Budapest and Austria-Seeking Advice for 7 Day Trip

Next trip, try to grab a little more time than 7 days on the ground for any European vacation. Adding the weekend before and the weekend after does make a difference. Your arrival day and your departure day are essentially wasted days. And any day traveling between cities is wasted.

I'd split my time between the two cities, as they both have so many sites to see. Budapest is more compact and Vienna is spread out. PM me and I can give you the names of two great places to stay--where we'll be staying just after June 1st.

When we visit new cities, first thing we do is take the Free Walking Tour where the guides work for tips. They're all very excellent tour guides and in most places are licensed by the city. Then we return for their Nightlife Tour where they take you around to a bunch of bars and reasonably priced restaurants. People on the nightlife tour are from all over the world, and they're a very lively bunch. You can find Free Walking Tours online.

Search for any posts by Mister E, who goes there several times a year, and has many good lists of things to do.

Consider the Gellert Baths, which are indoor.

Go to the House of Terror and Monument Park. The National Art Museum on Heroes Square is good, as is the Hungarian Agricultural Museum (odd suggestion). There is a cat cafe, or was a few years back. If you like opera, the Opera House is open again, and it's a great little house - buy your tix immediately. Consider Kadarka Wine Bar. Lots of great restaurants.

We stayed on the Boat Hotel Grand Jules, which was great fun.

In Vienna, go to the heurigeren, the wine bars at the edge of town. Many great art museums, but the most valuable thing in a museum is the little statue of Venus of Willendorf, which may be 20,000 years old. The Belvedere has many pictures of Klimt.

You will be in Vienna for the Easter Markets. There are two - one at Freyung in the city center (crates and crates of photogenic decorated eggs for sale) and one at Schonbrunn (basically a Christmas market but in warmer weather). As I'm sure that you will visit Schonbrunn, you can stop at the market on the way in.

Vienna has many museums and it is easy to overload. You will also likely have nice weather and it would be a shame to spend a lot of time indoors. I think that visiting the Kunsthistoriches and the Belvedere gives an unrepetitive tour of the best art in Vienna. If I were to add an art musuem, I'd add the Leopold as their Art Nouveau collection is outstanding.

If you like to walk, then I strongly suggest doing one of Vienna's wanderwegs (hiking trails) which are well marked in the hillier sections of town. I like Stadtwanderweg 1 , which is 11 km - https://www.wien.gv.at/umwelt/wald/freizeit/wandern/wege/wanderweg1.html. If you want to make it easier, then you can take the 38a bus to Kahlenberg from Heilgenstadt (end of the U4 subway line) and walk down to Nussdorf. Along the way, you will have amazing views of the city (be sure to go to the viewing point by the church on Kahlenberg) and you will walk among vineyards. There are many buschenschank (wineries serving wine and cold food, such as cold cut and cheese platters) along the way down. My favorite is Mayer am Nussberg (https://www.mayeramnussberg.at/) but they only open on April 15. There are others along the way which will likely be open if the weather is warm and it is a weekend. Otherwise, a sure thing is dinner at the bottom of the hill at the heuriger Schuebel Auer (https://www.schuebel-auer.at/) really outstanding food. This experience is very Viennese and will take an afternoon.

For running, I recommend running around the Ring, running in the Belvedere garden (free and nice incline), Augarten and Schonbrunn garden.

I would stay in the First District (Innere Stadt).

I will keep it short here. PM and I will be happy to bore you with details. (get Eyewitness Guide to Budapest on Amazon and you won't need a private guide or group tour unless there is a topic you really want to drill down deep into).

Saturday, 1 April:
Arrive Budapest
You sound like the type that would enjoy staying in District VI or VII; PM and I can give you some ideas.
Do Andrassy ut walk
There is a pretty special wine event this evening (your timing is good)
Dinner and ruin pubs in VII.

Sunday, 2 April:
District V in the afternoon on 2 tram from Great Market Hall up Vaci utca, Corso (lunch with a view), Tram to Parliament, walk to Basilica
Széchenyi Bath
Dinner near the park.

Monday, 3 April:
Trip to Buda in the morning then to Szentendre and the boat back
Wine bars all night.

Tuesday, 4 April:
House of Terror
Jewish Budapest day (district VII and maybe the Jewish cemetery in VIII)
Jazz dinner concert maybe.

Wednesday, 5 April
Morning train to Vienna, stop in Gyor and see Archabbey at Pannonhalma.

Thursday, 6 April

Friday, 7 April

Saturday, 8 April: Get up, eat and leave.

The hotel is closed, and the baths are open .... or so says a very large sign on the front of the building.