Small town between Budapest and Vienna

You pretty much described Győr in detail. Lovely little town known as the City of Rivers. http://turizmus.gyor.hu/data/files/turizmus/imazs_en.pdf . Almost exactly half way between Budapest and Vienna; and on the Budapest to Vienna train track making a stop for the night easy and convenient.

Very near (take a taxi) is the Archabbey of Pannonhalma which is every bit as interesting as the abbey at Melk and maybe moreso because the day to day life of the archabbey continues and is evident during visits http://bences.hu/lang/en/ .

Stay at the Hotel Klastrom which is a converted monastery http://klastrom.hu/en .

Gyor is hardly a small town/village -- it's got nearly 130,000 residents! It's a a fine place, and I've spent many a lovely time there, but if it's small town/village you're looking for, it's not Gyor.

(of course if you're looking for ease of stopping over by train between Vienna and Budapest, then you can't beat Gyor . . . )

We really enjoyed Sopron on our 2011 Hungary/Czech Republic trip. I don't recall a river but it a nice small town. I think three days would definitely be a lot though. We stayed only one night, a little less than 24 hours probably and could have used another half day to enjoy the town in a more leisurely way. The old tower was sadly in scaffolding when we were there.

Okay, its a fairly good size town with a lovely baroque center where you can go and not realize that you are in the middle of a city. After all its about the feeling not the reality. Its good for 2 days (one night) especially if you go out the archabbey. Its 1.25 hours from both Vienna and Budapest: Direct.

Sopron is good but its 2.5 hours from Budapest, then another 2.5 hours and one train change to Vienna.

Another option is Tata. Especially for the "castle" and the lake. It is 1 hour from Budapest and 2.5 hours to Vienna with a change in Gyor. http://www.budapest.com/hungary/cities/tata.en.html

Yet another, one that I sort of like a lot, is Komárom. Not much tourist here but two fortresses on opposite sides of the Danube; one in Hungary and one in Slovakia. The one in Hungary I heard at one time was the largest munitions stockpile outside of the soviet union during the cold war. you can wander the 18th century fortress to your hearts desire. http://www.erod.hu/en/erodrendszer/history-fortification-system 1.25 hours from Budapest and about 2.5 hours to Vienna by way of Gyor.

Gyor looks nice from the images presented by a Google search. It's true that even medium to larger cities can feel smaller depending upon where you are. A couple that come to mind are Strasbourg France and Olomouc, Czech Republic. Sopron is only 1:20 give or take to Wien according to bahn.de sometimes without changes depending upon the train.

Sopron is also a very easy drive from Vienna. Its a popular low cost shopping town for Austrians.

This thread is of particular interest to me as I will be visiting the town of Tata in May--my mom finally got out the family tree info and that's where my great-grandparents and grandmother lived until they came to the US in 1899--at that time it was called Tata Tovaros. It looks to be an interesting town above and beyond the heritage aspect, and now I need to find out if any Katonas are still there; otherwise I will just be content to wander around, imagining my ancestors standing in the same place, looking at the same buildings.

I believe that one particular small portion of what is now Tata was known as Tata Tovaros and can still be found on some maps as such. If I am right then your search many only be a few streets.

Thank you all for your great suggestions! I agree that Gyor is probably a bit larger than what we were thinking. But Tata sounds promising -- small, on a lake; ahhhh. As it turns out my hairdresser (whom I saw today) is from Sopron, Hungary, just across the border from Vienna. But Sopron is a bit too large (90K) for a "relaxing" couple of days between Budapest and Vienna. Hopefully this "wall" will continue with further suggestions. We really do appreciate all your comments and recommendations!

I love the posting from Katonas, with a family history from Tata Tovaros in 1899. How interesting and charming.
Happy travels!
Karen from San Diego

Maybe Hainburg an der Donau? It's much closer to Vienna. Regular trains to Vienna. I'm not sure abt connections to Budapest.

Hainburg has a nice old center, a castle, and a walking trail up to the hills where you have a commanding views of the entire Danube valley. A flatter walk follows a very old route along the river with stone arches, castle ruins, etc.

Spending the time in Györ is a good choice, i would pick the more historical choice of Komarom and its place on the Danube with the two 18th century mighty fortresses, obvious directed against any resurgence on the part of the Turks. A great choice since it's one hour from Budapest, like going to Novi Sad on the Danube not far from Belgrade.

Fred, you would enjoy Komarom, this is a huge complex complete with burried munitions dump. The site was also used as a transfer camp during the holocaust - I think the large two story structure outside the camp proper, located on the train tracks , but not certain.

We stayed in Gyor when traveling by train from Vienna to Budapest. It was lovely and very quiet.

And the short trip from Gyor to the Pannonhalma Archabbey is well worth the effort.

@ James...A number of plain old historical sites were used to contribute to the horrors of the Holocaust. The immediate one that comes to mind is the 18th century fortress town Theresienstadt, where the assassin of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was held and died because of TB.

I would certainly be interested in seeing Komarom and the fortresses overlooking the Danube, very feasible from Budapest, may even be possible end of May/June 2016, since they stem from the 18th century.

Another site used for transport purposes (in the Holocaust) I saw is in France in the 21st century, not on the North American tourist radar at all... Compiegne, the place usually associated historically with the 1918 Armistice signing between the Allies and the Germans in the railway coach. Nearby this site (the railway car, the museum, and the dedication that starts off with "The criminal pride of the German Empire...." flamboyant rhetoric here) is within walking distance the site which the French call "La Deportation" Memorial plaques and signs are there, the rail line...poignant , grim.

BTW, although US Army and Marines fought (died) almost consistently once they injected into combat in July of 1918 to the November, there is no seat in the rail car at Compiegne for any US representative, military or civilian. As you walk the rail car where the signing took place, you notice the seats for the representatives for the British, Australian, French, German, but none for the US. It's as if the US had not even participated, if one did not know better.