I am planning a trip to Prague and Budapest in May.I want a day trip to Aushwitz and also a day trip to a small town in Saxony Germany.I would like to know how many days would be needed to see most sights in Prague and Budapest .Also should I fly into one city and fly out of the second city? Best way to get from Prague to Budapest plane or train???Thanks for any help...
Posted by
Tulsa, OK
276 posts
Hello Susan,
I don't know how many days you have in total for your trip, but I would suggest adding Krakow to your itinerary and doing your day trip to Aushwitz from there. A day trip from Prague to Saxony might be feasible (I've never made that trip), but Prague to Aushwitz would be a real push if possible at all. I confess it's been about 5 years since I was there, and there might be an express train now, but when I went it was a 10 hour trip with many stops along the way from Prague to Krakow. Aushwitz is on the way, but that would only cut off about an hour. And even if there is an express train, it would probably still take about 6 hours. Aushwitz requires at least 3 hours, so I think it would be well worth it to spend a couple of days in Krakow and make that your base to Aushwitz. Krakow is a wonderful, beautiful city and worth the visit for its own sake. So maybe 3 days in Prague (4 if you do your side trip to Saxony), 2 days (at least) in Krakow spending a half day at Aushwitz, then 3 days in Budapest.
If you can find a good deal on an open-jaw ticket into one city and out another, that would give you even more time to enjoy these gorgeous cities!
Posted by
Tulsa, Oklahoma, US
290 posts
Like Penny said, if you want to see Auschwitz you need to add Krakow to you itinerary. You can take the overnight trains from Prague to Krakow and from Krakow to Budapest. I've ridden both and they are very pleasant trips, assuming you can sleep on a train. I would give Prague and Budapest at least 3 days each (plus a day for your side trip), Krakow 2 or 3. And yes, you should fly 'open jaw', into one city and out of the other.
Posted by
Tucson, Arizona
2 posts
I agree with Penny and Ash, you must add Krakow and you will be delighted.
This past summer I spent 5 weeks in Europe, and among that were 3 nights in Krakow (from which I saw Aushwitz), 3 nights in Budpest (the Budapest opera was a delight and a bargain), and 3 in Prague. While I got a nice feel for each of these cities, I did not see everything I wanted, so adding another night in each would be good, but 3 was certainly acceptable.
Remember that with travel time between cities, you are losing parts of your day unless you take a night train. I priced flights from Budapest to Prague and they were quite high, so we opted for the train, and what a bargain! I think we paid less than $30 each for a ticket. But buying the ticket at the Budapest train station was a challenge-we spoke no Hungarian and the lady spoke know English. Luckily, we spotted some Hungarian college students who were happy to use their English and help us out. Rick, in his tour book, mentions a travel office in Budapest to use when buying tickets which I would recommend. However, I think we hit it on a weekend and they were closed.