Budapest-Prague-Vienna-Salzburg Itinerary Suggestions requested

Well, you know your priorities, which might not be mine. But as much as I love Salzburg, I don’t think it is worth that long day trip. I would drop it and give that day to Budapest, which you are shorting both in number of days and the fact that you arrive there jetlagged.

TexasTravelmom :
Thanks .. I hear you. However, Salzburg is due to our fascination with the Sound of Music ..
it is my wife's #1 priority :)

I just spent 3 days in Salzburg last week, so I get it! If that is truly the case, then I would steal a night from Vienna and stay overnight in Salzburg. You just aren’t going to get much in a few hours except to say you went. There are a couple of options for Mozart dinner and concert while there also.

I have not sketched this out logistically all the way (just a quick glance and it’s a lot of train) but you might be able to go: Budapest —> Salzburg —> Prague —> Vienna.

You could also take the night from Prague and give up your day trip to Cesky Krumlov.

An alternative: Eliminate 2 long day trips. Instead of day trip from Prague to CK, go to CK and spend a night. Then from there to Salzburg, spend 2 nights, then to Vienna. Have a great trip!

My husband and I went to Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich a few years ago. We considered Prague and tried to figure out ways to put it into our itinerary, but it was too much. We loved all of the other cities, I would say Salzburg and Budapest were our favorites. If I was going to go back to any of them, it would probably be Salzburg to maybe repeat a couple of things we did (The Sound of Music Tour, which we did on a very rainy day, but still loved it) and the Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden Tour. We also attended a fantastic concert at Mirabell Palace. The chamber ensemble performed several Mozart pieces and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, one of my favorites. They were wonderful musicians and exciting performers as well. I am a musician/music teacher/pianist for my career before retirement and my favorite movie is "The Sound of Music" so I understand how your wife feels! We also loved the city of Salzburg, the fortress, and the countryside we saw when in the Berchtesgaden area for the Eagle's Nest. The views from the Eagle's Nest were stunning. We would have liked to spend more time in Budapest but we really packed in a lot in the time we were there. One of my favorites there was the apartment of Franz Liszt, which is a very small but amazing museum containing many of his possessions, gifts from royalty, pianos, portraits, books, busts of Beethoven, etc. It was a pianist/music lover's dream. In Vienna, we absolutely loved Schonbrunn Palace where we toured the interior and walked all over the gardens. In Munich we booked a Viator Castle Tour of Neuschwanstein, Linderhof Castle. It was wonderful. Just sharing all of this as I would probably skip Prague and spend more time in Salzburg! But it is personal preference. My practical advice would be that landing in Vienna and taking a train to Budapest the day you arrive could be a risky venture with the long flight then 3 hour train ride, then getting to the hotel, which you project to be by 7:00, and I hope you are right! One of many things I have learned in my few trips to Europe is to figure on extra time for transportation, figuring out the system in each city, considering how to get to each transportation location, like train stations, subways, etc., timing of how long we may be waiting for the train or subway on the platform ( except for scheduled fast speed trains from city to city) and distance from transportation hubs to the hotel.

dpalmier53, bob, TexasTravelmom :

Thank you very much for your feedback. I am already re-working the itinerary and drop long day trips - there is no point just going to Salzburg for the sake of it - instead, I will add a day and stay there to make the most of it.

dpalmier53 - your detailed essay is fantastic - appreciate your taking the time to write it.

On a separate note - Sound of Music was such a groundbreaking epic - I saw it, as a teenager, only in the 70's on a large 70mm screen and was completely enthralled (guess my wife must have seen it later .. I didn't know her then) Even now, we see it every Thanksgiving/x-mas time when it airs on ABC and still love it.