Trip to salzburg, Vienna, Prague & krakow

Salzburg is great. Most of the sights are easy walking distance from the center. I think two full days, maybe three nights would be a good stay unless you want to add day trips to nearby stops. Vienna is much bigger and offers a ton of attractions. I would at least double your time in Salzburg. I think Prague and Krakow can be done in three days each but you will probably get a wide variety of opinion on the two. I like to plan intermediate stops on travel days. An example would be Melk abbey between Salzburg and Vienna.

I agree with the previous post. We recently spent 3 nights in Salzburg which was the right amount of time particularly if you stay near the Old Towm. We had three nights in Vienna and wish we had a couplke of more. Melk is a great place to stop between the two.

Thanks for your advice!

The answer to this question will vary by individual taste. On a trip acouple of years ago, we were in Vienna for 2 days which was at least 1 too few and Salzburg for 4, which was about right. In a trip last year we were in Krakow for 3 (including 1 in Auschwitz), which was 1 more than needed and 3 in Prague, which was about right. In terms of a return visit, I would rank them Salzburg, Vienna, Krakow and Prague.

Hi, My suggestion is that you spend the most time in Vienna, Krakow, and Salzburg, at least 4 nights in Vienna if this is your first visit. Stay in the area of the West Train station (Westbahnhof)...very convenient, served by 2 U-Bahn lines, (the subway), numbers 3 and 6.

Hi my connecting flight is to either Vienna or Prague.... Where should I start and end? I'm planning to fly in open jaw, entering via Prague and exit by Vienna or vice versa... The headache one is fitting krakow in... Any suggestion? Thanks!

Do NOT skip Krakow! You can skip Saltzburg, and after my most recent experience you can skip Prague, but Krakow is a MUST SEE destination!

There appear to be overnight trains connecting Krakow to both Prague and Vienna, and of course plenty of daytime trains. It looks like they're all about eight hours apart. EDIT: I see your problem fitting them in with an open-jaw flight. I guess if you flew into and out of the same city you could just do a circuit. Not sure exactly what to tell you at the moment.

Plan your route to avoid the trip from Salzburg to Prague, which is an all-day adventure with two train changes. It was a really long day.

I did a similar trip recently that didn't include Salzburg. Krakow is my favourite of all the places you list. I do encourage you to visit Salzburg too, it's a wonderful city to stroll around and get lost in. Prague is not a favourite as it's overun by tourists and Vienna (where I had visited previously) is a city I where I asked myself why did I bother to come back. How you budget your time in each city is a question only you can answer. Opinions will differ and while I didn't like some places I'm certain other people do. As for train travel between the places, you could consider the overnight train between Prague and Krakow it is expensive but it will save you time. You can book a private sleeper cabin, which is what I recommend, don't consider the night train if you will book a regular seat. It is best to travel from Budapest to Vienna instead of Vienna to Budapest if you're not buying a rail pass. There is a special price ticket sold in Budapest for trains to Vienna, you can't buy this in Vienna and the train journey will cost you more. The excursion ticket includes return tickets on trains and a two day transit pass in Vienna (note, the day you arrive is counted as one day). This is cheaper than buying a one way train ticket and a two day transit ticket, so even if you're not using the return train portion it's still a better choice. Some discount airlines fly to Krakow, you may want to take a look at flight prices/schedules and consider flying in/out of Krakow to one of the cities you'll be visiting. Geographically Krakow isn't a good "fit" with your other cities.

For what ever reasons, I can't edit my previous post, I want to add this information about the train tickets from Budapest to Vienna:- If you do book the special price ticket you must ask for it, if you don't the agent won't sell you the special priced ticket. Last year it was 31 euros, pay in cash (euros) if you pay by credit card or in forints the ticket will cost you more as the train company's rate of exchange is unfair (or at least it was last year).

I just did a Budapest, Prague, Vienna and Krakow and we picked up a car in Prague to drive to Krakow. It was an easy drive and loved seeing the countryside and found a hotel that had parking for $5 or so a day. Then on our way back to Prague we drove to Cesky Krumlov and back to Prague to fly out. The earlier part of the trip we did not need a car. Krakow was great, Prague was busy, but beautiful (I had been there before) and Vienna, although delightful is a big city and I tend to prefer the size of Salzburg. I know there might be more 'must see' sights in Vienna, but I would do the least days there. But, it is all wonderful and not too bad of a dilema to have!