Prague - Budapest. Suggestions for other places en route? Is Vienna redundant?

We saw Prague, Vienna and Budapest on one trip. There are enough differences to include all three. We found Vienna more elegant and sophisticated than Prague or Budapest. I am glad I visited them but have no desire to return to any of the three. The heavy meat- centric dinners turned me off.

No not at all. That would be a great trip. Each extremely different. Two weeks is really 12 days, so 4 days in each. I would research "things to see" in each city on Google and make your decision based on what types of things interest you.

So much more to Vienna than horses. I'd do all 3. They are not far, but there is travel time.

I love mean-centric diets. Germanic and MittelEuropa are meat-centric. I dream of the day I return to each.

You could take an overnight train from Prague to Budapest. Reserve a cabin so you can experience it as a hotel stay. The train attendant will make sure you’re up in time and bring you a cup of coffee.
There are plenty of day trip options from both Prague and Budapest and it sounds like you’ve done your research. I would plan on sleeping in two locations only and get to know these spectacular cities in depth.

You sound like the type that likes to spend time in a place and explore it and things around it? If that fits, then this time skip Vienna because you can make two good weeks out of the other two.

I would fly Prague to Budapest. Door to door it saves about 4 hours and the thought of that long train ride turns me off. UNLESS you want to make some stops for one night lay overs along the way. Even then the route to see more in the Czech Republic isn't very direct to Budapest so you will have considerable bus and train time.

I am no Czech Republic expert. Been a few times, but it takes more than that to give educated advice. But consider getting a nice AirBnb in each city and explore the cities, then leave the heavy luggage behind and do some overnights in each country. Sure you pay maybe $65 for an unused AirBnb a few nights but the flexibility and convenience is worth it for me at least.

So, you would do 7 nights in each more or less. When you decide how you want to do this let me know how many nights in Budapest, how you are arriving and the dates and I bet I can dream up a good week or more.

“Would it be repetitive to visit all three Central European capitals?” That was the same question we pondered when we considered all three in 2019. Fortunately we consulted several “wise” relatives & friends who traveled 2 + weeks in Central Europe. We started in Budapest x 5 nights> Vienna x 6 nights> Cesky Krumlov x 2 nights> Prague x 5 nights (side trip to Terezin). We made a 5 night stop in Amsterdam on our way home. We hired guides in all cities except Vienna. Our plan was to hire a guide in Vienna who owns the Third Man Museum but he was not available. For us 4 nights in Vienna would have sufficed. We enjoyed the museums. We would suggest adding 1-2 days to Budapest for day trips. Mr. E. who is aka James E. was our go to in 2019. Very helpful. Budapest was our favorite.

We took the train from Budapest to Vienna. The ckshuttle Vienna>Cesky Krumlov>ckshuttle to Prague.

Thank you so much all for the great ideas and experiences!
Mr. James, I will be extremely grateful to post soon in Hungary forum. Truthfully Budapest is the part of the trip I'm most excited for.
Happy travels all!

Janis, that added up to 18 nights. With 18 nights all 3 work. My very first trip 20 years ago was Prague and Vienna. Got bored in Vienna and was forced to "discover" Budapest. One of the best decisions of my life.

You'll find Prague and Budapest to be more repetitive--both cities having a river dissecting them. But Budapest is much cheaper to travel to and more pleasurable of a city.
We love visiting Prague, Vienna and Budapest, and have been to the last two cities numerous times. We once spent a weekend in Bratislava resting up after visiting Budapest, and found it to be completely different from Vienna even though it's only 39 miles away by bus.
If you need a place to stay in Vienna, PM me as I know a fine B&B in the heart of town. Rick Steves is personal friends of the owners.

We started in Budapest, took the train to Vienna, and then took the train from there to Prague. I didn't think Vienna was redundant at all.

I really liked Cesky Krumlov. If you include Vienna, it would probably make the most sense to go there overnight in between Prague and Vienna. There are shuttles (usually a van or small bus) from Prague to CK and from CK to Vienna.

I really think Schonbrunn in Vienna is worth seeing, but you can always skip it if you aren't interested. On the other hand, I highly recommend the Sisi museum in the Imperial Palace at Michaelerplatz. Her story is a fascinating one that has a lot of parallels with that of Princess Diana.

Vienna has some lovely parks, too, and we enjoyed Sigmund Freud Park and walking through Stadtpark and seeing the monuments there.

We spent 6 nights in Budapest, 3 nights in Vienna, 5 nights in Prague, and one night in Cesky Krumlov. However, we could have spent 4 nights in Prague and easily seen the hightlights. If you did a similar schedule, but with 4 nights in Prague, you would have 14 nights.

This was our itinerary for Around 2 weeks:
Prague 4, driver with a stop at kutna hora for the Bone church and tour of the silver mine, cesky krumlov 2, same company driver to Vienna 4, catamaran from Vienna to Bratislava 1 (Slovakian company was 1/4 the price of Austrian, bus to Budapest 4.
Can you skip Bratislava, yes. Can you skip Vienna - if it doesn’t appeal to you, then yes. We like Vienna and have a good friend who lives there so we always try to stop. My sister and her husband were with us and liked the variety of cities. If you are into Hapsburg history Vienna is a must.

If you love good museums, music, good food and schnaps, Vienna stands apart.
Budapest (I have been there over 20 times) is far less interesting. A few days there is plenty. It's a dullsville kind of place.
There is far more to Vienna than Schonbrun. I have been there several dozen times and never seen the "the Stallions". (I did poke my nose in on a practice session, interesting). Try the tombs under St. Stephans, explore all of the streets, discover heurigen, find List's piano or check out the Rubens. Great and easy transportation puts everything in easy reach. You cannot possibly spend too much time in Vienna.
I would consider less time in Budapest, more time in Vienna and you have Prague about right.