Trip Planning

Are you travelling on your own or in a group?

Sorry, are you talking about train from Venice to Budapest
or Vienna to Lucerne?thanks
To Lucerne via Zurich.

7 of us.all adults

Three major historical cities, packed with interesting sights and sites, in six days, including travelling time to and between them, leaving one and a half day per city? Skip one to do them right.

Ok,which one should I drop for a first timer?

It is a bit much for six days, but to answer the question;
On 2/4/17 I would fly Venice to Budapest. EasyJet, non-stop, one hour, $46+ per seat. It arrives at 10 am giving you the full day in Budapest.
Then on 2/7/17 I would take a morning train to Vienna; 2.5 hours direct. Something less than $30 a ticket
Then on 2/8/17 I would train a late afternoon train to Prague. Takes a bit more than 4 hours. Cost something less than $35 last time I looked.

I would drop Vienna......

Your three options all have their merits, but personally, I would drop Vienna. I have just returned from 6 nights in Budapest, which was a good length of time to explore at a steady pace rather than haring around. The food, drink and transport was cheap and plentiful and the people were helpful.

If you are flying, it doesn't really matter which order you do them in, as the time up in the air won't be that different whichever the order. See which flight options best suit - use sky scanner or look at say Easyjet. It's school holidays and seats have been available for months, so the best value tickets will have been sold long ago.

You really need to be the o e to decide which city to drop, but having said that my recommendation would be Vienna.

I totally agree with previous posters that those 3 cities in 6 days is too much. After just spending three weeks in that part of Europe, my vote would be to drop Vienna and focus on Prague and Budapest. Even at that, you will be rushed, but you will at least have a little more time to explore those two cities. Enjoy!

In my experience it is easier to get in/ out of Prague and Budapest than Vienna, so I would drop Vienna as well. It really deserves more than two days, as do the others. 3/3 is much better than 2/2/2.

I don't understand why so many suggest Budapest & Prague. They're two cities that look so much alike. After visiting both on the same trip, we prefer Budapest as prices are more reasonably priced and we found the people there to be gentler.

Vienna is such a different travel experience, and a magnificent city in the continental style. It's just a must see because of what the Hapsburgs left behind--classsy digs and museums. It's also got a much larger airport to fly out of.

I don't understand why so many suggest Budapest & Prague. They're two
cities that look so much alike. After visiting both on the same trip,
we prefer Budapest as prices are more reasonably priced and we found
the people there to be gentler.

David, David, David; please…… (you understand I am kidding here); there couldn’t be two places more different. But your statement did illustrate the validity of MrsEB’s comment above. Everyone sees thing differently and these seven folks must choose for themselves based on what lights their fire. I said skip Vienna cause its my bias. I am sitting here in Budapest right now and I wouldn’t give up one minute in Budapest for an hour in Vienna; and I know Vienna somewhat from shopping trips and a little sightseeing. Again, just my bias and as you know, it’s a somewhat unusually strong bias.

As for the people, you couldn't be more correct. I am playing tour guide this week for a relative that is in town. He just came from Madrid, Amsterdam and Vienna and he has already commented on the difference in the people.

For flights, Vienna is a terrible low cost hub. Budapest is excellent; don't know about Prague. I use Google Flights because I like the map interface a lot. I type in Budapest and Europe, non stop and the date and all the options pop up on a world map. Just so easy to use. That's how I found the cheap Venice to Budapest flight. It was still available 6 hours ago.