Need Help with Itinerary: Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Plitvice Lake in Croatia

Dee, I’ve done the first three; two of them multiple times. Prague is a good place to start because of the first three it’s the most intense while Budapest in my opinion is the most laid back. BUT, if you haven’t noticed by my posts I am somewhat biased when it comes to Budapest.

So
Day 1 Depart the US.
2 Arrive Prague late and pooped out.
3 Prague
4 Prague
5 Morning Train to Vienna (4 hours?)
6 Vienna
7 Vienna
8 Morning Train to Budapest (3 hours)
9 Budapest
10 Budapest
11 Budapest
12 Budapest to Zagreb by train (direct; about 6.25 hours)
13 Zagreb to Plitvice Lake by guide (about 2 hours each way)
14 Zagreb site seeing
15 A little more site seeing in northern Croatia.
16 Return Home

Here is the problem. Zagreb might be a little tough or expensive to get out of for the trip home. You want an open jaw ticket on one carrier or carrier association if possible or it can really get expensive.

You could easily spend 16 days in just Prague, Vienna and Budapest; then save Plitvice Lake for next year when you do a trip through Croatia, down to Dubrovnik and on to Montenegro. Beautiful country and seaside.

If you did decide to save Plitvice Lake for another trip then outside of Prague you could see some castles and Cesky Krumlov. Outside of Vienna you could see Melk and the Wachau Valley, outside of Budapest you could see the Pannonhalma Archabbey and the wine town Eger.

Hey, I actually traveled to Budapest, Prague, Vienna and Bratislava last year ( Bratislava being the capital of Slovakia ). The thing that we did was fly to Vienna, then head to Bratislava (about 30 or 40 miles away if even that much) and after that we went directly to Prague by bus. Bratislava seems to be the center of all bus lines and their bus station has buses going to Prague, Vienna and Budapest as well. The whole trip from Bratislava to Vienna is about an hour long, and the bus trip from Bratislava to Prague is quite a bit longer at around 4 hours. After you get to Prague, there's simply too much to see there and you can really spend weeks exploring the city. It has this great feel that makes is amazing. I personally liked Vienna a bit more, but that was probably because I only spent one night in Vienna which is definitely not enough, especially during the Winter( we were there i February). Anyway I did read a great review about visiting eastern Europe capitals in this hiking blog before I went there last year, but you might have to look for the article as I can't find it right now. Anyway if I had to rank these 3 cities they'd go - Vienna - 1 , Prague - 2, Budapest -3. Don't get me wrong because Budapest has some amazing architecture as well. They have the 2nd biggest parliament building in Europe - trailing only after the UK. It is great to see, especially from the Danube river cruises. The cost of the cruise is about 20 euro if I'm not mistaking. When in Prague there are lots of castles to see and if you want to feel the spirit of Prague - there's a great "pub" kind of - called U Midvidku or something like that. The best part of the town in my opinion is Malostrana. I will try to find some more info about it and send it your way.

Hi Dee, I did the first 3 (haven't been to the other places you names) about 3-4 years ago in May. My trip was 12 days, arriving on the morning of Day 1 (3 hr flight, NO jetlag) and leaving on a red-eye on Day 12. I started in Budapest and ended in Prague because of the flight schedules. I don't think it matters, as long as you go in a "straight" line.

Net of travel time, I had about 4 days in Budapest, 2.5 in Vienna and 4 in Prague. I would have liked to have another day in Vienna. I only stopped there because it was "on the way" but I loved it once I got there. Budapest has some interesting museums (I am a museum worm) and I didn't get to visit all the ones on my list or other sights either. The food is quite good, the wines excellent and nothing was expensive, except for one afternoon of wine-tasting up on Buda hill - but it was so worth it. I used one of my days in Prague to visit Terezin by public bus, and I highly recommend it. I enjoyed Prague and would have been happy to stay longer, but I didn't feel I'd skipped anything.

I had no trouble getting along in English only. Except for taxis to/from hotels with my luggage, I used buses and trams. I did take a couple of taxis in Budapest. I got ripped off once, didn't get into a cab on the street after that. I used taxis that the hotel called for me and the drivers were honest and the fares cheap.

Hi James, Odlo, and Chani, Thank you all for your helpful replies with great suggestions. I will work on my itinerary, look for your posts under each country and will probably contact you when I have more questions. Thanks again! Dee