Vienna (+ one more city) - Advice Needed

Perhaps fly into Salzburg before the wedding and finish in Vienna.? ( Easier for flight back to ATL)

Fly into Venice beforehand , then fly to VIE and home from there?

Splitting your time between 2 cities gives you lots of possibilities.

3 hours to Budapest or 4 hours to Prague by train. If you fly open jaw then you can fly direct from Prague to Atlanta by Delta. Atlanta is one of two cities in USA which have direct connection with Prague.

For #1: You should see: Schoenbrunn Palace or the Hoffburg Palace. There's really not much reason to see both. You probably want to see the Kunsthistorich museum for the art. The Belvedere Palace Museum is great, with late 19 and early 20th century art in a gorgeous setting. The Opera will be open and if that's your thing or even close to your thing, Vienna is a wonderful place for it. St. Stephens is a beautiful church with a wonderful view of the historical center of the city. The Albertina has a wonderful art collection. I liked the Academy of Fine Arts small collection which has a Hieronymous Bosch Last Judgement that blew my mind. The Beethoven Friese was an important piece of art, but somewhat underwhelming. We were in Vienna on Austria Day, so we had to make due with available sites and had a wonderful day at the Hundertwasser Museum and the famous Prater Vienna. Really, charming day that started with us having to have morning coffee at Starbucks, against the advice of every Wienner we talked to... "Nicht Nicht Nicht Stahrbucks" said a cobbler with no English, while allowing that Vapiano was so-so.

A block south of the Opera is a sausage stand which serves a wonderful Viennese street food, Kasenkreiner... a cheese filled wurst that is incredible. Do hit up Demels or any place with a K.u.K marking. Do have coffee at real Vienna places, and remember, "Vapiano, so so, but Stahrbucks... NICHT! NICHT! NICHT!" (really, they are okay, but you can have Starbucks at home... actually, 4 blocks from work is a Vapiano I've never been to, and I assume they are okay too). 3-4 nights in Wien are wholly adequate.

On our trip we hit Prague and Munich. I think either of those would be a good pairing, though I prefered Munich, only because Prague seems to be a higher degree of difficulty. Vienna is really really easy, and Munich (with a side trip to perhaps Neuschwanstein or Garmisch-Partenkircken and the Zugspitze... we did the latter and it is one of my wife's favorite days in Europe).

The other idea would be to just go to Paris and enjoy the City of Lights. If you have 8 nights, that's 4-5 nights in Paris, which is a wonderful amount of time to spend in one of the greatest cities in the world.

The above advice about Vienna proper ESPECIALLY about the kaesekreiner. My god, the best sausage I ever had in Europe was at 1am at a Kaesekreiner stand near the Opera. It's brilliant. Just read a Vienna guidebook, figure out what you want to see, and stay not too far away from the center on an U-Bahn line. Public transit is great, getting around to various places is fine.

As for another city...you have some great options. By train, Budapest is an obvious choice, although it might be a little intimidating for a European first timer (have you traveled internationally before?) I like Budapest, to me it felt pretty safe, but it's definitely a contrast to Vienna. Easy train trip, though. Munich is another option although to me Munich and Vienna have a lot of surface similarities in terms of architecture, museums, etc so while I tend to heartily recommend both I think you might want more of a contrast for your first trip.

Salzburg is another good option, you've got the Alps at your feet so you can do like we did and take a private tour to the Eagle's Nest (Hitler's "vacation home") with amazing views, the beautiful Koeningsee lake, Sound of Music stuff...

Prague is another good contrast, has more of a medieval feel, particularly in the Jewish Quarter, than Vienna, and it's probably hands down the most beautiful city I've seen in Europe. Different culture/food compared to Austria yet still an integral part of the old Empire.

Then there's Venice. It will still be quite crowded in mid-September but if you can find a cheap flight and decent lodging (look into an apartment - restaurants in Venice aren't spectacular so you can save some money at least having breakfast in an apartment) it's an amazingly charming place despite the tourist crowds.

It's hard to go wrong here - do a little research into your options and see what strikes your fancy!

@Joe:
I agree... I figured booking an open-jaw tix will give me more options to choose my other destination. As I said on my OP, I really do not have a lot of time in this trip wo I would want to make the most out of it. 😑

@llja:
I have been considering Prague since that makes a lot of sense, esp coming to / from Vienna. ☺️

@Max:
Thank you for the detailed suggestions. I would def try the Kasenkreiner - I love finding local food! I want to consider myself a smart solo traveler but it's my first time being alone in a city where I don't speak the language. That freaks me out a bit so I want to make sure I'm well-researched and well-prepared. 😊

I will look into Munich... I haven't considered that before.

Paris is another thing. It's one of the most popular, of course, and as a kid, it was always a dream destination. But at the same time, I want to be realistic with my time constraints in this trip. I know it requires much longer visit. I considered flying to Paris from ATL then to Vienna for the wedding though. We'll see...

@Sarah

It's nice to know that I can find a sausage stand open at 1am in VIE. 😜

Thanks also for the advice for my additional city. I will look into your suggestions. I want something easy to get to either by train or plane and also has good airlines that will fly to ATL.

I grew up in the Philippines so I am pretty familiar with other asian countries / cities. I try to go visit in that part of the world at least every other year so I hope I'll be fine with navigation and general travel. But it is my first time in Europe so that's new. I will also be by myself so safety is defintely a priority for me. I heard good things about Vienna. I'm excited to see the architecture and maybe, get lucky and see an opera.

Jhae - one of my best friends is Filpinia, married to a a German! It is very safe here but Asian standards for traveling, in the same way it's very safe in Europe by American standards of traveling! German-speaking countries are just very safe by default. Venice and Prague are very touristy so there are scams there, and my father in law was pickpocketed in Prague on public transit, but he had his wallet in his back pocket (never a good idea!) and was not practicing situational awareness. If you're traveled in Asia, traveling in Central Europe should be a breeze, just use common sense, keep your wallet in your front pocket, and read up on scams and learn how to avoid them.

If you're concerned about language difficulties - don't be. Any of the cities suggested are fine for English speakers. It's always helpful to try to memorize the very basics (Hello, goodbye, please, thank you, excuse me, and "do you speak english?') but honestly not necessary. And if you don't look "ethnically European" many people in the service industry will default to English regardless. The only city where we had minor language issues was Prague, but again, minor (we chose to stay in a very cheap apartment outside the city center and the security guard there didn't speak English. We managed just fine regardless of the fact that we don't speak Czech). Vienna/Munich/Salzburg/Venice are all touristy enough that English is widely spoken.

Good luck in your planning!

Yeah, regarding Prague, a moderate to high degree of situational awareness is a thing that I would put at the top of my packing list for the city. Prague has great walking, lots of "new things" if you've never been there, tons of architecture and history. In interesting things, I would certainly add Blacklight Theatre, as an interesting thing that doesn't really exist anywhere else. I liked Prague immensely, but got hit by a cop for a big ticket on my last day, and stranded without tram tickets way out on a Sunday, both of which really damped my enthusiasm.

I haven't been to Budapest, though wife has and would like to return. Have been to Vienna, Munich, a short few hours in Berlin, and a good bit of northern Italy. I wouldn't do Venice after Vienna, but I could see doing Venice ahead. The problem is in connections... it's a pain to get from Venice to the airport in any efficient manner, so early flights can be very difficult, and they like to leave early to come back to the US. Arriving, it's not an issue, as you can have a leisurely ride before you have to walk some.

With 7 to 9 days you will have to maximize your time and not waste a bunch traveling. With that in mind, there is only one real option; Budapest. It’s not 3 hours by train, its only 2:37 by train. September is an ideal time of the year to visit as well. When you said 7 to 9 days I assume you mean total. With that in mind, you know it takes a day and a half to reach Europe, thanks to the time differences. So, you leave the United States on:

September
14. Thursday depart the USA
15. Friday arrive early to mid-afternoon. I have a feeling you will be hooking up with the wedding party and not doing much sightseeing.
16. Saturday is the wedding day
17. Sunday I would spend in Vienna
18. Monday I would spend in Vienna
19. Tuesday I would take the train down to Budapest
20. Wednesday in Budapest
21. Thursday in Budapest
22. Friday in Budapest
23. Saturday I would do a morning train back to Vienna
24. Sunday, Budapest to USA (you will be home by mid evening)

Okay, this is longer than 9 days, but that’s the fault of your friend getting married on a Saturday. You don’t want to get off a 15 – 20 hour flight and go to a wedding so you have to leave on Thursday.

By returning to Vienna after several days in Budapest you don’t have to mess with open jaw tickets. They do cost more. Often not a lot more, but still. And its only 2.5 hours on the train. Or do fly open jaw out of Budapest; you have the option.

http://www.livingthedreamrtw.com/2013/09/5-reasons-why-budapest-is-europes.html
https://www.buzzfeed.com/anitabadejo/reasons-budapest-is-the-most-beautiful-city-in-europe?utm_term=.qte8yNpJ2E#.eomdAXWmrQ
https://www.covermore.com.au/blog/europe/why-budapest-truly-paris-eastern-europe

In my experience . . . And I've done it many times . . .open jaw tickets do not cost a lot more than rt, especially when you factor in the cost of getting back to your starting point.

They also save a lot of your precious travel time. Once you settle on a 2nd city, you can check it out. To do o.j., you click on "multi-city" ( or similar wording) on an airline website. Do not use the prices for two one-way tickets.
Since you are interested in architecture, you should try to find a walking tour of Vienna's Art Nouveau sites. The TI Office website lists a number of walking tours.
Be sure to have apple strudel at Demel.

Okay, I didn’t think that through very well. Let’s try again.

September 9 Saturday, Depart the US
10. Sunday, Arrive Budapest
11. Monday, Budapest
12. Tuesday, Budapest
13. Wednesday, Budapest; or a late train to Vienna
14. Thursday, morning train to Vienna (arrive before noon)
15. Friday, Vienna
16. Saturday, Vienna
17. Sunday, Vienna to the US.

See how fast 9 days disappear. Weather you go to Vienna late on Wednesday or early on Thursday you can choose once you get there. Actually, remain flexible and you can depart Budapest when ever you want. Most people wish they could spend more, not less, time in Budapest.

This would be an open jaw but it will keep to the 9 days you mentioned and you only spend 2.5 hours traveling. I do an open jaw involving Budapest 3 times a year and I have almost always paid more than a simple round trip, but rarely more than $250 more. For grins i looked on Google Flights for Vienna RT out of Atlanta on the dates above, and the best rate with a reasonable schedule was $916. The OpenJaw flight with Budapest arrival and Vienna departure was $1144 so a little more than $225 difference. Still a bargain as it buys you almost a day more seeing the world.

The train ticket will cost you about $22 in advance or about $44 on the day of the trip.

I am biased about Budapest, but that aside, with the time you have, it is the best option.

And if you like Art Nouveau, try https://welovebudapest.com/budapest.and.hungary/10.sensational.art.nouveau.buildings.in.budapest

https://io9.gizmodo.com/lets-talk-about-the-long-awaited-return-of-game-of-thro-1796969424

As regards Apfel Strudel, I highly recommend the strudel show at Schoenbrunn over Demel's version. At Demel's I would recommend other pastries, like cake. Strudel is so much better fresh.

Best strudel is cherry and found at Gerstner's.

I prefer this place. Amazing strudel, outstanding-cant-be-beat location, one-off atmosphere, the best service from the best people. http://www.budavariretesvar.hu/ The total package.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/168459_197727846908868_3384862_n.jpg?oh=4458c1b514e470fd9845c1c7b95a5213&oe=5A0300B7

No problem at all for you not speaking German in Vienna, Everyone in the service industry speaks very good English. Besides Austrians I have found like speaking English, for good or bad. I wouid be surprised if you found an Austrian in the service industry unable to communicate with you in English.

Take a tour of the Staatsoper (the State Opera House). Tours are given in seven languages, the largest group is the English language tour.

Thanks so much for the advice and suggestions, everyone! The good thing is, I was able to wrangle a few more days off from work so I now have 10 days. lol.

My friend's husband-to-be is from Nemsova, Slovakia and she told me that they will be showing me "beautiful Slovakia" also, in addition to Vienna. I didn't want to impose since it's their wedding week but she insisted! :)

I'm definitely taking your advice on what to do and what to eat in Vienna. I'm hoping to see an opera too, if I can fit one in the schedule.

I'm still undecided on the other city but I finally nailed down my dates. I need to book soon!

The High Tatras of Slovakia are stunning. We go fishing in the area every couple of years. That will be a good trip. Slovakia has some stunning castles and great towns and villages. A few very near where you are going.

If you could arrange to end in Poprad you could take the train to Kosice and after visiting this pretty facinating town, move on to Budapest by train. Each leg of travel is fairly short.

Nemsova is very close to Trencin. Old town is worth visit especially the castle on the hill above it. Spa Trencianske Teplice is also very close. Number one sight in Slovakia is alpine mountains High Tatras IMHO. I call it condensed Alps. To enjoy it the best would be to do some hiking there. However to get to Tatras it's not a day trip from Trencin. It takes over three hours by train from Trencin to Poprad and then another half to one hour by little electric train depending which Tatra resort you would go.

Prague for sure. We went over Christmas after Vienna and it was awesome. It's beauty rivaled paris in my opinion. Great food and beer too, and cheap!

also, almost everyone in Prague spoke English so that was helpful!

It's looking a lot like Prague for my second city... :)

I had an old friend reach out to me and invited me to Paris. But I think that may be a little hard to pull even with an open jaw ticket (ATL - CDG - VIE - ATL) :(

Off to the Czech Republic forum for tips, but do be sure to validate your tram ticket as soon as you board the tram. Nasty fine for not doing so.