Budapest - Vienna - Krakow?

I would use google maps to get some time estimates between cities. I think Krakow is about 8 hours on the train or about 2 hours via plane from Budapest. You might look at Bratislava or Zagreb, or peruse google maps. How many days do you have?

Check Google Flights for planes and Obb for trains. Budpaest to Krakow is unfortunately difficult. No direct flights and the trains are 7 hours or more. Busses are about 6 hours I believe. But from Vienna Ryan Air flies non-stop in 1:05. That will be about 4.5 hours door to door. The fastest train is 5:20 hours, so maybe 6:5 door to door. Depending on how you pack, ticket cost might be pretty similar.

Sort of what I think is a good minimum
1 depart US
2 arrive Budapest
3 Budapest
4 Budapest
5 Budapest
6 Morning train to Vienna with a stop in Gyor/Pannonhalma
7 Vienna
8 Vienna
9 Vienna
10 Flight to Krakow
11 Krakow
12 Krakow
13 Krakow (sort of optional)
14 Home

Then you add days for day trips.
Melk
Bratislava
Szentendre
Hungarian Vineyards

Just got back from this exact same trip a few days ago (and loved it all):

Flew SLC to Budapest
3 nights in Budapest
Drove from Budapest to Vienna with a couple hour stop in Bratislava Slovakia (definitely worth a stop since it’s right on the way and has a quaint old town that’s worth seeing, but a couple hours was enough for us)
3 nights in Vienna
Flew from Vienna to Krakow direct on Ryanair (easy 1-hr flight)
3 nights in Krakow (spent one day exploring Krakow and one on a day trip to Auschwitz)
Flew Krakow to SLC

Thoroughly enjoyed all three cities. 2 full days felt like the perfect amount of time for Budapest. 3 full days in Vienna was enough to see the main sights but we could easily have enjoyed another day there. 1 full day in Krakow was enough to see the main sights but we hustled all day. We loved the city and would have loved an other day there. Never enough time :)

Happy to answer any questions if I can be of help. Happy planning!

Adam

2 arrive Budapest
Most of the US flights arrive around 2pm more or less. If you got your accommodation along Andrassy ut and you didn’t pack to heavy you can take the 100E bus from the airport and either walk up Andrassy ut or take the M1 metro to your accommodations. ($7 each). A taxi is also good ($34 or $17 each for a couple).
You gotta stay awake until your usual bed time to shake the jet lag the next day so….. Walk up Andrassy ut. The 30-minute walk goes past some pretty amazing architecture and up one of the most beautiful avenues in Europe. Along the way the House of Terror at the end is Heroes’ Square and city park, bath house, skating rink (or boat lake depending on the time of the year).
Then take the M1 metro back to where you began the walk, get off and walk down Andrassy ut. To the end and beyond in a straight line to Vorosmarty ter and then the river front. I saved this for second, because you sit at an outdoor restaurant and enjoy the one of the most beautiful views in Europe, the castle across the river. Hopefully the sun is down and the lights are on.
After, you head back to the M1 and use it to reach your accommodation. Not far from most are nice little wine bars, so if you have the energy have a drink and discuss the trip to that point.

3 Budapest
Breakfast with palinka spiked raspberry lemonade. Then ….
Walk to the Chain Bridge and cross it on foot then up the Funicular to the Castle District.
Allow 2 hours for the castle museum. Really it is very good.
Do the fisherman’s bastion and Matthias church and the Hospital in the Rock. Stop for lunch at a local Hungarian place with great credentials. Things are not expensive in Budapest so you can do some of the better things in life.
Finally walk down through the Castle Gardens to the river where you take a tram and a metro to get back to your accommodation.
If you move briskly or if you skip a museum or the hospital in the rock, you wil have time for a bathhouse this afternoon.
Opera Night. An Early dinner and the Opera. Then of course drinks. Maybe at the veranda of the W Hotel.

4 Budapest
Sunday after breakfast with the Ukrainians is Jewish Budapest Day (this is why knowing the dates of your travel helps when asking advice). Walk through what was the WWII deportation ghetto with a few stops of significance to the Great Synagogue and do the Jewish district tour (there are several, but the one I like most is only on Sunday). 10:30 to 13:30.
Now lunch at a local Jewish restaurant
Back on the tram to the Great Market Hall. Be sure to visit the fish and pickles in the basement.
Next the 2/2B/23 Tram to the Corso. This is whare you sat last night. Worth another walk.
Back on the tram one stop up to the Parliament building for the tour (15:00 to about 16:00).
Head down to the Shoes on the River. Do me a small favor while there.
Now visit a wonderful basement antique shop on the way to the next tram.
Take the 4/6 tram to the Oktogon and walk home.
Easy dinner tonight near the Opera, maybe a walk to enjoy the lights of the city.

5 Budapest
Today, breakfast with some locals and then the Basilica for a look see and climb to the top. Some good souvenir shops out front of the basilica. From the Basilica take the metro across the river for lunch and to catch the H5 train.
The H5 commuter train goest to Szentendre. It takes about 45 minutes. You wander the streets of this wonderful little artist village until the boat to Budapest leaves at 17:00 and gets you back to Pest about 35 minutes later. Take the M1 home and get ready for dinner.
Tonight dinner with live Gypsy Music to say good bye to Budapest. Don’t you wish you had another day?

6 Budapest to Vienna. You could fill another day un Budapest, but I didnt want to hog your entire holiday.

6. Budapest to Vienna.

Well you could spend the morning in Budapest and go straight to Vienna in the afternoon. And while there is plenty more to do and see in Budapest, I think the stop in Győr is a good idea. https://youtu.be/Etkb-m7l3oY?si=hu3dRyf355IACTrw
So you have bought two train tickets from MAV one to Győr and another Győr to Vienna. There is no detour in doing this as Győr is on the rail line between the two cities.
Leave in the morning to Győr. From the train station you have two choices, either a bus or a taxi to the Archabbey at Pannonhalma. I am lazy, I would take the taxi. https://youtu.be/kBYsexwEbPc?si=50kMstey3XMT-V3I
Do the tour of the abbey and the vineyard and then back to Győr for lunch in the square of the old town. https://youtu.be/NbH6u0J-Xos?si=XVOBT88ZRGs_kMek Then back on the train to Vienna.

What you missed in Budapest?

• A night dinner cruise on the Danube for the lights
• The depth of Jewish Budapest History. Places like the Glass House, Holocaust Memorial Center, Cemeteries with magnificent monuments and a desecrated history.
• Rowing a boat on city park lake (or skating in the winter)
• The zoo and the circus
• A balloon ride over the city park
• The views from the Ferris Wheel
• Very interesting antique shops
• A magnificent palace library, now turned public library
• The chance to walk on the stage of the Opera House
• The tragedy conveyed in the House of Terror Museum
• One of many real-world market halls still serving locals as they did 100 years ago (without tourists)
• One of many special events in the city
• An evening in a sky bar
• Almost every museum. Museums from fine art to history to pinball to the making of Unicum to military (current and past) and even climbing on (sometimes riding) old steam engines.
• Theater and music concerts. At least 3 more venues that are interesting to most tourists.
• Ruin pubs (we might be able to fix that)
• A formal wine tasting, or worse yet a trip to one of the areas’ wineries.
• Antique books / art print shops.
• Riding in the backseat of a 1930’s design biplane.
• Dozens of central Europe’s finest restaurants. Everything from Hungarian to Georgian to Persian and Ukrainian.
• Overnight trips to Pecs and Eger and a night at the Hotel Palota in Lillafüred.
• Life in Eastern Europe by just going through the routines of a day with a local.