Advice on Budapest, Vienna, Prague

Martina Hinks-Edwards did a great job for us in Prague several years ago. She's a Prague native married to an Englishman, very knowledgeable and pleasant.

Hope you can get a prompt refund from the company.

Evan, the good news is this is an easy trip and "self guiding" is pretty easy given its a quick trip; that is you dont have the time to do many of the things where a guide would be essential. But for Budapest check with Andrew. I have used him and recommended him for years: http://guideinbudapest.fw.hu/Site_Brown/Private_guide_in_Budapest.html

Eight Days I am guessing:

Day 1 Arrive Budapest?
Day 2 Budapest
Day 3 Budapest
Day 4 Morning Train to Vienna
Day 5 Vienna
Day 6 Morning Train to Prague
Day 7 Prague
Day 8 Leave?

In reality I hope you have one or two more days??

With such a short trip, the hotel location becomes more important. Choose wisely and centrally located to what you want to see.

Another option is to make the best of each day of travel and look for private transfers so you can see some things along the way and not just sit on the train. For instance, I would maybe hire a driver from Budapest to the archabbey at Pannonhalma and then get dropped at the Gyor train station to go into Vienna (yes, I know a guy, but you can do this by train too).

A great arrival start in Budapest might be get a transfer from the airport to Szentendre and then take the boat into Budapest. Budapest is amazing to see rise up before you as you come down the Danube; and Szentendre is a pretty sweet town on the Danube. (yes, again, I know a guy ..... )

I enjoyed the Pest and Buda walking tours I took that were covered by the Budapest city card. The tours were conducted by Cityrama (this was in 2018). I'm sure there are other options.

You have to take a tour to see the interior of the Parliament building in Budapest, and the English tours have tended to sell out early in the past. If you're interested in that tour, it would probably need to be arranged before you head over the Atlantic. I assume those tours have to be conducted by employees, not guides for private companies.

I didn't feel I needed a guide for the House of Terror in Budapest. I think I just used the audio guide.

I think it would be great to have a private guide in Budapest and in Prague who could give late-20th-century historical background. You should be able to find people who lived through the latter part of the Communist era.

The guide i referenced above will be happy to tell you about Soviet Hungary. He lived it and isn't totally negative about it.

The first thing we do when going to a new city is take one of the "Free Walking Tours" where the guides work for tips. They usually have an inexpensive Pub Crawl or Nightlife Tour where they take you to a number of beer halls, pubs and reasonably priced restaurants. Often, you'll go with people from all over the world--and many are very extroverted--to say the least. We have a ball and get a feel of where to go within the city.

If you need to know where to stay, PM me. I have a great place in Budapest and another in Vienna that we just love. We've been to these cities numerous times, and we feel very comfortable there. The food's also good for our American tastes.

I can chime in on where to stay.... at least the zone.

In general District VI. In particular (get a map) the area bordered by Teréz krt. (the outer loop road), Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út (the inner loop road), Dob utca (one of the roads that borders the Jewish Deportation Ghetto zone) and Ó utca (a block or so behind the Opera House). In the center of this area runs Andrassy ut and under Andrassy ut runs the M1 Metro. The area is also bordered by two Tram lines and between those three you can get anyplace in town. If you get a block away from Andrassy the town begins to get "real" very quickly.

In that zone I have stayed at the K&K Opera a number of times over the years and think its an excellent all around hotel; The Corinthia Hotel, a pretty amazing 5 star hotel and fairly good prices for 5 star service and accommodations; The Ambra Hotel, a pretty nice budget hotel (but the rooms are a bit small, but i like the location a lot cause its a few hundred feet from my favorite wine bar).

The one place you dont want to stay on your first trip in Buda; just too far from most of the things to see. I've stayed in a few hotels in Buda, but I will spare you. The second worst is District V. That's the tourist heart of Budapest and while you need to walk down Vaci street at least once, beyond that you just have to deal with all of the river boat tourists.

In Prague, I dont know how you could do better than the Ventana Hotel https://www.ventana-hotel.net/

In Vienna, well, well, okay I have stayed in two hotels in Vienna over the years; both well located one on, one just off the Kärntner Straße; both very forgettable. Sorry, cant help with that.

In Prague, I would definitely recommend Jason with Living Prague Tours. , as have many others on the forum.

Budapest, Vienna and Prague are three of the most Bohemian cities in the world. Budapest perhaps the best honky tonks anywhere called Ruin Bars.

When we go to a new city, we take a Free Walking Tour in the a.m. where tour guides work for tips. We start there seeing the highlights of the city on foot. You can find them online and where their tours meet.

The tour company will also have a pub crawl tour or nightlife tour (not free) that you can take that night. They take you to reasonably priced restaurants, beer halls and night clubs--often off the beaten path. And the people that go on those nightlife tours are from all over the world and shall I say extroverts. It's great fun.

Then you'll know the lay of the land and have your feet on the ground--knowing where to go in the city.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I am continuing to research and planning on booking soon. We are considering MotelOne in both Vienna and Prague because we love the beds, locations and hardy breakfasts that we can usually make lunch from. Should we take trains or buses between each city?

There are two good ways to make the trip. Either train Prague to Vienna to Budapest; or if you are like me (and I may be a minority) I can not bear long train trips (Prague to Vienna is 4.5 hours) so would prefer to land in Prague then fly to Budapest and then train to Vienna. All things considered the Fly/Train method is a tad shorter travel time as well. But either works. Bus? No.

Sorry no MotelOne in Budapest. But the price is about the same as the Ambra. Sure you can find others in the same price range. You might have to go a tad further out on Andrassy ut, but thats okay because the M1 runs right under Andrassy ut, is convenient and very easy to use.