Central Europe Cities

These are all great places to visit, but I would do no more than three in a 10-12 day period.

If you haven't done the Romantic Road, the Castles in Fussen/Garmisch and Salzburg/Berchtesgaden then save Munich for another trip and do the other three. Or save Vienna and Budapest for another trip and do all in the prior sentence as well as Prague.

I agree that even with 12 days it would be a mistake to try to cram in all 4 cities. You'll lose at least half a day every time you change hotels, and with 12 nights on the ground in Europe you'd only start out with 11 full, non-jetlagged days.

Munich is the one I'd cut. Personally, I'd choose two of the other three--especially if I had fewer than 12 nights on the ground.

I'd also spend some time on the website timeanddate.com, looking at actual, day-by-day, historical weather statistics to determine a good time to go. I've linked to Budapest's weather data for April 2019. I suspect you'll find that early April can be cool and wet, and late May can be quite warm. It hit 80 F in Budapest very early in May last year, and I think Prague's weather is fairly similar. I haven't researched the situation in Vienna.

My first instinct says also to cut Munich.

I tend to agree with the others that I would cut Munich and do the other three. However if your best air connections are to Munich, then I would do Munich, Vienna, and either Prague or Budapest. It would also depend on if you could get open jaw flights into one city and out of another. If you have to return to your point of entry to fly back home then that would eat up time and probably limit it you to two cities, with day trips from them.

Prague, Vienna, Budapest. Save Munich for a trip to Germany. OR, move fast and do all 4.

Anything less than 2 weeks I would do no more than 2 of those cities. We did Vienna and Budapest together for 10 nights and were left wanting more in both places. All 4 of those cities have plenty of day trip opportunities if you get restless.

Budapest and Prague. If you want a third, perhaps add Vienna. I'm really not a big fan, but I know many people are. Or, how about adding a couple of small cities instead of just big ones.

here's #1 Prague
here's #2 Vienna
here's #3 Budapest
here's # 4,513, Munich.

Note: this inept website won't recognize # as initial text.

I enjoy Eastern Europe so my preference if only two would be Prague and Budapest. The flight between them is about $110 nonstop.

I would skip Budapest, as Munich in the spring is fantastic!

Depends...if you have never seen any of them and have no desperate sites to see, then I say Budapest, Prague and Vienna, focusing on Vienna and Budapest. My first trip over included Vienna and Munich, the 2nd trip I skipped both and went to Prague instead. That was in 1973.

All depends on your interests, also Munich could be the most expensive city out of the four. All four have great public transportation but I wouldn't advise driving in them, as some do have a charge to drive in the city.

I would do Munich, Salzburg and Vienna. Much less travel time in an already short timeframe gives you more time to see things. Also, I find it nice to mix in a smaller city with larger cities. In Salzburg, you could make a day trip or two into the countryside. From Vienna, you could day trip to the Wachau, which I would highly recommend as the apricot blossoms will be out at this time of year. Such a lovely time in Vienna with all the gardens - try to go in May rather than April.