip? It would be my family's first time in all of these cities.

What do you guys think?

Posted by
3054 posts

I would only go to two places with 8 days. That way you can enjoy more of the cities, besides their markets. If you are only interested in the markets and nothing else in the cities, then you could do three.
Vienna and Budapest are what I think of as "neighbors". I would choose those two cities...4 full days in each. Fly into one and out of the other.

Posted by
9505 posts

I move quickly during trips, but bringing a family, I concur that limiting it to two locations is best. There’s a lot to see in each of those cities, and you want it to be a positive experience. Budapest & Vienna will be a great itinerary!

Posted by
25801 posts

A suggestion below. This doesn’t really work because some things are dependent on day of the week so the days will need to be rearranged based on your actual travel dates. This is to illustrate that you will indeed use the time

Day 1 Arrive in Budapest (N1). As you say “late”. How late is “late”? If you are tired, jet lagged then:

Day 2 Budapest (N2):

Day 3 Budapest (N3):

  • Morning at Castle Hill tour and markets. The Castel Museum is excellent, the tour of Matthias Church is excellent, Fisherman’s Bastion, the Funicular, Hospital in the Rock. Choose a few. You could do the whole day or you could choose a half day and go to Szentendre in the afternoon.
  • Afternoon in Szentendre. It is a very simple half-day trip using a local commuter train. It is a free or almost free trip that takes about 45 minutes to a lovely artist village with a very nice Christmas Market.

Day 4 Budapest (N4):

  • Morning at a Bathhouse. Suggest Széchenyi Thermal Bath because it’s the easiest for a first time and its close to your hotel.
  • Afternoon in and around the Parliament for the Parliament tour, the Shoes on the Danube, Antique Shops, the 2 Tram scenic ride.
  • Evening should be a performance venue. Hungarians love their music and their theater. The Opera House is the easiest choice, but there are a couple of magnificent old play houses that sometimes have English performances or English surtitles projected above the proscenium opening. Then there are a few pure music venues for classical to jazz. You might want to do this on more than one evening. Pick the right evening and it can be a very Hungarian experience. But for everything you have to buy the tickets the week they go on sale.
  • This thread is about the Liszt Academy, but in the thread there is a list of other venues as well: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/liszt-academy-tours

Day 5 Budapest (N5):

  • The morning walk of boulevard that runs past the Great Synagogue to the Great Market Hall is good for a walk for the architecture and the antique print and book shops and spice shops. The great market hall is a good stop as well.
  • The afternoon and early evening in a couple of smaller less touristy Christmas markets.
  • The evening pull out all the stops for the best possible goodbye dinner experience. Fine Hungarian dining with gypsy music maybe.

Day 6 Morning Train to Vienna (2.6 hours) (N6):

Day 7 Vienna (N7), 8 Vienna (N8), 9 Vienna (N9), 10 Flight home from Vienna

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