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Summer itinerary for family of 4 with teens Budapest and Prague

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I am at the early stages of planning a trip for 2 adults and 2 teenagers(16) and thought Budapest and Prague would be a good starting place to visit although I am undecided - will the teens love it or should I choose other countries? I have already been to many European countries so thought these might be good for all. Anyone have a suggested itinerary for a June visit coming from the US. Should I add Vienna? 10 days give or take. Thx

Posted by
11034 posts

With 10 days I would stick with two cities, and I think that your teens would really like Budapest and Prague. Vienna is more formal, I guess you could say (in my opinion), and I think the Bohemian nature of Prague would appeal more to them. My daughter went to Prague when she was in college and absolutely loved it. It was one of her favorite cities. And I've yet to find anyone who did not like Budapest. It's just wonderful.

At any rate, I would strongly suggest getting a couple of guidebooks from the library and giving them to your teens to look through. You could also point them towards some YouTube videos or blogs. There's plenty out there and that might get them involved in choosing places to see.

I did that with two of my grandkids when I took them to London and Paris last year, and they found quite a few things that they really wanted to see. It does help to get them involved, especially the older ones.

I would also recommend looking through the forum here as there are many posts on both Budapest and Prague. There are trip reports as well. Here is a link to mine from October but there are many more out there. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/budapest-mini-trip-report-the-opera-the-scenery-the-food-the-catastrophe

Posted by
353 posts

We two adults visited all three of those cities in Aug 2025. Budapest 4 nights, Prague 5, and Vienna 5. I don't know the interests of you or your teenagers, but our trip reports might be useful reference:

Posted by
24931 posts

Two adults and two 16-year-olds. Unless you are way cooler than I was as a parent, this is more of a family trip than a trip where the kids are clubbing while mom and dad are at the concert. Given that any of the three might work, it depends on what the family does well together and what you do with time. But 10 days sort of dictates two of the three or a very rushed all three. Again, about how the family works together.

All three locations mentioned have things with broad appeal. Budapest that might include

  • river tours on one of the more "interesting" boats
  • a silly dinner at Sir Lancelot's
  • the tour of the Hospital in the Rock
  • the Chair Lift over the Buda Hills
  • a flight in an antique plane
  • a ride on a an antique train, or just climb around on a few
  • a tour of some caves
  • bath houses
  • escape rooms
  • theater
  • jazz
  • house of terror museum and anything commie or war

As for city number two. Depends. If you excuse gender stereotyping, girls might enjoy Vienna a bit more than Prague. And boys might be the opposite by a small margin. But I would go to the Czech and Austrian forums and ask.

If you wanted another just totally off the wall suggestion; if you time it correctly you can take advantage of the fact that Budapest is so well served by discount airlines and spend a few days in a totally different world. My first choices would all be under 90 minutes flights, so under 6 hours hotel door to hotel door out of Budapest. But the flights are not every day, so planning has to work. And do it open jaw so you don’t spend more travel time than you need to. Any of these would be a nice 5-night trip:

  • Bourgas (Nessebar), Bulgaria (Wizzair): Great ancient culture on Nessebar and great Black Sea coast.
  • Sofia (Plovdiv & Rila), Bulgaria (Ryanair): The one of a kind experience of Sofia with day trips or a day and an overnight trip to the Rila Monastery and then to Roman Plovdiv.
  • Podgorica (Kotor, Budva, Stari Bar, Ostrog), Montenegro (Wizzair): about my favorite place after Budapest. Spectacular coast with ancient walled cities and beautiful beaches and water sports.
  • Bucharest / Brasov (Sigisoara, Bran, Sibu), Romania: Who could say no to the home land of Vlad.

If cost is an issue. Of the cities, Budapest is the cheapest, Prague a little more but mostly if you want to be as well positioned in the city, the hotel will cost more. Vienna isn’t cheap. Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro. Well, for those you will need guides with cars to really capitalize on the time. But the hotels are so affordable, those stops might not cost more than walking in Vienna.

Posted by
24931 posts

Okay, so more adventure and bikes.
https://www.budabike.com/en/
https://caving.hu/
https://www.sikloernyostanfolyam.hu/hu/paraglidinghungary
http://goldtimer.hu/flight.html and https://youtu.be/rq8B-nisG9c?si=JzqM5x1VxG2P_WqB
https://www.hungaryforfun.com/activities/budapest-canoe-kayak

Oh, and I know a tour guide in Montenegro that used to do bike tours in Montenegro. May still be doing them. That would be my first choice. A freeking beautiful country with plenty to do along the coast and in the mountains. From paragliding to white water rafting to zip lines over the deepest canyon in Europe.

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