prague to budapest

Remember that everything you will read hear is nothing more than personal opinion and tha there are very few absolutes. That having been said; that's a pretty ambitious trip unless you have at least three weeks. As for books, Rick has a decent one on Eastern Europe which will cover Prague and Budapest (both in CENTRAL Europe) and then he alos has a decent book that covers Austria and Germany. Train schedules and rates you can get off the internet but the rates you will get once over there are generally better. For housing and the rest, once you have a clear plan, come back and there are pleanty of people here that can help you out. For a start I guess: Melk is a day trip out of Vienna but the Archabbey outside of Gyor (between Vienna and Budapest) is better. Vienna for me is worth 3 full days tops and I wouldnt think most folks would be disapointed having to leave after two FULL days. A full day is when you wake up and go to bed in the same town. Budapest requires at least 3 full days and 4 wouldnt be too long. Prague is a 3 full day town. As for the places in Germany, well ........... someone else can give you adivce on that.

Catherine: Prague is about 175 miles NW of Vienna. Budapest is about 150 miles SE of Vienna. They're connected by good train lines. The best way to visit these great cities is to fly open jaw'd into one and out of the other. And be sure to visit the fantastic Vienna when you're riding the train from one city to the other. Unfortunately, Nurenberg,Regensburg, Passau and Melk are not between Prague and Budapest, and substantially to the west.
EuropeanDestinations.com has great affordable packages for this itinerary, including train tickets.

David is absolutely correct. There is a reason that Prague, Vienna and Budapest are so often on the same itinerary. First, transportation between the three is inexpensive and convenient by train. Something less than 5 hours Prague to Vienna and something less than 3.5 hours Vienna to Budapest and second, they represent a huge cut through time and the history of Europe. Prague is the oldest of the three with great late medieval and early baroque architecture in tight (over crowded with tourists) well defined historic districts. Vienna is primarily 18th century Empire and is broad and has much broader districts. This is a great museum town. Budapest is the most modern. Here you have a pretty well preserved late 19th century / early 20th century town alive and vibrant and very beautiful on the Danube River. If you are on a budget spend the most time in Budapest and the least amount of time in Vienna. The German towns on your list are...........well maybe someone else will help you with those.

How much time do you have in total? Nurnberg is great, wish we had had more time there than a day trip. The German cultural museum is a real gem, and the Documentation Center is also a worthy visit. Salzburg, Munich, and Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber are also on your way and worth visiting but not on your list. It really depends upon how much time you have. Prague-Vienna-Budapest would be really easy on the transportation connections. Generally I think land travel is the way to go, so you are on the right track. My wife and I did a European cruise on our honeymoon in 1999, and also in 2011 when we wanted to visit hard-to-get-to places - islands and such. But generally in the areas you are visiting, land travel is better as the transit connections are very good. I also heard that the locks along the Danube can make river travel very very slow.

Fly into Budapest, go to Vienna, day trip to Melk, off to Prague, bus to Nuremburg, train to Regensburg, train to Passau, leave from Munich. Can't promise that any of this is along the Danube but I think this trip is do-able as long as you have the time to do this trip. Vienna, Prague, Budapest can be worth 3-4 nights each. Nremberg, Regensburg, Passau, 2 nights each.