What would be the best order to see Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. Planning to fly open jaw and travel by trains.
To avoid backtracking Prague, Vienna and then Budapest OR Budapest, Vienna and then Prague. Go with the lowest cost airline tickets that fit either order.
In geographical order and order of diminishing intensity (my preference); Prague, Vienna then Budapest. Prague can be a mad house and Budapest is the most laid back and a good place to end a journey. Also probably a little easier airport to navigate for departures than Prague. Great trip by the way. If you go here and download the pdf file called THE GUIDE it has some information that will help you in Budapest. http://budapestflat.shutterfly.com/fivedaysinbudapest Oh, and it wont hurt but there is no real advantage to first class on these routes and you will probably get the best prices in country. Vienna to Budapest can be as little as 19 euro for instance.
Railway advice: www.seat61.com
Schedules for many countries (but only German tickets) at www.bahn.com
Here is the most current Funzine for Budapest. Maybe you can get some ideas of things to see and do: http://www.funzine.hu/en/ When do you travel?