Itinerary for May 2026, any suggestions?

Those are all wonderful place to visit, but consider doing less travel within Europe to save time and money.
My wife and I did four weeks in the Uk and didn't even do London and we didn't see everything we wanted.

What about just doing the UK on this trip and do Vienna and Budapest on another trip?

Other great places to visit in the UK,
Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Salisbury, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, the Cotswolds, Cornwall, Devon, Stratford Upon Avon, Blenheim Palace, York (especially York), Durham, Hadrian's Wall, Chester, Liverpool.
In Scotland, Galway, St. Andrews, Inverness, Loch Ness and much more.

That's great that you have a whole there! I definitely think timewise your itinerary looks pretty good.

That said, I would add an additional night to Budapest and take away a night from Vienna. Vienna is lovely, but Budapest is something special, in my opinion, especially since you like good architecture. You could easily use another night there, and five nights is good for Vienna.

ETA: I also think that breaking up London like that is not a bad idea. I've done that before with other cities like Berlin and Istanbul (and London), and it's nice because you get a little break from the city. Then you can come back and see some of the things you didn't get to see before with a bit of a fresh perspective.

You will probably be hammered by those that believe 5 hours on a train is faster than 1 hour in a plane (because the train drops you at yout hotel room). Or believes you should pass up dreams in favor of convenience.

If all those connections work well for you, have a blast. The cost? We'll, Elon if you aren't worried neither am I.

Finally, Vienna vs Budapest. On sheer scale Budapest wins out needing more time unless you are a museum hound, then Vienna wins. Cost, Budapest wins, Food, maybe a tie till you figure in cost, then Budapest. Music and theater, Vienna for excellence and Budapest for accessibility and connections to local common folk culture. Wine, Budapest. So, its a depender ....

You seem to be trying to combine what would be two separate trips for some travelers (England and Scotland; and Hungary and Austria) into one long trip. Can you take flights from the United States straight to Vienna and start your trip in Vienna and then after Hungary, fly from Budapest to either London or Edinburgh and then fly back to the USA from either London or Edinburgh?

It looks like you have 27 nights. I have traveled to different parts of Europe 7 times. My longest of those trips was a night on the plane and 13 nights on the ground. I hadn't thought to start in one country and fly to a farther away place and continue my trip. I went to parts of Belgium and the Netherlands in one 13-night trip. I just did parts of one country on the other trips. Your supposed plan could logistically work. If I had 27 nights I probably would do just two to 4 neighboring or adjacent countries. But I don't know that this idea is necessary or better that skipping around to non-adjacent countries.

Thank you for these replies. These are all good things for us to think about. We have taken several trips with England as the first and final destination, partly because it is a place we love to spend time in, and partly cause the travel time has seemed shorter than going elsewhere in Europe from our small airport near home. I hope that makes sense.
But it is good for us to think about. I am unsure about the Budapest to Edinburgh part, and am still figuring all this out.

Well, Ryan Air has several nonstop 3 hour flights a week BUD - EDI. Some days are cheaper than others. But it looks like an easy trip. You’d just have to make sure it goes on the day you want to fly.

Thanks so much for this Texastravelmom. I have never flown Ryan Air. We have been using mostly British Airways in Europe. How is that airline, Ryan Air?

With the style of the trip, i just assumed you checked out Ryan and Wizz and a few of the other discounts (EasyJet, Eurowings come to mind) and that's why you thought the trip worked. Ryan is fine. The past few years I have used them to Croatia and Malta, in the past Bulgaria and I am certain I am forgetting a flight. They got the job done well. Wizz also gets the job done with no problems and with Budapest being a hub i end up on them a little more often. Even with a checked bag Ryan can be a good deal. Basic economy, but these are less than 3 hour flights.

Use Google Flights and see who is making trips.

When I fly the budget airlines within Europe, I always upgrade to the level of having an assigned seat and a checked bag. Carryon requirements are often smaller than larger airlines and I don’t want to mess with it. I’ve flown Easy Jet, Wizz, and Ryan Air with no problem since I don’t try to walk the line on restrictions. Google Flights is a good site to check out who flies where on what days.

On the subject of English Cathedrals some others in easy day reach to London which I've been to this weekend are Gloucester (hourly direct train, just under 2 hours), Portsmouth, Chichester, Guildford (an unashamedly modern Cathedral) and Bristol.
I was at Bristol tonight for evensong (having been there 'normally' on Saturday) I don't think at Cathedral evensong anywhere I have ever sat behind the choir. At the Office hymn I had my very best singing voice and pronunciation on!! A very intimate feeling experience.
It's a very unique story Bristol Cathedral is telling as they face head on the legacy of slavery in the city.
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RyanAir is absolutely fine. Just check which airport they are going to, as they are known for going to secondary/out of town airports (for a long time their "Vienna" airport was Bratislava and their "Barcelona" airport was Girona, for example). If I were to rank European low cost carriers I would say easyJet definitely the best, then RyanAir, and Wizz is the worst. With Wizz we've often had schedule changes after booking or once they even abolished the route after booking and we had to figure out a new way to get home. I definitely wouldn't advise against flying with them but if you have a choice, I'd choose other airlines first.

If you're interested in cathedrals within day trip distance of London, I would add Ely, Lincoln, and Norwich to the list above.

I'm happy I haven't needed to use RyanAir. The airline is notorious for gotchas that can be painfully expensive. They've recently decided to accept only electronic boarding passes, I believe. What happens if your phone fails in some way? In the past, arriving at the airport without a boarding pass (paper or electronic) cost an issuance fee of over $50.

There's also the bit about requiring Americans (and other nationalities) to show their passports at an often-separate, hard-to-find desk in addition to usual airport procedures. Folks have been known to miss flights as a result of having to find that extra desk. It appears RyanAir loves for passengers to miss flights, because they then have to buy a new ticket at the usually-high walk-up price.

Budget airlines tend to have restrictive size and/or weight limits for carry-on bags and other negative features, but the two RyanAir gotchas I've described above are unique to that airline, as far as I know.

I would highly recommend Stonehenge and Bath as a day trip from London. I did it my first time in London and was a highlight. For Edinburgh, I also recommend at least one day trip out of the city into the Highlands. I did Loch Ness my first time there which was a bit touristy but worth it and even just the drive was worthwhile imo. The landscapes are beautiful. I did Stirling Castle, the Highland Lochs, and a Whisky tasting my second visit. I recommend Wee Red Bus for day trips out of the city.

You already have a action packed list of cities, but I would recommend Prague if you are doing Vienna and Budapest.

acraven is one of the more reliable posters here. If she says something, it’s from experience or she defines it as otherwise and she did here. That is true ethics. So, I hate to argue with her. When I do I know there is a good chance that I am wrong, but do check on your own.

As for the electronic boarding passes, I do believe you can print them if you want. But, while I fought it for years, I have given in and I have used electronic boarding passes on every fight fo the last 3 years. Its just where technology is today. I get paranoid too which is why I put the boarding pass in Google Wallet and why I carry a power supply.

The “often separate, hard to find desk” is, as near as I can tell, a requirement if you are not able to properly upload your passport information to the Ryan website. I suspect that if that’s the case you can just go to the check-in desk. But maybe there is more to it. I cant find a lot on line … meaning not a lot of folks with the same complaint (none actually). But still might be a deal. Don’t know. I have not encountered it but its been a couple of months since I have flown Ryan.

I also don’t find the carry-on and the personal item sizes to be “restrictive”, just what they are which is a bit smaller than United for instance. Maximum Dimensions of Carry-on: 22 in x 16 in x 8 in / 55 cm x 40 cm x 20 cm. Maximum Weight of Carry-on: 22 lbs (10 kg) which is a bit more than some to the legacy airlines. Maximum Dimensions of Small Bag: 15.7 x 9.8 x 7.9 in / 40 x 30 x 20 cm which is fairly in line with most. If that doesn’t work for you, check a bag.

The discounts are as much about the routes and the costs. Often they tend to go where the big boys wont.

Thank you all for these great replies. I will read through them carefully. Just to respond to a few suggestions, we were in Bath a few times in the last few years and loved it. From there we went to Stonehenge using Celtic Horizons for transport to the Stone Circle evening tour and we also went to Avebury and walked the Procession ? Walk into Avebury. Lovely!! And we went to a nearby burrows.
We did go to Salisbury and loved the Cathedral there and also walked to Old Sarum from there and loved seeing the ruins.

Mr E, I am wondering about the “5 hours on a train verses 1 hour on a plane”. Do you mean the train from Vienna to Budapest? I thought that was only 2 1/2 hours but please correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks.

Circa 2 1/2 hours is right.

Happy travels!

mlstimetotravel, no, no place in particular. And its very dependent on departure and arrival cities. But, hotel door to hotel door can, not always. be as fast or faster by plane when the train time is at about 4 hours. But you have to do all the math for the individual trip. Prague to Budapest is one where the flight can save several hours. But to be honest, I dont like the flight arrival times enough on certain days of the week for me to fly. Its complicated. My argument is more against blanket statements than in favor of one or the other.

And yes, Vienna to Budapest is 2:40 when the rrain is n time from Vienna (not often). But I have flown it. Why? Because the Sarajevo to Budapest flight changed in Vienna. Same price if I got off in Vienna ... so I did it. Austrian Air does it a few times a day, so people, mostly Europeans, do it.

Ditto the post which suggests more Budapest than Vienna. Have visited both recently (2nd time for Vienna) and whilst it is beautiful, Budapest has an edge in terms of a wide range of attractions IMO. I spent 6 nights there and wished for so much longer. The food is amazing- cheap and multi ethnic choices, accomodation great value. The Danube is so much a part of the beauty and one can have a fantastic dinner, stroll along the riverbank and back to accomodation if you've chosen strategically. This post is by no means critical of Vienna but just to suggest you get more 'bang for your tourist buck' in Budapest.

On flying directly from the US to Vienna: If you are in CA, flying out of LAX on Austrian Airlines is non-stop direct, at least one departure per day.