Vienna, Prague, Budapest

Are you willing to have your single friend in your room with you? I really am unclear about "single supplement" - that's really for tours.

Either you all stay in a room, or the single gets their own. What's your pleasure?

I was able to get a room for three people in many cities in Europe. In Prague, I used Hotel Hastal. The room was huge, had a nice balcony overlooking the street and slept and accommodated three very comfortably. In Vienna, I was able to get a room for three at Hotel Austria. It is a lovely hotel, well priced and includes the best hotel breakfast I've ever had. Both these inns are very centrally located and convenient to public transportation. I think it helps to book with the hotels directly. You often can get a better rate and it is easier to make requests for specific accommodations. I think you can plan a lovely trip for a two week time period for those cities.

Rent an 2 bedroom apartment for the 3 of you and have your friend pay a third. You will all save on dining out a lot.

Thx for the ideas...all worth investigating.

If this is a first trip to Europe or those areas, I'm not sure I'd rent an apartment. You might want daily assistance with sightseeing and transportation. Accommodations in Prague and Budapest are typically quite reasonable, food, too, especially if you get breakfast included and think about picnic lunches.

We also stayed at Hotel Hastal. Very big rooms, great location, nice breakfast.

No, I would get a two bedroom apartment. Or two adjoining apartments. The equivalent of a $200 hotel room will cost no more than $80. Hotels aren't that helpful and if you do your homework first it will be fine. Good news is tour guides charge the same for 3 as 2. Budapest also has a group metro pass that might save you money too. Most everything else is an individual cost, so no extra cost to traveling solo.

And I suggest Prague to Vienna to Budapest in that direction (saves the best for last) and split the time Prague 30%, Vienna 25% and Budapest 45%.

Added advantage of Prague-Vienna-Budapest route is that it's the fastest / shortest for transportation times. All by train.

I'm not a huge train for the sake of a train sort of person. If the international flights work better then Arrive Vienna, train to Budapest, then fly to Prague. That flight to Prague is about $110 nonstop in about 1:15, so works good .

I do a lot of pre travel work/planning and I have still appreciated some assistance at a well chosen hotel. I have stayed in Airbnb properties and they have worked well for me, as well. I have a more restricted budget and do not stay in the more upscale hotels at $200 at night so perhaps that is a difference. A good, family owned local hotel can provide a lot of travel assistance. Likewise, there are wonderful Airbnb hosts that do provide a lot of local assistance.

Prague is a bit of a distance from both Budapest and Vienna, and if you can get a convenient and reasonable flight, you might consider that over the train.

James is a great source and his love of Budapest is obvious in his many posts assisting travelers to his favorite city where he spends a lot of time and owns properties. I beg to differ on his break down of time. To give Budapest almost half the time and the other two cities about a quarter wouldn't have been ideal for me. Those are all great, great cities that share a lot of common history but they are also quite different. You will find some like James who like Budapest the best and others who might give the slight edge to Prague or Vienna. It would also depend on the type of activities/sight seeing you are looking seeking, and which hasn't been shared. For example, they all have great art museums, but the type of art does vary some between the cities. They all also have great day trip options. I would do some personal research before determining how long you plan to stay at each location. And I still believe you have a good amount of time to work with and to cover those locations.

Jules, first, thank you for the complements, second, I did overly generalize.

Most hotels will be of little help beyond, "which way is the metro station". But there are always exceptions. You may or may not get better help from an AirBnB host. Just not something I would count on.

As for time in each city. There I both overly generalized and injected bias. "Surprise" So let me do even more overgeneralization. If you are young and love to party and crowds don't bother you then Prague looks better. If you could spend literally days in museums, then Vienna will look better. If just want to "wear" a city for a period of time, Budapest will seem better. If you don't understand that phrase spend less time in Budapest

I would disagree about the type of info a hotel can provide. For me, I think I can ask very specific questions since I really research for my travels. And perhaps, the difference is that I don't feel like I stay in "hotels" more like an inn. I have learned to give any hotel/inn restaurant recommendations very little credence. I do like to talk to and gather info from locals in inns, restaurants, museums, stores or even just on the street.

James, incidentally, I think I personally give the edge to Budapest mainly because I love to be in more edgier places and I like to really know I'm not in Minnesota anymore when I travel, if that makes sense. Prague is very crowded, indeed. It's too bad, because I think I would actually give it the "edge" otherwise. I'm not sure if I'm in the "old" group and certainly not a partier, but I do really love Prague. And then there's Vienna. So very clean, elegant, beautiful, but doesn't have as much edge or personality. . . .It's tough, might require even more investigation. . .

I bet there is a lot to Prague that tourists hsvent found yet, so I remain open minded. As for the established tourist fare, it exists solely to service tourists and in that respect it like a giant museum or Main Street in Disneyland.

Subtract the crush of tourism (for the most part) add a few tourist music venues, and triple the number of museums and replace the pubs with coffee houses and you have Vienna.

Outside of District V, Budapest exists for itself and you are welcome to share it.

I travel solo. Here's the truth - in most places a single room is either [1] a much smaller room and often a narrow single bed or [2] a double room. If [1], the price is usually 70-80% of the price of a double room. If [2], the price is usually the same as for a couple, but if breakfast is included there is a small reduction.

If you rent a flat, read the description carefully. A place that sleeps 4 may mean that there's a sofa-bed in the salon, which may be uncomfortable and very possibly not at all private. If you share a room or a flat with one bathroom, keep in mind that's 3 adults and one shower, one toilet, often together, though sometimes the toilet is separate.

Looking at it objectively, your friend would pay the same amount travelling alone or with you.

Thanks to all the travelers who responded to my post. The info is great and will better help to plan this adventure.