8 days in Eastern Europe

Vienna and Budapest will easily fill the time you have allocated. Taking trains, or a boat, from one to another is more than feasible. Trying to add Prague is going to make your trip too rushed. I would do, at most, 2 cities.

Logistically it sounds reasonable to do Vienna and Budapest in your time frame.

Where in eastern Europe are you going? Munich, Vienna and Budapest are located in central Europe.

Naaaaaa, Rick says Hungary is in Eastern Europe and Rick is never wrong. I dont know how old Sarah is, but if she were my generation then, when speaking of Hungary, the term is ideal to communicate the region in question.

Or we could use the old UN fall back:

United Nations Eastern European Group

The Eastern European Group consists of 23 Members States (12% of United Nations members), and as such is the regional group with the fewest member states. Its territory is composed of land from Eastern Europe, as well as parts of Central Europe Southeast Europe.

The Eastern European Group has two seats on the Security Council: Russia's permanent seat and one non-permanent seat. The Group also has six seats on the Economic and Social Council and six seats on the Human Rights Council. In the rotation for the election of the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the Group is responsible for electing nationals from its Member States in years ending with 2 and 7; most recently, Miroslav Lajčák of Slovakia was elected to this position for 2017.
Members of the Eastern European Group are as follows:
• Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine

But granted, many of these countries would prefer to shed the stigma of the cold war and like other descriptions: EXCEPT when it comes to tourism. "Eastern Europe" is actually a good tourist draw. Thats why Rick uses the term.

Day one arrive Munich
Day two Munich to Budapest (plane 1.25 hours, Lufthansa for about $150)
Day 3 Budapest
Day 4 Budpest
Day 5 Budapest
Day 6 Budapest to Vienna (moring train 2.5 hours)
Day 7 Vienna
Day 8 Vienna to Munich (train)
Day 9 depart

hmmmmm tight. I would hate to take a day out of Budapest and Vienna really deserves one more day.

So

Day one arrive Munich
Day two Munich to Budapest (plane 1.25 hours, Lufthansa for $200 to $300 round trip)
Day 3 Budapest
Day 4 Budpest
Day 5 Budapest to Eger (train, about 2 hours) [OPTION: train to Pecs]
Day 6 Eger to Budapest
Day 7 Budapest
Day 8 Budapest to Munich
Day 9 depart

Much better and more of Eastern Europe!
Unless this sort of thing doesnt interest you? https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ai7Zk-szxfTJhetC2-f3Xc0Rok4Ydw

Naaaaaa, Rick says Hungary is in Eastern Europe and Rick is never wrong.

Well, that changes everything then. :)

Its territory is composed of land from Eastern Europe, as well as parts of Central Europe, Southeast Europe.

It appears the UN "Eastern" Europe Council even admits that its member states also come from Central Europe and Southeast Europe.

Even though not geographically and culturally correct, I guess labeling countries like Croatia, Czechia, or Poland as "Eastern" gives them a sort of intrigue and mystique, better marketing that way.

Even Cameron Hewitt, the co-author of many Rick Steves' guidebooks (including Eastern Europe), admits that these countries are in-fact in Central Europe in this travel talk:
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/travel-talks/czech-republic-poland-hungary-with-cameron-hewitt

Isn't it kind of silly to argue about the name of the region? Vienna and Budapest. That's all we need.

When you are in Vienna, if you enjoy wine, you should not miss the heurigern, the wine taverns on the edge of town.

Leave Prague for when you return next year. I would suggest that you fly to Budapest (3 nights) the day you land in Munich, train to Vienna (4 nights) and train to Munich the day before you depart. Adding another destination implies losing 1/2 day in travel time. You can do a day trip to Bratislava from Vienna.

We did something similar a couple of years' ago, except we didn't return to Munich and also included a stop in Salzburg.

We had three full days in Munich, including one day visiting Nuremberg and half a day at Dachau. Without the Nuremberg trip (great city by the way - highly recommend, much more interesting than Munich), two days would have been enough for Munich and without Dachau, one full day would have been okay.

We spent four full days in Vienna, with one day trip to Bratislava. That day-trip was a waste and Bratislava is very boring, even worse than Brussels. Two days would probably be enough in Vienna, unless you have a palace-fetish. It's a nice enough city, but "wow" sights are limited. Most of interest is just walking around admiring how incredibly and unnaturally clean it is.

We spent four full days in Budapest and that was just right. There is a lot to see, though some of the sights are crap (e.g. the natural history museum and national gallery). But it's the most relaxing city of the three and has the best variety of good sights such as the castle. Whilst Vienna seems to ignore its river, Budapest celebrates it. Budapest is also more picturesque (though it is a big destination for British stag and hen parties - if you're a grumpy old toad and don't like others having fun, that might annoy you; I know a lot of American tourists are like that).

I wouldn't add another city such as Prague. Travel time will eat into your holiday, so the theoretical "full days" become part days unless there is a sleeper service.

We travelled between all these by railway, but as I noted above, didn't need to get back to Munich from Budapest.

I call the area Central Europe or East Central Europe, geographically and culturally, regardless how RS labels it...irrelevant.

The problem with Prague is there are no direct trains from Munich. Instead there's a bus, and it's a nice bus, but it's slows the journey down.

You don't state whether you want to spend any time in Munich or you want to focus on these other cites exclusively. Assuming you are just using Munich as a jumping off point, you could do this:

Day 1: Fly Munich to Budapest directly from Munich airport (Lufthansa has multiple flights per day, 1 hour 15 min flight time)
Day 2: Budapest
Day 3: Budapest
Day 4: Train to Vienna (2 1/2 hours)
Day 5: Vienna
Day 6: Vienna
Day 7: Train to Munich (4 hours)
Day 8: Fly home

Now if you really wanted to squeeze in Prague, you end up short changing all 3 cities, IMO, but it's certainly doable to get a "taste" of them. Here's how I'd do it:

Day 1: Fly to Budapest
Day 2: Budapest
Day 3: Train to Vienna
Day 4: Vienna
Day 5: Train to Prague (4 hours)
Day 6: Prague
Day 7: Bus/fly to Munich (4 hours 40 minutes)
Day 8: Fly home

That's a lot of time in transit in that itinerary. I'd stick with the one I suggested above tbh

@Kaeleku - or better yet... AFK Eastern Europe FFK Central Europe: "Area Formerly Known as Eastern Europe Formerly Formerly Known as Central Europe" lol :)

This whole "Eastern Europe" thing is a fairly recent development by the U.S. during the Cold War, to lump together those unfortunate countries that fell under the Soviet Influence, after Yalta, as the "Eastern" Bloc.

Before the Cold War, those areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were still known as Central Europe or Middle Europe (Mitteleuropa). This goes back to the Medieval Times, with the Magdeburg Privileges, granted by the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, which was the basis of law for Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland.

It's not an accident that those countries that opposed the Allies in 1914 were labeled as the "Central Powers" (Mittelmächte), geographically from "the Maas to the Memel and from the Etsch to the Belt."

The issue of labeling this region is one of consideration to the local population. Don’t you dare say to a Viennese that they are Eastern European. Eastern Europe holds a negative connotation for those that actually live in Central Europe and they would resent this label. It’s funny to me how this is a total Rick fail, despite his attempts to back door.

Rick, at least in the begining, was or still is catering to an audiance which immediately comprehends Eastern Europe; but not so much Central Europe. So, if the intent of language is to convey meaning to a particular audience, he has been successful; and not necessarily incorrectly if you consider that the UN does the same.

Yes, outside of tourism, most folks in Budapest prefer Central Europe. A while back in a conversation with some Budapestians I referred to the area as Eastern Europe; the immediately responded by telling me to shut up and drink my beer

So the train to Prague is about 6 hours, 7.5 total door to door. The plane to Budapest will be 5 door to door. That's close enough to ask yourself, which most interests me? But I wouldn't try both. There are a number of good day trips and overnight trips out of Prague and Budapest to make seeing one or the other worth while.

Huh, I didn't realize a Czech service was running a direct train. However it's slower than Deutschebahn's bus so I can't imagine why you'd take it. Kinda defeats the purpose.

Also they're currently on strike and so the train is replaced by...a bus.

We spent four full days in Vienna, with one day trip to Bratislava. That day-trip was a waste and Bratislava is very boring, even worse than Brussels.

Hah! The tourism campaign for Bratislava is "The city where you find real life". One of the featured click buttons is "Road closures in Bratislava".

Why are/must you fly into Munich if it’s so far from the places that you really want to visit? Which such limited time that might not be a good call. If it’s because you can fly to Munich and only Munich for free, I might suggest visiting places closer to Munich instead.