If you could pick just one city to visit: Amsterdam or Vienna

If art is your passion- Amsterdam.
If History or music- Vienna.
Food and beer- its a toss up.

Two of my all-time favorite places. Don't think you can go wrong with either.

I'd pick Amsterdam just for a little more contrast with the other cities you are visiting. Have fun.

Vienna was an imperial city for many many centuries and has all the elements remaining from those ages. It is a truly historic European city. Beautiful, palaces,museums,etc. Plus all the outstanding charm that has returned after too many years after WWII with Russian heartlessness.

Amsterdam is beautiful but a very small city comparatively speaking with a world class art museum and of course the Van Gogh museum. Charming canals, the interesting north european architecture.

Both good choices but were it up to me, it would be Vienna. More old worldly, still has that Fin de Siecle charm characteristic of a bygone age.

Amsterdam is fun, Haarlem is an interesting day trip. Vienna is stuffy (and I'm old and conservative) and not much constrast to the rest of the agenda, as others have stated.

I'm not a fan of Amsterdam so I would take Vienna.

I think Amsterdam is worth seeing but I don't rate it high at all.

It is by far the dirtiest city you will experience in Northern Europe (you have to go to Naples to find worse). The galleries are disappointing (any major city in Europe has better galleries). The illicit drug and sex culture are what make it unique; if you're not into that, it's not worth much more than a day or two.

Vienna has a better and wider assortment of sites by far. It also has a lot more to offer than Bratislava or Budapest. Of the group, Vienna is the one I be least likely to skip.

You have to decide. I'm just concerned that you'll pick Amsterdam without a good idea of what you're choosing.

I've never found Amsterdam to be dirty. This intersection is a five minute walk from Centraal Station:

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Two of the best art museums in the world are located in the city: Rijksmuseum, and Van Gough. The brand new Hermitage Museum is spectacular. There's plenty of sites in the city that don't involve sex or drugs:
Anne Frank, Resistance Museum, Tropical Museum, Zoo, City Museum, Heineken Experience, Botanical Gardens, Jewish Museum, Portuguese Synagogue, temporary exhibits at the Old and New Churches, Royal Palace, Rembrandt House, FOAM Photography Museum, Ajax Stadium Tour, Scheepvaart Maritime Museum, City Library, Boom Chicago Comedy Club, and the Stedelijk modern art Museum.

I like Vienna but Amsterdam is probably my favorite city in the world. Most of the time when people complain about the city, I find that they stayed within a few blocks of the train station. Virtually every city -- including Vienna -- is grittier and less attractive around the train station. But the canals and museum district of Amsterdam are much more beautiful than the historic center of Vienna, which reminds me in many ways of the government sector of Washington, D.C., but with less traffic.

I too haven't found AMS to be dirty and have always enjoyed the city. Can you not do both cities - keep most of your time for Vienna and just extend your long layover in AMS to be one day/night. It is easy to get to and from the airport so this will give you some time to get a feel for Amsterdam which you can visit more fully in the future.

I tend to love small stopovers that let me explore a new city or place that I otherwise would not see. However, most people want to just get to their destination. These stopovers will cost you in terms of some time and money but I consider that part of the travel experience. I know I didn't answer your question about picking just one city but this maybe an option considering.

I like both cities, Amsterdam maybe a bit more. However, since you're already in the "neighbourhood" I'd choose Vienna this time. It's very easy to come back to Amsterdam another time since it has a major airport and is often a layover point. It's a bit more difficult to arrange another trip to a different part of Europe and then include Vienna.

I like to have contrast between the cities I see on an individual trip, so if I didn't have the biases against Amsterdam that I do, I would pick it over Vienna, since you are already seeing a lot of more Eastern European stuff.

However, I myself really don't care for Amsterdam, and have been there several times. It's not that I hate it, it's just there are so many other cities I like so much more it seems bland by comparison. I don't find the food there particularly great, and the sights are okay, but not standouts. I have not found Amsterdam to be particularly more dirty than any other large European city. I do believe that Amsterdam is overhyped as a destination because of the appear it holds to people who want to smoke decriminalized pot and/or are curious about legal prostitution.

Wow, thank you all for your insight. Part of the fun (at least to me) of travel is planning your trip -- so I appreciate all of your responses. I enjoy reading all of them. Keep em coming if you are just reading this.

Amsterdam's "underbelly" isn't why I'd consider going there. That's not for us. But there seems to be great reasons, pros/cons for either. I suppose I could travel through vienna sted B'lava -- but I've heard Bratislava is a city that doesn't take very long to see (as opposed to Vienna; too much to do there for just one day, right?). And I really just want to break up the train trip. Normally I don't like to just hustle through cities just to check them off of a list.

I swear, I have gone through at least 10 "rough drafts" of my itinerary. But that's what makes it great, right?

Thanks again!

I have never been to Vienna (and really don't have much of a desire to make a trip out of it) but would return Amsterdam in a heartbeat. I loved it.

I love Amsterdam. I have never found it to be dirty, and have never felt at all impacted by the drug and/or sex aspects. I love the architectural integrity of the historic city center, the beautiful canals, and the mindset that has made this city an open and tolerant world center for hundreds of years. Surely there are no flies on Vienna, a regal city itself, but there's something about Amsterdam that connects with me. As museums go, however, is the Rijksmuseum work complete? In April 2008 only a small sampling of works was open to the public. Have a great time wherever you go.

Comparing Amsterdam and Vienna is definitely one of contrasts. It's been pointed out the art museum in Amsterdam is well worth seeing, in Vienna there is the Kunsthistorisches Museum in regards to art.

What the 2 cities have in common is a night train that is a direct link, which gives you the chance of seeing both on this trip. It's a pretty long ride---I've taken it.

My choice would be Vienna, where you have that step back-in-time feeling.

Both are nice and worth a few days. Vienna is a more refined social environment whereas Amsterdam is more socially laid back and casual, maybe more of a party atmosphere in comparison to Vienna. For a husband/wife trip I would pick Vienna over Amsterdam. We were in Vienna in July and for several months during the summer they have a beer garden/food area with evening concerts right in front of the Rathaus (old city hall). You will enjoy either location!

Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities. I think too many tourists focus on the sex shops since that's right near the train station and that forms their impression of the city. But Amsterdam has wonderful museums & parks, lots of cafes for sitting and people watching with a cup of coffee or a beer, and plenty of nice restaurants. If you ask at your hotel desk they can tell you about some places favored by locals instead of tourists. To me, Amsterdam is what Venice wants to be -- charming areas, canals, and room to walk.

Amsterdam is much more multi-cultural whereas Vienna is your romantic old-world sound-of-music like city. They're too different to really compare them with each other. With your itinerary A you stay within one culture zone (old K&K monarchy) whereas with B you'd get to see 3 K&K cities plus one completely different one. Then of course Vienna is the old K&K capital and definitely the most worthwhile of the three. How about doing Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest and Prague and skipping Bratislava/Pressburg?

I agree with Andreas in seeing the big places this time. Amsterdam and Vienna by that night train, although it's a long one, can be done; Prague can be your last stop in east-central Europe before heading back north. As mentioned earlier, skip Pressburg, concentrate on the big cities instead.

For the record, I never went to the red light district. As Austin Powers would say, "It's not my bag."

We stayed at Vondelpark Hostel, which is near the museums and out of downtown. We had three kids with us and a walk through Vondelpark in early October included dodging needles and groups of people doing drugs.

I liked the Van Gogh museum best. It's claim to fame is seeing early works by the artist that look like they were painted by someone else. Van Gogh painted multiple versions of his most recognizable works so you will see them at major museums everywhere.

The picture Michael includes is fairly typical A'dam. What you can't see in the picture is a good number of bicycles look like they've been run over by cars and are simply trash chained to poles.

We saw litter everywhere, which is noticably unlike any other Northern European city. If you haven't been to other places first, you might not notice it. If you are used to the tidyness that is common in the North, it's kind of shocking.

Words like relaxed and tolerant are good to describe the place, but saying it's full of potheads is about the same thing. We heard the term "Venice of the North" more than once. Each time I heard it, I thought "Jamaica of the North" would be more appropriate.

I liked the architecture and canals. Public transportation was good.

As I said, I think A'dam is worth seeing but am not a fan. I'd prefer to spend my Netherlands time outside of A'dam.

The picture Micheal includes is fairly typical A'dam. What you can't see in the picture is a good number of bicycles look like they've been run over by cars and are simply trash chained to poles.

It's quite easy to get a closer look at those bicycles:

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They look like they're in good condition to me. The Dutch prefer to use very cheap no frills bikes. You won't see any flashy mountain type bikes like in the US.

Michael,

Not necessarily in your picture but in A'dam in general there are a lot of unusable bikes chained to polls.

Yes the usable ones there are pretty no frills too, because of the high incidence of theft.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dutchamsterdam/127224053/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joereach/3873647671/in/pool-flyingbikes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikekrieger/2913713421/in/pool-flyingbikes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joereach/3842380292/in/pool-flyingbikes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpbourque/296678372/in/pool-flyingbikes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfgangjosten/174846992/in/pool-flyingbikes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36161769@N05/3429038424/in/pool-flyingbikes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joereach/3770825497/in/pool-flyingbikes

Unusable bikes chained to poles! What a hell-hole Amsterdam has turned into! The Dutch Government has taken this "tolerance" thing too far! Rip up those bikes lanes, build American style freeways and strip malls, and be like the rest of the world!

I was making a joke.

Again: I like both Amsterdam and Vienna. But, in light of the derogatory remarks about Amsterdam, I should point out the following: According to recent postings on TripAdvisor, there is a great deal of loud and unsightly construction in the historic part of central Vienna, including St. Stephens Cathedral. That was a problem last year, and recent reports say it is even more so at present. The train station in Amsterdam was also the site of construction work when I was there a couple of years ago, but I never regarded that as a destination, so it was not a problem.