4 Cities Trip

I'd go straight from Munich to Salzburg, which I find much more charming. The train between Munich to Salzburg is under two hours, if my memory is correct. Salzburg seems small and quaint, and since you have all other bustling cities, I think this would be an easier way to work off jet lag and adjust to European travel. Plus, I love Salzburg.
So Salzburg to Vienna, and onward.
Best to plan itinerary in terms of nights, not days.
Download the national train apps so you can realistically plan how long it takes to travel between locations.
Have a great trip.

I totally disagree with Pat. Munich is a great city with many unique and interesting sights. You’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t explore Munich on your trip. From Munich, go to Prague, Vienna and then Budapest. Going from Salzburg to Vienna to Prague to Budapest adds unnecessary kilometers and time to your trip.

Friday June 20: Arrive Munich, Sleep in Munich
Saturday 21: Munich, Sleep in Munich
Sunday 22: Munich, Sleep in Munich
Monday 23: Munich to Prague. Here is the rub, it isn’t easy. You have two choices. Either nearly 8 hours on a train or a $200 flight. For me, no contest, I take the flight. Lufthansa, 08:30 to 09:20. It’s a 50-minute flight ($200) vs DB, https://int.bahn.de/en/offers 07:49 to 15:39 with two connections seems to be the best early train. It’s a 7:52 train ride ($30). There are some considerably faster trains but they all involve multiple 4 to 6 minute connections and I just wont do that on holiday, despite what the train experts say. . One of my favorite hotels in Europe because of how nice it is and the perfect location: https://www.ventana-hotel.net/ Sleep in Prague
Tuesday 24: Prague Night in Prague
Wednesday 25: Prague. Night in Prague
Thursday 26: Prague to Cesky Krumlov, https://youtu.be/-29zM0qmD9Y?si=yDOVziWKq4Cwb14W CK Shuttle, https://www.ckshuttle.cz/ , 08:50 to no later than 11:30. It’s about 2.5 hours (<$10). If you were younger, maybe more time in Prague, but for an adult tour the better part of 3 days works well for my taste. Take a look at https://www.hoteldvorak.com/ for great views of the castle. Night in Cesky Krumlov.
Friday 27: Cesk Krumlov to Vienna. CK Shuttle Again. 16:20 to 20:00 With stops it’s about a 3.5-hour drive. The late start is so you can spend the morning in Cesky Krumlov. I have stayed at the Astoria and the Imperial and in June I have reservations at the Ble Hotel. Astoria was a great location and a pretty nice hotel. Imperial was one of those once in a lifetime events. The Ble Hotel: I have no idea if it’s any good, but I like the location and price so will give it a try. Night in Vienna
Saturday 28: Vienna: Night in Vienna
Sunday 29: Vienna: Night in Vienna
Monday 30: Vienna: Night in Vienna

Ive been to Prague and Vienna and Cesky Krumlov. But I am no tourism expert on them. Budapest is where I live so I am maybe a bit more helpful. Post on each of the country forums and I bet you get lots of good ideas. Here is a start.

Tuesday July 1: Vienna to Budapest. You get to ride a train after a morning and lunch in Vienna. 14:42 to 17:19, it’s a 2:37 trip (about $20). Arrives Keleti Station in Budapest. Go to the front of the station, down the stairs and up ahead on the right is the BKK Service Center. Buy a 15 day travel card, about $15 (https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes/prices/15-day-budapest-pass/) Follow the signs and take the M2 metro one stop to Blaha Lujza tér and board the 4/6 tram to the Oktogon https://youtu.be/bfj3MZmMGYY?si=h8ahIu8d-uJ9Fyvr. At the Oktogon get off and a short walk to your hotel on Andrassy ut. Some suggestions (I really like the Up Hotel right now} https://uphotelbudapest.com/, but all on this list are worth considering) https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/rs-forum-favorite-hotels-and-their-cost. Nice dinner, maybe at Kiraly 100 or https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/restaurants-in-budapest-revisited and an evening walk of Andrassy ut. Night in Budapest
Wednesday 2: Budapest. Orientation tram tour and then District VII and the WWII Jewish Deportation Ghetto. Night in Budapest
Thursday 3: Budapest, Buda Castle District. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/question-about-buda-castle-tickets Night in Budapest
Friday 4: Budapest, Parliament and half day trip up to Szentendre by train and boat back into Budapest. Maybe we can find a 4th of July celebration that evening. Night in Budapest
Saturday 5: Budapest. Andrassy ut from Bath house to Basilica and District V day. Night in Budapest
Sunday 6: Taxi to airport

July Budapest Events. Go back here from time to time and see if there are any updates: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/list-of-budapest-events-july-through-october-25

• 5th of July MAV Railtours steam engine trip to the Danube Bend https://www.mavrailtours.hu/hu/travels/2025
• Through 24 August Városmajor Open Air Theatre Outdoor music and theater productions https://varosmajoriszinpad.hu/nyitolap/programok/

After checking videos, we re evaluated Berlin and changed to munich.
Smart?

Would have been what I would have done.

For the suggestion for Salzburg. Not what I would do. Prague and Vienna and Budapest are just so good I would want the time there.

BUT, to be honest, if it were me I would skip Prague this trip. Its the long stretch destination,. I would do

Munich > Salzburg (not one of my favorite cities, but still interesting and many love it) > Hallstatt (a reputation for being too touristy, but I loved it) > Vienna > Budapest

For your Vienna to Budapest train ticket check prices with OBB and with MAV and buy the cheapest. Could be a 30 euro/ticket savings. Dont worry, same train, same service, just different ticket sellers.

• OBB https://shop.oebbtickets.at/en/ticket
• MAV https://jegy.mav.hu/

Now you only have to worry about downloading one train app. Even then I buy the ticket with a laptop (much easier for me) then download the app to store the ticket on my phone. The conductors seem to do better scanning phones than they do paper.

Planning based on days or nights? Everyone has their own method and its all good. I am a tourist during the day and a sleeper at night, so i plan days. Its important that I know that I will spend the night in Vienna, but its more important for my planning that I know that I dont get to Vienna until 8pm that day. The only thing a count of nights provides me is hotel information and even then when booking they ask what DAY you check in and what DAY you check out. But counting nights is the norm and a bit misleading when buying a 7 night tour. Night one is the arrival day, no tour. So it's a 6 day tour. And I guess six day tours are misleading because the tour ends after breakfast so it's really a 5 day tour.

At your age, I think you'd love Munich. I do think you could see enough and get a good taste of Munich in a couple full days. I do like Mr. E's suggested itinerary. The only suggestion I'd make is to take a day trip to Salzburg from Munich.

jules m, would you do the train or fly? The fastest train was about 6 hours but had a 4 minute and a 6 minute transfer. Maybe I am just too old and set in my ways to worry about such things. That and it arrives sort of late.

After checking videos, we re evaluated Berlin and changed to munich. Smart?

It depends on what your interests are, and what you'd like to experience overall. Berlin has a wealth of WWII history plus the Soviet era, including the Wall. You may be exposed to enough 17th -19th century history and architecture in the other cities so Berlin will offer more of a contrast. Plus Berlin makes the transit between cities much easier. We followed the basic RS tour itinerary of Berlin - Prague - CK - Vienna several years ago and Berlin was by far our favorite. YMMV.