Opinion on order of travel: Budapest, Vienna, Prague

I don't have an opinion on your order of cities, but it's not too early, esp if you are flying MultiCity. Prices are MUCH cheaper if you book on opening day which is 330 days from your return trip home. We go to Europe at least once a year and we always find our best deal on opening day. We've even flown Premium Select or Comfort Plus cheaper than coach by booking early..

It's always nice to get the feedback that the Forum has helped folks. Thx for sharing.
Perhaps let the airline prices guide you. Use Google Flights for research, set up alerts on various dates and destination orders, and track the prices for awhile.
Also check dates of holidays and festivals in each city. Holidays can bring closures and crowds. Also check closed days of museums of interest, and if businesses shut down on Sundays.
Have a great times reading and researching and planning. Safe travels!

A thought would be if Icelandair is offering a great fare from Denver, could fly into Prague and home from Vienna or vice versa. Budapest isn't served by Icelandair and is a bit harder to get to generally.

You are not looking too early. I would take a night from Budapest and add to Prague.

Starting with your plan, if the flight schedule works for you, I would avoid the long haul train ride (just my comfort level):

• Prague 3N
• Fly to Budapest
• Budapest 4N
• Train to Gyor
• Gyor 2N
• Train to Vienna
• Vienna 4N.

I did it in reverse from what you stated so you get the tourist crush of Prague out of the way first, rather than end on it.

But to be honest, I would do a little different trip:

• Prague 3 nights
• Shuttle to Ceksky Krumlov 1 night
• Shuttle to Vienna 4 nights
• Train to Gyor 1 or 2 nights
• Train to Budapest 4 or 5 nights

I think its a little better trip.

I dont agree that pruchasing tickets a year in advance is a great idea in most cases. But if it gives you comfort .... okay. I come to Budapest 3 or 4 times a year and buy then 90 to 120 days prior in most cases. I generally get good rates by being a bit flexible with the dates and not wasting money (for me) on upgrades.

https://www.cheapair.com/blog/the-best-time-to-buy-international-flights/
https://www.farecompare.com/travel-advice/tips-from-air-travel-insiders/

Thank you for the replies! I probably won't look at flights until December or so. But I will be on the lookout if starting in Prague is any less expensive.

Mister E, I would love to extend the length of the trip to include CK. Unfortunately 13N (14 including the travel there) is my max. And I'm even worried my work will give me grief for taking two whole weeks!

I looked at CK in a prior iteration of this itinerary and also considered Tabor. But it seemed Tabor was not as easy to get to.

I also have a little Fear of Missimg Out by skipping places like Salzburg or Bratislava. So much so I wonder about skipping Prague entirely and adding those 3 days elsewhere.

I may just be confusing myself! And not sure I could convince BF of that change.

I'm planning a Prague, Vienna, Budapest trip in autumn next year and thinking of doing it in that order because Prague is the coolest climate of the 3. If I were going in May I might reverse the order to avoid the heat.

Yes, FOMO is a battle. 🤣 I no longer have it but have definitely experienced it - and what helped was actually looking at what I want to see within a given city or location. When I listed that, I could get a better idea of how much there was to do and it helped me not spread myself too thin (at least when I paid attention). You begin to see that it’s impossible to “see it all” - you are skipping something with every choice you make to see something else.

Knowing you absolutely have only 13 nights, I personally would start with Mister É’s first itinerary with a slight change:

• Prague 4N
• Fly to Budapest, Budapest 4N
• Train to Gyor, Gyor 1N
• Train to Vienna, Vienna 4N

That is because you will arrive in your first city not operating on all four cylinders because of jet lag or travel fatigue. I have not yet been to Gyor but it seems that you could manage it with 1/2, an overnight, and a half day. Just a choice.

Although to be completely honest, I am not a huge art museum lover, so I would actually cut Vienna to 3 nights. I could be happy with a day and a half in Vienna and a day for Schonbrunn, but that is just me. That would give you an additional night to play with.

However the direction of travel for me would be determined by flight prices, availability, and schedule.

MorganMurphy
You had 13 nights, this is 14 nights. Remember two weeks plus the following weekend is 16 days; not 14.

• Prague 4 nights (because you arrive late I added a night here)
• Shuttle to Ceksky Krumlov 1 night (it’s a great layover on the way to Vienna)
• Shuttle to Vienna 4 nights
• Train to Gyor 1 nights (this is adequate if you get an early train out of Vienna (maybe 8am and see the archabbey and spend the evening in the old town)
• Train to Budapest 4 nights (okay, my preference is 3 nights Vienna and 5 Budapest, but I am very biased)

Or what TexasTravelMom said cause she is the most experienced on the forum.

As for direction, again what TexasTravelMom said as who knows what the temps will be besides, the warmest city, Budapest, on the 15th of May is 73F high and 54F low not much heat to escape.

Well, a night in CK would be really nice - but if it’s not going to work, it won’t be hard to skip it by train and just go Prague to Vienna. Or take a night from Vienna….. 🤣 My bottom line would be 4 nights in Budapest and 4 nights in Prague if it’s your first city. Between there it comes down to hard (but no wrong) choices.

Not at all too early to start tracking airline prices both directions. :)

See, she is smart.

Adding my August 2023 experience:

There are 7 flights/week from Prague to Budapest. One day of the week has no flights, one day has 2.

Of the 6 days with flights, 5 of them leave really early, before 7 am, or arrive really late, after 9 pm. Only one flight/week goes in the middle of the day. Flights were about $200 (one way) when I checked.

The train is quite slow, almost 8 hours, and has a rather Midwestern landscape of farms. Not unattractive but not engaging either. On the plus side it goes through the Danube bend area north of Budapest, and we were able to determine that there was no need to return to the area on a day trip from Budapest.

Re the 13 days, I assume you work on weekends; otherwise, can you not plan your trip to include 3 weekends and 10 workdays off, which is 15 days with 1 day at home when you get back?

I will look into the weekends to stretch the trip at bit. Thanks!

What I'll do soon is add a separate thread to share our specific ideas for what to see/do in each city. For example, for Vienna, we're not huge museum people. But instead we plan to do the day train/bike trip from Melk to Krems and back, and maybe a day trip to do a day hike in woods outside of Vienna (maybe Lainzer Tiergarten). Also have submitted pre-order ticket requests to see The Marriage of Figaro at the Vienna State Opera on May 18. Won't hear if those come through until much closer to the date.

Anyway, I truly appreciate everyone's input!

If Melk is on your list, are you planning to tour Melk Abbey? It is spectacular w/one of the prettiest cathedrals in all of Europe.

I'm with Mr. E on flying on one leg.

We went from Budapest to Bratislava (for the weekend). We took a 39 mile bus ride into Vienna's center city.

Then we took a train from Vienna to Prague.

I did the math once. Even with the time to the airports and early arrival, etc, the direct flights are 3 or 4 hours faster than the train.

Even with the time

Time saved isn't the issue, it's other things. Going from Prague to Budapest: No flights on Saturday (ever), and the only flight between 9am and 7 pm is one single Ryanair flight on Tuesdays. The rest of the flights are early or late, which cause their own problems and stresses. On Monday the only flight comes in so late that we would have had to pay a late access charge for accessing the apartment, and also I hate arriving in a new city after dark.

This isn't the Amsterdam to Prague run with 5+ nonstops per day. It's more like Omaha to Oklahoma City: maybe there's a nonstop the day you want to travel, maybe there isn't.

The nonstop didn't look too bad to me. 6am to 9am or 4pm to 6pm departures depending on direction and day of the week. In the summer, all daylight arrivals. But yes, gotta work with the plan. I just go a little bonkers after 3 or 4 hours on a train. 7 hours? Not happening.

I don't think I'd be dealing with getting from Prague to Budapest (or vice versa). I'd probably go either Prague > Vienna > Budapest (with Gyor in between), or the other way around. So looks to be more like a 4-ish-hour train between Prague and Vienna - and even a little shorter if I work in a shuttle to Cesky K in between. If I'm looking at Rome2Rio correctly, knowing those times are approximate.

That's what I suggested above.

Prague 4 nights (because you arrive late I added a night here)
Shuttle to Ceksky Krumlov 1 night (it’s a great layover on the way to Vienna)
Shuttle to Vienna 4 nights
Train to Gyor 1 nights (this is adequate if you get an early train out of Vienna (maybe 8am and see the archabbey and spend the evening in the old town)
Train to Budapest 4 nights (okay, my preference is 3 nights Vienna and 5 Budapest, but I am very biased)

I don't think I'd be dealing with getting from Prague to Budapest (or vice versa)

This was a follow up mostly to my Icelandair idea where Budapest can't be a beginning or end point. But that may not work out. Look for a premium economy sale (Saga Class) in the fall, or December. That is, if you don't want to deal with Lufthansa, as some don't, which is where you would be if not Icelandair starting in Denver, at least for the final leg if not transatlantic. I guess thinking about there's a British Airways option also from Denver.

If going between Prague and Vienna by rail check the private rail company RegioJet, as well as the national rail lines. RegioJet has 4 classes of service, some with free coffee or champagne. 4 hours. Look for the train icon on the website, not the bus icon, if you want to go by train.

Yes, Mr. E! And thanks Tom.
No matter what I'll need to plan to be in Vienna May 18 in case I luck out getting those opera tickets. A possibility if starting in Prague is May 11 to May 25. Or May 26 since May 27 is a work holiday here anyway.

And opera tickets here too

I thought the opera in Budapest was the best thing to do in the city, see my post https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/recommendations-for-budapest

The opera website for ticketing is very straightforward, center seat on the main floor/orchestra is about $55 which I thought was a steal. You can buy the tickets any time, and they run the opera all summer which is pretty unusual.

The national symphony in Prague might still be going in May, also about $55 but for the best seats.

Both Hungarians and Czechs have music in their national character. I'm sure Vienna is great for music too, but it will be twice the price.