Hi All- I also posted this in The Austria forum. Apologies for overlap.
My husband and I will be traveling to Vienna and Budapest this December and we have 3 extra days that aren't accounted for. We are looking for a smaller town, but there are so many and it's so hard to choose! So, I'm curious: where would you spend the extra 3 days?
Please note we won't have a car. Traveling by train mostly.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
Eger or Bratislava since they're not too out of the way. Maybe 3 days would be too much - maybe add one to Budapest? I give smaller towns less time than larger cities simply because the larger cities have more attractions to see and/or are more spread out.
I'd add the 3 days to Budapest, and do a day trip to Bratislava with one of them. I've been to Budapest twice now (planning to return next spring----yes, it's become my favorite place, resistance is futile) for a total of 10 days and had no problem filling those days and doing a couple of short day trips by train to nearby towns.
Interesting... I like the idea of staying somewhere and doing more day trips. Someone else recommended Gyor, Eger and Bratislava. Do you have any other recommendations for day trips? Maybe we should tack on a day trip from Vienna as well. Melk was mentioned, but I'm not sure how that would be in December...
So just camp out in Budapest with a nice comfortable (and inexpensive) apartment. Then
Overnight Possibilities
Gyor (Pannonhalma)
Vienna
Pecs
Eger
Sopron
Lillafüred
Day trips
Szentendre
Esztergom
Vac
Visegrad
Gödöllő
Number of Super Interesting do it yourself all day walking tours in Budapest
You can easily spend 6 days in Budapest without getting bored.
My day trips thus far:
From Vienna I did the Melk Abbey by train-boat along Danube to Krems-train back to Vienna and that was a great day of exploring. Another long day trip by train to Salzburg (worth much more than a day but that's all I had) arriving at 9:30 am and back to Vienna by 9 pm.
From Budapest I've taken the HEV twice now to Szentendre--very pretty little town along the Danube and I like to have a late lunch at one of their restaurants and explore the shops, plus if you go on a Friday there's a craft/handmade item and food fair going on in the main street. HEV to Godollo--great palace/museum to visit and lovely little town. I also visited the town of my ancestors, 1 hour by train to Tata--I would need a car to see some of the further outlying sites there.
Next trip will likely include a day or two in Debrecen, near the Ukrainian border, and Pecs, and a day trip to Bratislava.
Hi,
You got it. It is "so very hard to choose," isn't it? Where I would go for the extra 3 days: to Moravia to see, explore the towns of Brno, Olmouc, Ostrava, etc. Different, interesting, and historical. All easily reachable by train.
