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Visiting 4 out of Munich, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Krakow, (or Paris?) over 18-19 days

Posted by on

I'm considering an 18-19 day solo trip to central Europe, and looking to visit 4 cities/areas during that time.

Dates: They aren't firm because I have a somewhat flexible job. Coming from Los Angeles. Looking at May 27-June 12 or 13, or June 17-July 4/5. Basically 2 full calendar weeks plus the Friday and Saturday before and the Sunday and Monday after. From LA, there are some flights that depart in the evening, so if I ended up with one of those I could get an extra day in there, which is why it could end up being 19 days.

Prior Experience: I took a 4 week trip to England and Scotland about 15 years ago, 2 weeks in Japan last year, and week-long trips in Mexico and the Carribean. I'm not very experienced, but I'm an excellent planner and am an intuitive traveler.

Me: I'm in my late 30s, female. I tend to enjoy cities more when I'm solo-- FOOD, museums (esp art), music, sitting in a local cafe and watching people, walking around--just getting the feel/vibe of a place, I enjoy clubs but am not looking for a party scene. I consider myself to be less of a tourist and more of an experiencer. But I also love hiking, but I backpack and hike alone often, so the countryside I'd be interested in seeing would be hiking-oriented.

Locations: Munich, Vienna (with a day or two for hiking in the Alps), Budapest, Prague, Krakow. But also considering Paris.

Explanation: With Krakow and Paris as outliers, the remaining cities seem to form a good travel cluster. Initially, my thought was: Munich, Vienna, Krakow, Prague. From what I've read, I think Munich would be better on a trip like this vs. Berlin, because I think Berlin would be better with more days to really get into it. As a Sound of Music fan, Austria has been on my travel list since I was 5 years old, and it would scratch the hiking itch. I have to admit Prague is on this list because it's right there. I'm Polish, and would love to visit Krakow. I know it's a bit out of the way, but if I waited to pair it with what it's more convenient to, I may be waiting a while. I'd prefer to have different experiences in each city rather than, say, 2 cities that are more similar (think Portland and Seattle).

Budapest was added to the list as I read more, and became more interested it as a contrast, but then some laces indicated that it's similar to Vienna, so I actually started to question Vienna. Then, I'll admit, by reading more I also became a little less interested in Prague. It sounds so touristy and busy. But then, some people might say less than flattering things about LA (where I live), which can be a crappy place to be a "tourist" in but is an awesome place to visit with the right guidance and is an even more awesome place to live. So there's that.

How did Paris get added? I've never been, and if I was going to consider Krakow as one far location, I thought I should consider Paris too. I don't know if it's unwise to include either city in this trip.

Here are some itinerary ideas I'm marinating on. Note that in a few places, the "travel day" will be a half day in a city too. I'm letting it take a day of space to make sure I'm not rushing.

**

  • Main itinerary:

**
Budapest-3 full days
Travel day
Vienna-2 full days
Austria (Melk?, day hike)--2 days including travel
Munich-4 full days (incl. day trip to Nuremberg)
Travel day
Prague-3 full days

**

  • Alternates:

**
Krakow--4 days (incl day trip to Auschwitz)
Overnight train
Budapest or Prague--3 days
Travel
Vienna or Prague--3 days
Travel
Munich--3 days
+1 day for a hike somewhere, whether in the mountains in Poland or in Austria

Paris--4 days
Hike in Switzerland--2 days incl travel
Munich--3 days
Travel
Vienna--2 days
Travel
Budapest or Prague--3 days

Any comments or opinions are appreciated.

Posted by
7175 posts

From what you describe I think you end up with a maximum of 16 nights on the ground in Europe. You might like to look at the Austrian Tirol (Innsbruck) for alpine hiking.

Paris - 4nts
Munich - 3nts
Innsbruck - 3nts
Vienna - 3nts
Budapest or Prague - 3nts

Kraków unfortunately involves difficult logistics.
Direct train from Paris to Munich at 6hrs 11mins is worth considering.

Posted by
4637 posts

As I see you haven't been to continental Europe yet. I have been to all cities you mentioned. Paris is a must. Then IMHO the scale of beauty goes this way: Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Krakow, Munich. If I have to drop one it would be Munich. No, it's not an ugly city but competitors are stronger.

Posted by
20689 posts

Based on what you say you enjoy on vacation I think you would enjoy Paris and Budapest the most. They are both receptive to cultural immersion and both have great food. The quest for truth in culture will be a little easier in Budapest because the tourism pressure isn't as heavy as it is in Paris.

Vienna and Budapest have very little in common culturally, aesthetically or otherwise. Some prefer Vienna, others Budapest. Both good, so both worth the effort if you have time.

Krakow is a full day to get to no matter from where or how. That makes it a difficult trip. I have never been there, have been within 100km on a number of occasions but the draw hasn't been great enough yet to make the full trip. I also don't think it will match your desires as well as Paris does.

Paris and Budapest require at least 4 full days in the town to get the most out of it. Vienna 3 which when allowing for travel time may leave one more good stop. Because you also indicated the outdoors you might consider the High Tatras of Slovakia. If Krakow is important to you then with a little cost you can bridge from Budapest to Krakow with some time in the High Tatras of Slovakia.

Posted by
15798 posts

They are all great locations and you could easily spend more time in any or all of them.

My advice -

  1. Seriously consider what your preferred pace is, based on your prior experience. That will tell you how many destinations you want
  2. Pick the 2 places you most want to see (that's really hard, I know) and see how they connect. Include at least one of them if it's not reasonable to do both.
  3. Explore the logistics for different options. For instance, I recently looked at getting from Munich to Prague and it would take a whole day . . . doesn't seem worth it. Flights may not help. You need gateway cities that you can fly open-jaw, and you may need one or more short European flights and they may or may not exist (e.g. no direct flights between Budapest and Krakow) or the airport (like Beauvais for Paris) may be really remote. You can find most train schedules for Europe on bahn.de, the German train site. For air travel, I like to go to the wiki page for each airport. There's always a chart showing all the airlines that use it and their destinations.
  4. You'll be back - we all return. The hardest part for me is seeing everything on my list - the more I travel, the longer the list gets!
Posted by
35 posts

In 2013 I was in Munich, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, and Krakow and enjoyed all locations. I added Budapest at the last minute because I have family there I had not seen in a long time and Bratislava because I've never been there. If I had it to do over I'd probably leave Bratislava off.

My favorite was Munich and Krakow; if you go there you must include Dachau and Auschwitz day trips. I took an overnight train from Prague to Krakow; it was great and I got plenty of rest. I'm glad I spent extra for a private sleeper.

I recommend you look into Sandman's Tours at http://www.neweuropetours.eu/. They offer tours in three of your cities, Munich, Paris, and Prague. The have several tours in these cities and a free tour in each of these cities. I found the free tours was a good way to get familiar with the surroundings.

Hope you enjoy your trip

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