Susan56

Sorry, this is a delayed report, but here goes. We took a family trip to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest this past April. The family consists of 2 parents and 2 teens (17, 14). We all had a wonderful time and enjoyed the trip immensely. I spent a lot of time planning this trip and I want to thank everyone who responded to all of my posts on the Fodors Forum. I will try to keep this report as short as I can, so let me know if anyone has any specific questions and I will respond. We started out trip in Prague. Our hotel, Hotel Maxmilian, was wonderful. It had just opened after renovations this winter. The rooms were spacious, the breakfast was the best of the trip, and the location was just about perfect. We spent three nights in Prague and had the best weather of our trip. Each day was sunny and warm. On our first day we arrived about lunchtime so after a quick stop off at the hotel had a delightful lunch, sitting outdoors, at a café between the hotel and the various sites of the Jewish Museum. We then visited the various sites of this museum and ended up the afternoon – early evening at the Old Town Square. After an early evening nap we had a nice dinner at Lary Fary which was quite good.
For Day 2 in Prague we took a tram to the Strahove Monastery and walked back down to the Loreto and then on to the Prague castle where we managed (not planned) see the noon changing of the guard. We then toured the castle (St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace and Golden Lane) and the Lesser Town where we visited the Church of St. Nicholas and the Torture Museum (kids insisted) before crossing the St. Charles Bridge to head back to the Old Town Square (a hit for all of us – great people watching from cafés). That night we had a great and very inexpensive meal, at Café Marcel. Day 3 we wandered the new town, visiting Wenceslas Square, the Mucha Museum (we all loved it) and Havelska Market. Afterwards we headed back over the St. Charles Bridge to wander Kampa Island, searching for the “Lennon Wall”, we all enjoyed wandering around the lesser quarter, but the Lennon Wall was a major disappointment! That evening we wandered once again through Old Town, looking at the Charles Bridge all lit up after dark and having a late Italian dinner at Don Giovanni. (Very good).

Overall Prague – everyone loved Prague, a beautiful city, very lively, a great hotel and very friendly people.

Susan56

Part 2
Vienna – Day 4. We took an early morning train to Vienna, arriving about noon. We stayed at the Hotel Kaiserin Elizabeth. We took two rooms at all of the other hotels; however rates were higher in Vienna so we took the family room. This was a big mistake. I guess I misunderstood the emails from the hotel, but I thought that I was getting a four ‘bedded’ room; not a large double room with two cots on wheels! My daughter managed, but my 17 year old son basically did not sleep for the three nights we spent in Vienna! The cot was very small and did not even have a mattress. Instead there were three separate cushions. When my son tried to lie on it, not only did he hang off the end, but also the cushions slid off! He spent one night on the floor instead of the cot. When I saw the bed situation I asked the front desk if there was another room with 4 beds. I was told that this was it; all of their 4-bedded rooms were basically doubles with 2 cots. The gentlemen at the front desk were none to friendly. They suggested that I could take a second room if that would make me happier. I was not pleased at all. I had looked into many different hotels and could have chosen others, which offered me two rooms at the same price as the 4 bedded room here, but I chose this hotel based on reviews on this website. Now I was stuck and I did not intend to double my room price! This definitely put a sour note on the time in Vienna. I have read only glowing reviews of this hotel on this web site, but we never encountered a friendly person, found the included breakfast no where near to the breakfast offered at Hotel Maxmilian in Prague (or other European hotels we have visited) and felt that the hotel had not been totally honest in describing the room to us. I do not see how an adult size person could sleep on that cot.

Susan56

Part 3
Unfortunately the rest of our time in Vienna was not much better. The weather did not cooperate. We had cold, rainy days (except for one sunny afternoon). Also, I think that Vienna must be a pretty city, but during out visit virtually every beautiful building, museum, church, was covered in scaffolding that was then covered with advertising! Not very attractive. But here is what we did see. Day 4 after checking in we found an open restaurant (hard to do as most places were shut as it was a Sunday afternoon), then toured the St. Stephan’s Cathedral and then Karlschirch. We then had a very nice dinner at Gasthous Immervoll a little restaurant just down the street from our hotel.

Day 5 we started out at the Hofburg Palace visiting the Imperial Apartments (including the Imperial Silver and Porcelain collection, and the Sisi Museum). I should add that as we were also planning on visiting the Schonbrunn the next day, we purchased the Sisi Ticket, thereby saving some money and avoiding lines. We then toured the Imperial Treasury. We all enjoyed the museums in the palace and found the audio tour of the Imperial Apartments very informative. We then had lunch and made it to the Opera in time for the last tour of the day. Late afternoon, early evening we wandered around the shops near our hotel and St. Stephans Cathedral. The kids decided to head back to the hotel and my husband and I wandered further a field and discovered a restaurant, Da Capo that looked good, so we returned there for dinner later that evening.

Day 6 in Vienna was probably the most enjoyable. My husband and son (both military buffs) went to the War Museum, while my daughter and I went to the Spanish Riding School Museum and the morning practice of the Lippanzer horses. I had explained to my daughter that she would not be seeing the horses “leaping’ like in the videos we saw at the museum so she was not disappointed to simply watch the practice. My husband and son thought that the museum was a wonderful military museum; although they were a bit discomfited by what they felt was the glorification of the Nazi war machine and Hitler.

Susan56

Part 4
That afternoon we met up at the Schonbrunn. Luckily for us around this time the sun decided to finally appear and the rest of the day was a delight. We toured the palace and then spent a lot of time at the zoo. We even had a late lunch at a lovely outdoor pavilion on the zoo grounds. That evening we had a very good dinner at East to West, an Asian influenced restaurant.

All in all none of us really enjoyed our time in Vienna. We did like the museums and palaces but overall we found the people to be very formal and cool to us. We did not feel very welcome. We have traveled a lot and this was the first time that we all left a place with this impression.

Day 7. Budapest. We early in the morning, again via train, for Budapest. As soon as we arrived we knew we were going to enjoy this city. The train station was bustling with life and all sorts of people surrounding us offering us tours, rooms, and cars, whatever. We never saw this much life in Vienna! I had managed to get a very good rate (through my job) at the Budapest Marriott. We had two rooms, both with large balconies directly over the Danube. The hotel staff was very friendly and helpful. We purchased Budapest Cards for our stay which allowed us unlimited use of trams and subways and entrance to virtually every museum and sight we wished to visit. This was a great money saver as we used the public transportation system extensively.
We arrived about noon and after checking into the hotel (where my son was thrilled to find a ‘real’ bed) we headed out to and found a café for lunch off the Vaci Uta. After lunch we visited St. Stephan’s Basilica (highlight for kids was the “holy hand of St. Istvan”), and then the Great Market Hall where we bought souvenirs. (Paprika, embroidered shirts, and tee shirts). That evening we had a nice dinner at Cyrano Restaurant

Susan56

Part 5 (Final Part)
For Day 8 we had planned to visit Buda, but as the weather was not great (cool and some drizzle) we changed plans and instead visiting the Terror Museum and then Hero’s Square. After lunch we took a cruise on the Danube. Lucky for us the drizzle stopped and there was even some sun between the clouds. That night we met up with a colleague of mine from work who had been transferred to Budapest a year ago. We had a nice dinner in a ‘locals only’ restaurant with her and her husband.

Day 9. The weather cooperated with us on our last day and finally the sun appeared. We strolled from our hotel to the Chain Bridge, and walked across the bridge to Buda. We took the funicular to the top of Castle Hill and walked around the Royal Palace. We then walked to the Fisherman’s Bastion. Next stop was St. Matthias Church followed by a quick visit to a military museum. We then walked back down the hill toward the metro where we found a nice outdoor café for lunch. After lunch we decided to try to get into the Budapest Synagogue before it closed for the Sabbath. We took the subway back to Pest but just missed the visiting hours for the synagogue. We then wandered a bit and ended up visiting the Postal Museum (we happened to be in the neighborhood and found it in our guidebooks) it was a very strange little museum. We were personally escorted through the entire museum by the three ladies who were working there. We were the only visitors that afternoon and it appeared, from the ‘sign in book’ that only a handful of people had visited all year!

We then decided to go back to Hero’s Square (in the sunshine). From there we decided to continue our outdoors enjoyment of the day with a visit to the Budapest Zoo. That night we had dinner at a restaurant that was recommended by my Budapest colleague. While we had a good time, it was, not a restaurant that I would recommend (and I seem to have lost the card with the name!). The food was not great and service was very slow. I guess the restaurant noticed that we had been waiting a long time for food because toward the end of our meal the waiter came by with a round of drinks for us all. He told us that they were on the house and then quickly left before we could tell him that in his round of drinks he delivered a beer to my 14-year-old daughter (who was drinking lemon soda!).

Day 10 – Traveling back home. All in all a very good and very interesting trip. We just have to decide where to visit next year!

Michelezr

Thanks for your informative report. My husband and I have a similar trip planned for August. WHere did you buy the "sisi" card and the budapest card? Did they both allow you to skip the lines at mussums? and if you were not using public transortation would you think it was worth it? Thanks

Susan56

You purchase the Sisi card at the sites it covers (Imperial Apartments, Schonbrun, Sisi Museum, Silver collection, Imperial Furniture Collection. This only covers this sites, not transportation. It saves money and allows you to skip lines. We purchased the Budapest card at the tourist information office at the Budapest train station, but I think you can purchase it at any of the sites it covers. A huge benefit of the Budapest card is the transportation savings. I did not calculate the benefits if we did not use transportation. You can check it out on the Hungarian/Budapest websites and see if it would be worthwhile if you were not using public transportation.

MaureenB

I'm sorry the Kaiserin Elisabeth didn't live up to your expectations. Did your room there have a sort of divider between the double bed and the two twins? Ours had one last June-- a divider comprised of a desk/vanity w/mirror at the window, and a wardrobe on the wall near the bathroom. Same room? (I can't remember our room number.) The twin beds we had for our 18- and 16-year olds weren't roll-aways, they were better than that-- not the best, but not a problem either. Maybe the hotel has different twin beds now. Our breakfast there was very nice, too. Hot eggs to order and a full spread of pastries, fruit, meats, cheeses, etc. In a very pretty breakfast room. Sorry your experience wasn't as good as ours.

Susan56

Hi Maureen,
Our room at the Kaiserin Elisabeth was just a large double room with two roll away beds put into the room. No divider, no 'real' beds for the kids! And we did not think that the breakfast was anywhere near as nice as that we have had at other (less expensive) hotels.

Susan

tomboy

Just a note for future readers: I think the 48 (or is it 72?) hour card is cheaper than the Budapest Card. Of course, you don't get a 10% discount on the Museum of Paprika, but....

Susan56

Tomboy - The Budapest Card that we purchased was a 72 hour card (we were there for 3 days, so it made sense)and I am not sure if they offered us a 48 hour card as well. But the only other card that I recall was the a card that only had access to Museums, no transportation. We used the transportation extensively, it was a real savings. Or are you refering to a transportation only card? Susan

maryanne1

A very interesting post. My daughter and I visited the same 3 cities 3 years ago. We felt like you that Vienna was our least favorite. We found Prague and Budapest like you to be very enjoyable and much to see. We were with a tour group,but had alot of time to explore on our own. We found our hotel in Vienna to also be our least favorite and the people not as friendly as the other cities. If you have not been to Italy then I would suggest that for your next trip. My daughter and I only did Rome for our trip this year,but I found it to be my favorite city that I have ever visited. That is saying alot after being in Prague and Budapest and also visiting Paris which is also a favorite.

sansman

A number of the museums in Budapest are free. Something to keep in mind when deciding on economics of buying a card.

tomboy

Susan56: My reference was to a
Transportation-only card. We didn't think that we'd be going to enough museums to warrant the Budacard, so the Trans-card was more economical.
The only sites which charged to which we went were the Parliament and the Ethnography Museum (which, by the way, if one is interested in what people wore and how they lived prior to 20th century, was very interesting, and a good way to kill time while waiting for the Parliament tour, as it's only 200 feet away). Otherwise, we kept very busy in our four days there.

Trvlingal

Susan,

On your train trips did you eat on the train in the dining car, or was there one? How was the food and was it expensive? What currency did you pay in? Euros? Also were there any porters in Prague or Budapest to help with the luggage. I'm going with some people in their 70's and some single ladies and need to anticipate where we might get some help. We will have been on a river cruise for 14 days and I anticipate they will have heavy luggage. Thanks for your help.

Susan56

To Trvlingal - No we did not eat on the trains. We took early morning trains so we bought some pastries and ate them on the train and we brought coffees and water as well. Then when we arrived arrived at our destinations (Vienna and Budapest), we checked into our hotels and had late lunches. There were dining cars on the trains, but we did not use them. Actually that is not totally correct, my husband and I did sit in the dining car and look over maps of Vienna, having with a beer before arriving in that city.
I do not recall if there were any porters or not. We can easily take a bag and backpack each so we do not need any help. Sorry, I can't help you with that one, but we did find the trains easy to handle and quite comfortable. Susan

MaureenGP

Susan, I was most interested in this trip report, since I am considering a similar itinerary for my next trip (always looking ahead, I just returned from the UK!).
Your reaction to Vienna seems to be reflected in other posts, and although I've always wanted to go there, I might cut that leg of the trip to 2 nights, and add time to the cities the rest of you have found to be nicer.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with the rest of us.

KathyErdo

Thank you very much for writing about your trip. I'm going next summer to Budapest and Prague with a friend and your info was very helpful. Did you have any trouble with the language barrier? I know a few phrases in Hungarian (please, thank you, where's the bathroom, do you speak English) but was told not to worry about communicating. I'm going to check out the Hotel Maxmillan.

As a side note, a lady I work with went to Vienna last summer with her choral group and was a bit disappointed, also. She noted that while the city was beautiful the people's attitude to tourists was not very warm.

JulieVikmanis

Thanks for such a complete report. So sorry you didn't get off on the right foot with Vienna. It's one of my favorite cities and it saddens me to hear so many others suggest it's not so. I think our impressions about places are much colored by the hotel situations we find there, the food we have and the weather. I hope you'll give Vienna a second chance. We felt about Budapest the way you seem to feel about Vienna. On our second trip to Budapest we pretty much changed our minds. I do love the endless debate and comparisons that these three cities seem to inspire. We're off in September to return to Prague. Can't wait.

tates

Hi susan, I'm planning the same trip you did for next year with my family. could you please give me some details on the cost of your train tickets if you still remember it. thanks. tates