Budapest/Vienna and/or Salzburg

Day 2, 3, 4 In Budapest. Three full days is a good minimum. Day 5 Morning train to Gyor. This is the same track that goes on to Vienna. See the Archabbey about 20 minutes away by taxi at Pannonhalma. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannonhalma_Archabbey. You can compare this to Melk when you get to Vienna. Spend the night at the Hotel Klastrom (an old Carmelite Cloister) in Gyor and enjoy the great Baroque center. Day 6. afternoon train on to Vienna. Mel is very good but I enjoyed the total experience at Pannonhalma just a bit more. I've heard so many mixed reports on Bratislava that despite countless trips to the region I haven't made it yet. write and tell me how you liked it. Don't add Salzburg, you have a pretty good trip as it is. I think the only major change I would make is to run it backwards, starting in Vienna. Budapest is more laid back and makes a good end to a long journey. Oh, and if the date is flexible confirm the dates that the Christmas markets open and don't miss them.

DO NOT take a day from Vienna ---- you'll regret it. James: Boldog Karacsonyt!! ;-)

Do not take a day from Vienna. You could spend a week there. Two days sees all you want to in Budapest. Salzburg and the lakes district is gorgeous. The Melk Abby is beautiful. If you haven't been to Prague I would combine it with Vienna and Budapest instead of Salzburg.

Elaine I've missed you! Merry Christmas! Robby this is proof that you picked the right part of the world. You will not see this sort of passion on many other forum topics and travel is about satisfying passions. You don't have enough time to do Prague justice on this trip. You will need three more days. And Elaine, I did my math wrong and modified my post accordingly. Elaine stalks me to defend Vienna, and I love it. My last suggestion, stay flexible. The train tickets can be purchased at the last moment. No matter where you are if it isn't just the greatest pack up and move to the next. That is exactly how we discovered Budapest, and no Elaine I will not mention the name of the town we left early. :-)

Elaine, here you can find my attempt to define the differences between Vienna, Prague and Budapest. But I "might" be a little biased and if I am too much biased it looses value. Why don't you read it and send me some comments to incorporate. http://budapestflat.shutterfly.com/fivedaysinbudapest. look for a PDF file in the bottom right hand corner. Robby, there is some help for your trip to Budapest there as well.

Thanks for all the advice...we just got back from Berlin, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Dresden, and Prague November 2-16. We probably will do this trip the first two weeks of November 2013. This would be our first trip so these cities. We probably will skip Salzburg this trip. Will probably spend two full days in Budapest with a daytrip somewhere. Still undecided about Bratislava may spend an extra day in Vienna? Are there any other interesting Daytrips from Vienna?

Check a consolidator, EuropeanDestinations.com, who sets up this type of itinerary for very fair prices including train tickets. They can also throw in Prague.

I received this PM this morning: "Have you looked at the Tripadvisor reviews for Pannonhalma? ... It doesn't sound very promising." I thought a public answer might be helpful. No, I haven't read the TA reviews; but I have been there and I have been to Melk as well. The abbey at Melk is a little "richer" and better accommodates tourists but the Archabbey at Pannonhalma is more real and active as an abbey. Go on Sunday and attend the mass and hear the monks reciting their Gregorian chants. If you are a huge museum fan then Melk might be better for you. If you are more into living culture then Pannonhalma will be more interesting. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/hungary/pannonhalma-abbey Oh and don't forget to visit the winery while you are there. The town of Gyor it's self has a very nice baroque center, some good period churches, remains of fortification walls, squares, and a pretty amazing old synagogue all with a river running through it. Cesky Krumlov it is not, but the town of Gyor and the archabbey make for a good overnight between Vienna and Budapest or for just a half day stop while in route between the two cities. What Gyor does not have is a lot of tourists and tourist shops. It's the sort of place I would have no problem going back to for a second visit, but I am more of a humanist and less of an archeologist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gy%C5%91r If anyone is looking for other good overnight trips out of Budapest then I can suggest a few towns nearby in Slovakia that are pretty excellent too.

We visited Gyor and Pannonhalma Abbey in 2009. Gyor is a great small town, easy to get to, and inexpensive. We enjoyed Pannonhalma Abbey. Note, English tours only 1 or 2 times a day. We took the train from Gyor to Pannonhalma - I don't recommend that, as there were no taxis at Pannonhalma station and it is a long uphill walk. Better to take a taxi or rent a car. Few services in the town at Pannonhalma.
Greg.

Robby, What I would suggest in light of the time constraint is drop the day trip r/t to Bratislava (Pressburg), spend that time in captivating Vienna instead. Take the U-Bahn and S-Bahn to outlying districts. As for a day trip from Budapest, en route from Vienna, the train stopped at Györ (Raab), looked very interesting. I would visit that historical town.

If you do stop in Gyor you can take a cab to the Archabbey and the winery. Not real cheap but easy. Figure about 2.5 hours to see the place and the adjacent winery. We stayed at the 18th century cloister converted to the hotel Klastrom. The facilities were very acceptable, the staff very nice and the location perfect.