We are planning a two week trip (late Sept/early Oct 2010) to Prague and Budapest, and thought with 12 days (14 total including flight) we could fit in another city. Some of the postings do not seem thrilled with Vienna. Is there another location to recommend? We are a family of four with two adult children, one of whom has already been to Warsaw and Cracow. We like to travel light, cheap and simple! We have used Rick Steve's suggestions in France and Italy - still need to buy the books for this trip.
Posted by
St Petersburg Florida
951 posts
I just got back from Vienna (3 nights, 2 full days), Budapest (4 nights), and Prague (4 nights) in December. I liked Vienna, but did I find it magical like Budapest and Prague? No, it just did not give me the sense of wonderment that Budapest and Prague gave me. However, I do not regret going to Vienna. I enjoyed the Hapsburg sites, the Sacher torte, the coffee, the nice Christmas market at the Rathaus. Vienna did however have an amazing fine art museum which was way better than the fine art museums in Budapest and Prague. That in its self made our Vienna portion of the vacation worth it and a possible must see.
We also flew out of Frankfurt, Germany with the purpose of spending 2 days in Rothenberg ob der Tauber. There is an express bus from Prague to Nuremburg that maybe takes 4 hours (quicker than the trains). 5-6 hours total to get to Rothenburg from Prague. It was worth the time it took to get there and just added more magic to our trip.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
1525 posts
If you had planned on flying open-jaw into Prague and out of Budapest (or vice-versa), I would like to suggest this less conventional option, since I always cringe when people suggest and entire trip packed with urban experiences.
See a little bit of the country!
In between Prague and Budapest, stop in Cesky Krumlov in southern Czech. It is a well-preserved small town with extensive facilities and transportation connections for tourists. Stay two nights, using the day in between to canoe the river (standard tourist activity, easy and safe to do).
In between Cesky Krumlov and Budapest, stop in Melk and see the beautiful abbey there, then take the Danube river cruise (90 minutes?) to Krems, where you can stroll and catch the train to Vienna. Stay two nights and get a good taste of Vienna during the full day in between, but if it turns out to be far less interesting than Prague and Budapest, you can be satisfied to have spent only a little time there. But I would be hesitant to omit it all together based only on a few impressions from others.
But in any case, set foot in the country!
(If you are allergic to rural areas, you could just go to Krakow and either let the adult child serve as tour guide for the rest of you, or let them go somewhere else if they don't want to see it again. S/he his an adult, after all...
Posted by
OP
Pleasant Hill, CA
2 posts
Absolutely, we plan to see things outside of the "big cities" - I was thinking of day trips from Prague and Budapest, but we are certainly open to other suggestions. We've found it's nice to plunk our bags down in a hotel room and stay in one place for 3-5 nights. We do travel light, with travel backpacks - but even that is more than we'd like to lug around all day.
Randy, I like your suggestion for Cesky Krumlov - we had been considering that as a day trip, but maybe better to take more time.
Thanks for the comments and keep them coming!
Posted by
Concord, CA, USA
13 posts
Hi Karin (Neighbor)
We visited Prague -> Budapest -> Krakow last year. We booked sleeper trains between the cities.
I had visited Prague before but my wife had not.
Prague had the most sites, but was very touristy and we did a bit too much walking, so did not enjoy it as much as the other 2 cities.
Budapest was great, by chance we were able to attend the 'National Gallop' - horse racing and grand parades around Heroes Square!! The public transport was superb, we could easily visit all the sites.
Krakow was so cheap and most sites were within easy walking distance. Plus we had day trips to the Salt Mine and Auschwitz.
One thing I regretted is not spending half a day in Bratislava as we passed through on the way to Budapest and on the way to Krakow.
You have a long trip, I would really recommend including Krakow as 3 of you have not been there.
Regards
Dave