Please sign in to post.
Rick Steves Holiday Sale: 20% Off Storewide

Prague/Vienna/Budapest/Salzburg

Posted by (Oregon) on

Hello!
We are traveling to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg and have come up with two different routes but are undecided on which one as there are pros and cons to both. One part of the group thinks we should take the train from Prague to Vienna (4h15m), train from Vienna to Budapest (2h30m), then train from Budapest to Salzburg (5h). The other half of the group thinks it might be better to fly from Prague to Budapest (1h10m to fly and train would be 6h45m), train from Budapest to Vienna (2h30m), then train from Vienna to Salzburg (2h30m). Any opinions?

Posted by
3762 posts

What cities are you flying into and out for this trip? If you start in Prague, train to Budapest, then train to Vienna and end in Salzburg. Otherwise, you will be doubling back to Vienna.

If you prefer dealing with airports, Prague to Budapest will save only a couple hours once you factor in getting to the airport two hours prior to your flight and getting to and from PRG and BUD airports.

Posted by
1058 posts

It might help to know how long you will be staying in each location. 12 hours of train travel during a three week vacation is much less daunting than it would be during a two week vacation. I personally would lean toward choosing the Prague to Budapest flight just for cutting local travel time in half. This is particularly true if this is just one segment of a longer adventure.

Posted by
17 posts

We are flying from the States to Krakow, then meeting the rest of our travel party in Berlin. Then we head to Prague. After Salzburg we end the trip in Munich (although I am considering adding on Switzerland!)

Krakow-2 nights
Berlin-3 nights
Prague-2 nights
Budapest-3 nights
Vienna-2 nights
Salzburg-2 nights
Munich 3 nights

Posted by
24456 posts

Yes, it’s a personal decision, but still a few things to think about. Because you are not spending much time anywhere you are stopping, useful time becomes important.

I would fly Prague to Budapest IF you are doing it on one of the days with a non-stop Ryanair morning flight (that rules out Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday …. But check me on that as the schedule might vary with the month and I don’t know your dates). The morning flights are between 7:25 and 8:00 for the most part. Of course you must be okay with early morning flights. That would mean leaving your hotel in Prague from 5:00 to 5:30. In total travel time between Prague, Budapest and Vienna you will save 3 to 4 hours, but it’s not about raw time. More importantly, it’s about creating useful days. With the morning flight you will arrive in Budapest at a time when you get the whole day. It would be hard to take a train from Prague to either Vienna or Budapest and get as much of the day to use. But if your travel day is the afternoon flight day, take the train.

Then train to Vienna, Train to Salzburg and train to Munich.

Also add up the train times to go Prague > Budapest > Vienna > Salzburg > Munich as it might be a little less travel time. Not sure.

Now the unsolicited opinion. Do a lot of research and watch a lot of videos on Budapest and Vienna and add one day to one or the other. Budget might be a concern too so check the hotel costs in Vienna and Budapest. Steal that day that you give to either Vienna or Budapest from Salzburg. (actually I would skip Salzburg all together and use one day in Vienna and one in Budapest. But ….. )

Posted by
3762 posts

You have a lot of big cities and capitals in this itinerary with each one having a ton of attractions. Keep in mind that when you move between them, you’re going to lose the better part of one day checking out of and into accommodations and in transit between cities. This means you’ll effectively have 1.5 to 2 days in Krakow; two full days in Berlin; 1.5 full days in Prague, two full days in Budapest, 1.5 days in Vienna.

For a group, that will not be enough time for these cities—- many of them national capitals.

Picture a group of travelers from Europe with 17 days going to New York City for three nights, Boston for two nights, Chicago for two nights, Philadelphia for two nights, and Washington DC for three nights. Now, add two more cities to the list so there’s 7 cities to blitz during 17 days. For most, the pace of such a trip would be far too fast to enjoy much of what each city has to offer—or to have any time to relax.

You might consider dropping a couple of cities so you have adequate time to enjoy the Top 5 cities your group really wants to see.

Posted by
343 posts

In Aug/Sep 2025 my partner and I visited 5 of those cities. After reviewing a few possible routes, we decided on the following as it had the least travel time: Budapest --> Vienna --> Prague --> Salzburg --> Munich. However (1) Budapest was our first stop in Europe and (2) we had some interim stops in smaller towns along the way. Details are in our trip reports:

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.