Belgrade and/or Bucharest

You don't say how much time you have for the three cities already on your itinerary. If you add either Belgrade or Bucharest, would you be subtracting days from the other cities or adding days to your overall trip?

I've been to Bucharest but not Belgrade. I did like Bucharest. If you go, I'd recommend staying three nights so you have two full days.

But depending on how much time you have, adding days in your three other cities might be a better choice.

Ive bern to both. Hands down Bucharest. I have traveled all over Eastern Europe and Belgrade was the least comfortable for me.

The question of are you spending enough time in the other cities is legitimate. We are all different but I would say 3 nights in Prague, 3 to 5 in Vienna and 4 or 5 in Budapest as absolute minimums. Then add a day to the first arrival city.

Having first done that, if Budapest is your last stop I would hop a discount flight to the place that most interests you. The Budapest airport is simple and the flights are cheap. To some degree it depends on how much time you have but what comes to mind are

Malta
Bucharest
Montenegro
Albania
Sofia
Krakow
Lviv or Odesa but those require some special, but doable, travel arrangements.

Are you specifically looking for a larger city? Otherwise, I might suggest Brasov, which is really a charming city not that far from Bucharest (I think it's about a 2 1/2 hour drive). There are a number of day trips you could do while you're there (Peles Castle, Bram Castle and the Bear Sanctuary), and the city itself is just really lovely. It was one of my favorite places in Romania.

Wow! Wonderful comments. I tend not to give enough info at first so I will elaborate a bit. Our plan is to start in Prague, possibly 4-5 days since jet lag will be an issue coming from the States; on to Krakow (3 nights?); then Budapest (4-5 nights?).

If we move on from there, we won't be deducting any time from the first spots. It would be new additions since we're retired and very flexible. We've already done Vienna several times so we aren't interested in going back there.

No, we aren't necessarily looking for only bigger cities. In fact, that's also why I asked about day trips or other possibilities. I've been reading about Brasov and Sibiu and we would be very open to some smaller areas, even around Prague, Krakow and Budapest. RS doesn't have much on Romania and Serbia, which is why I'm trying to do more research and also reach out to all of you.

Thanks!

Ù8One of the issues you need to be sure you want to pursue is the statement that you want to ride the trains. If for enjoyment (you love trains) or for environmental reasons, then yes, go for it.

But you are covering a lot of ground on this trip. Prague to Krakow is about 6 hours on the train, I think. I would have to compare departure and arrival times with the flight to decide which departs at a reasonable time, which gives me the most usable time on arrival and for the flight it may be the day of the week dependent. I suspect the train wins.

Krakow to Budapest is about 10 hours on the direct day train, but there is a night train. The night train isn’t cheap but it might be a fun experience. Of course it arrives at 7 am so then what do you do is sort of a question.

Budapest to Bucharest is a quick little 17 or 18 hours with a change or two. The trains aren’t up to the same standards as Western trains and they tend to run a bit late. Fly. If you wanted to do Brasov, it has become a large enough tourist hub that Wizair flies daily from Budapest in about 90 minutes and about 30€ and up for a ticket. Ive been twice and its nice and good for a day, maybe a day and an night. Bucharest is a better hub for departures back to the states or anyplace else in the world. So you could fly Budapest to Brasov and then Bucharest home.

If you have a somewhat more healthy budget than trains and discount airlines, then I would suggest that Prague to Krakow to Budapest makes for great major stops but rather than make the long haul trips you break it up with one or two night stops along the way. There are a crazy number of options. What I have done is I have gone to Daytrip.com and in this case I would put in Prague to Krakow then see what stops they offer. You may find a few that look to good to pass up and then you find the right bus and train to connect the dots and maybe spend a night in Olomouc for instance. Now you have two 3 hour train trips.

Now from Krakow to Budapest go through Slovakia. That’s going to take more work to figure out because the trains in Slovakia are not as easy. You might even choose a private transfer for a part of the trip. Slovakia is tough. So incredibly beautiful and so incredibly hard to get around. Strbske Pleso and the two Banska towns and even Kosice is nice. Bratislava … naaaaaa not so much. Oh, and the castles. They make the Germans jealous.

If you spend your time and money connecting the first three dots you can save Bucharest for another trip. If you are going to skip Slovakia then do look at the flights. Cheap and fast.

Day Trips and overnight trips in Hungary.
Eger and the Wine Country https://youtu.be/OUuA501Wpts?si=gdaTDVeULx2I7Xym
Szentendre for the Slavic village, arts and crafts
Esztergom for the Basilica
Visegrad for the castle on the hill
Pecs for the ottoman relics and the Zsolnay Ceramics
Lillafüred for the forest train and the lake and the castle https://youtu.be/qhuLmh_ils4?si=rb0KPEYp91-38IVf
Kecskemét for the cowboys and horses
Uzhhorod for the castle, culture https://youtu.be/UWucOJNcZ38?si=0rK6VFkSkPprOZOm

Day Trips and overnight trips in Hungary. Continued
Gyor, just a facinating town about 75 minutes up the train tracks from Budapest. Great for a day then you take a taxi or bus to the Archabbey at Pannonhalma. Worth the time. https://youtu.be/kBYsexwEbPc?si=CXbZokyciezjKXcS.

If you were going in mid May or later, I would say do Prague (4 nights), Krakow (4 nights), Budapest (5 nights) then say, "we did the historic old world, now lets go lay on the beach!!" and hop a 40€ / 90 minute flight to Budva (Podgorica) for a few days before heading home.

I'll add a counterpoint: my wife and I really enjoyed Belgrade. The fact it's Nikola Tesla's home town has something to do with it, but we really enjoyed the scenery from the Belgrade Fortress.

We spent 5 nights in Krakow and I could have spent more time, but I suppose it depends on what you are interested in there.

Thank you to everyone for wonderful comments. Yes, we will add regional flights when trains don't make sense or timing is poor. We love the high speed trains in China and the scenic trains in Switzerland but, everything we read, the trains in these countries don't measure up. We're planning on going into Bucharest now and going out of Prague. Flight times seem to just work better from our location. We are definitely looking into some smaller areas like Sibiu in addition to Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow and Prague. Based on research and the feedback here, we are going to skip Belgrade. Still in planning stages so I'm always open to new comments!

I have not been to either of the cities you want input on. But I am heading to Krakow and Budapest in September. I can only travel for a short time but I think you need at least 3 full days (4 nights) in Krakow (so you can dedicate one day for Auschwitz and/or Salt Mines if that is an interest). And I'm only staying 2 1/2 days in Budapest (3 nights) but I wish I could add one more.

I'm flying from Krakow to Budapest to make the trip faster given my short travel window.

Sibiu is a lovely little town and nice change from Bucharest (also very interesting but big with sights spread out). Good choice! Together you could easily spend a week.