Prague, Krakow/Wroclaw, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest flight help

The trains are fine.

Check

Krakow to Prague by train
Prague to Vienna by train
Vienna to Bratislave by train
Bratislava to Budapest by train.

And.

Prague to Vienna by train
Vienna to Bratislava by train
Bratislava to Budapest by train
Budapest to Krakow by plane (Ryanair)

Check each in both directions.

Forget AI, use Google Flights and confirm price and fare options on the official websites.

Also consider stopping in Cesky Krumlov between Prague and Vienna (CK Shuttle).

Thanks! Yes will check those routes, my question is moreso I’m flying from USA, I need to visit all countries, would it be okay to fly into budapest or prague and fly out of vienna and still visit all those countries or are you recommending pay the extra 300 for fly into prague and leave budapest?

The north and south end points are Prague and Budapest. The outlier is Krakow. The logical route without back tracking either begins or ends with Krakow as I suggested above. So I guess to answer you question you have 4 open jaw tickets to check.

Arrive Krakow and depart Budapest
Same but opposite.

Arrive Prague and depart Krakow
Same but opposite.

From where in the US are you departing? Would direct flights be a factor in the order?

Ah I see Mr. E that’s what my research had suggested, prague to budapest or vice versa, but I checked the options already and it’s 300 more, so I just wasn’t sure if it’s worth the 300 to not back track or not

Stan I am flying from west coast, I purposefully chose not direct and a very long layover to add another place to list, so it’s either I choose fly in budapest and fly out prague or vice versa, or choose the 300 cheaper flight fly in prague or budapest and fly out vienna but potentially back track, that is the question

Ultimately Krakow is def the one that throws me off a bit and wondering if it’s worth it. Because I know the seamless route would be fly into prague then go vienna, bratislava, and budapest and then fly out of budapest or inverted but I heard good things about Krakow and wondering if it’s worth kinda derailing the route

I would do exactly what you said Land in Prague, train to Vienn, train to Bratislava and then train to Budpaest ... BUT THEN, from Budapest Ryanair and Wizzair have cheap flights to Krakow. Then from Krakow you fly home. Or do it in reverse. Sometimes that does change the price.

You have plenty of time to add Krakow its a flight but two small airports so not terrible and its 60 to 75 minutes. With a checked bag might cost you $110. You are going to have to make a few connections coming home from Europe, so using Krakow as the first or last stop sort of works for you. If its $300 more, ehhhh. Still what I would do. Just clean and easy.

Dont forget to look at Cesky Krumlov too.

This past June we did a similar trip. We flew into Krakow (most definitely worth it in my opinion). We then trained to Prague, trained to Budapest (having to change trains in Bratislava due to heat) and finally bussed to Ljubljana Slovenia. Just follow a north to south or south to north route without backtracking. It will probably even save you money in the long run.

In weighing flight cost between departure cities, take a look at the convenience of the departure time and length of any layovers.

One thing I’ve noticed about flights from that part of Europe to my home airport, Seattle — ridiculously early departures. Like 6:00 am early. Take a really close look at the departure times and layovers for your possible flights home. Flights from any of those cities you mention could require a very early morning departure to connect with an onward flight home to the West Coast. Flights with a later, more reasonable departure sometimes have crazy long layovers or convoluted routes.

A mid-morning departure, a shorter layover or more convenient route could be worth $300 extra.

Yes! I checked. Both flights in and out europe are both reasonable afternoon times!