Vienna - Prague - Budapest

If you get an open jaw ticket, that will pretty much define your travel order. If traveling by train, that may be the best way to get there and come back (why go back to the city you already visited?). It would be a different story if traveling by car, for you presumably would be visiting places between these capitals.

When I visited these 3 cities I flew into Budapest and flew home from Prague. Took trains between Budapest and Vienna and Vienna and Prague as these routes are much shorter than Budapest to Prague.

Which cities to fly into and out of would be determined by air fare prices. I found Budapest and Prague airports very easy to navigate as they were small. I'm not sure if they have expanded at all.

I would allow 2 weeks in the event you want to take day trips outside any of the cities.

I'd advocate taking the train between those three cities - Prague to Vienna now about 4.5 hours - Vienna to Budapest 3 hrs - or in summer you can do this route by hydrofoil on the Danube - and though there is a European East Railpass you are not nearly traveling enough to make it pay off - point to point tickets are the best. For lots on train travel in this area i always refer to these superb sources: www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com - sources packed with info even if not going by train.

Definitely 2 weeks instead of 10 days. remember that you 'waste' half a day each time you move from one city to another; and remember that your arrival and departure days are usually for travel only without much time for sightseeing.

I'd do Vienna 5 days; Budapest 4-5 days; Prague 4 days.

And definitely fly OPEN JAW: into one city and out of another. You can look at my Vienna & Budapest trip report from this Spring. We were there late April-early May 2009, so around the same time you're planning to go in 2010.
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/yks-trip-report-11-days-of-art-nouveau-in-vienna-budapest-spring-2009.cfm

Hi; We have visited these cities by train and car. If you intend to use the train, consider this company, Tradesco Tours. We took this tour in the early 90's. It is an 'independent tour' of two weeks. However, besides the cities you are interested in, it includes Salzburg. The company arranges for all the train tickets, the hotels and a half a day city tour. For hotels you can pick delux, first class or budget. Other than that, you are on your own. Richard www.tradescotours.com/tours/budapest_express.php

you can also take an overnight train between Prague and Budapest i believe - of use if you get a cheaper into and out of one city air fare - to return to landing city quicker if Prague or Budapest

or go from vienna to budapest then night train to Prague or vienna - prague - budapest

Will echo the idea of spending two weeks. I spent about that much time just visiting Vienna and Prague, actually.

If you do this trip you should make time for Bratislava (very, very close to Vienna) which is a very beautiful old city and small enough that you can pretty much see it in an afternoon.

Thank you all for your suggestions. We'll fly Open Jaw to/from Budapest and Prague and plan Vienna for the midpoint of train rides. And, we'll plan for two weeks.

martinsbsmithjr, thanks for the tip on Bratislava. Now that we have the travel figured out, we need to pick our points of interest in/around each city. Any advice is welcome!

The Melk Abbey is worth a day trip from Vienna. For variety, check out the Hundertwasser housing and his museum--they're within 5 minutes walking distance from each other.

Hi; Keep in mind that you can take the 'hydrofoil' from Budapest to Vienna. I have not done that, but my guess is, it's very scenic. Richard

If you do this trip you should make time for Bratislava (very, very close to Vienna) which is a very beautiful old city and small enough that you can pretty much see it in an afternoon>

I echo being delighted in Bratislava, which i did as a day trip from Vienna - train there takes about an hour or you can also take a hydrofoil, in season, there on the Danube.

The old town center at the foot of the castle high up on the hill is nicely restored and compact so a few hours is fine there. So for a taste of Slovakia check out the Slovakian capital - Bratislava.

Is the hydrofoil Vienna to Budapest scenic? I have not done it but i have taken the train along the Danube between those two cities and there seemed to be a lot of industrial detritus along the way. Anyone taken the boat who can tell about whether it is a scenic journey or not. The 'Blue' Danube sounds romantic but is it - i know upstream from Vienna it really is - the wondrous Wachau Valley for example is gorgeous.

I think that it takes dome imagination to see the Danube as blue anywhere past the German border. But it's still scenic.

We are considering the same locations and time of year, but want to add renting a car to see some of the more rural locations. What city would be the best to pickup the car and enjoy the countryside. We do not need to have a car the entire trip.
Would love some feedback, its time to start planning for 2010.

hi chernsu,

I second [third?] the suggestion of going to Bratislava. we had it thrust on us as it was the only place near vienna that we could fly directly to from our "local" airport, but we're really glad we did, even if it meant flying on the dreaded Ryanair.

after we'd stayed the night in bratislava, [again, very glad we did as we got to spend a night in the wonderful www.hotelmarrols.sk] we got the hydrofoil run by http://www.twincityliner.com/ up to Vienna. they have 5 boats each way per day. in vienna they go from the landing stages near the Stephansbruecke and stop in bratislava about 5 mins walk from the hotel marrol's and 10 from the town centre.

it wasn't terribly exciting but it was fun and a very convenient way to travel.

do try to work a night in Bratoslava into your schedule - you won't regret it especially if you stay at the Marrol's.

Here's what I did...

Flew into Prague for 5 nights (day trip to Terezin which I highly recommend, not a cheery day but certainly a sobering one (and I'm not talking alcohol!))

Bus to Cesky Krumlov, probably the most charming town (recommend getting tickets to the baroque theater which is the better preserved of the 2 remaining in the world)

Lobo Shuttle from C. Krumlov to Linz then train to Vienna (I think Lobo now does a shuttle directly to Vienna)

4 nights in Vienna (day trip to Melk Abbey is a DO NOT MISS!) Take train to Melk, and upon return take boat to Krems and train to Vienna.

Took a local day tour to Budapest from Vienna - I took my luggage with me and stayed in Budapest when the tour returned to Vienna. Cost of tour was about the same as taxi to train and train to Budapest. So...tour of Budapest was free, IMO.

Flew home from Budapest after 4 night stay.

We just returned from your cities and went via Austrian Airlines air/hotel/train package - 3 nights in each city. They follow this route - fly into Vienna (their hub I guess) and then immediately to Prague on 1/2 flight. From Prague train to Vienna and from Vienna train to Budapest. From Budapest fly quick flight to Vienna and then Vienna back to states. We loved the trains between the cities - a few nice relaxing hours out of our busy days as tourists in the cities . . .

We just took the hydrofoil from Vienna to Budapest in early September - it was very relaxing and quite scenic. It took 5 1/2 hours, and I would recommend it to anyone. They serve food and drinks, but we brought our own, which is allowed. It left at 9:00am and we arrived in Budapest just at the time to check into our hotel.

Hi!

In my opinion the best order to see these cities is Prague - Vienna - Budapest. You can take a flight to prague and then take a car hire, I think it's the most convenient and enjoyable way of travelling around Europe as there are also many other lovely cities worth to see. You can try to take a look in http://www.decodecarhire.co.uk/car-hire/czech-republic/prague.html , I have booked with them once and got quite a good price. Maybe the service is not really the best one as they confirmed my booking only 2 days before my trip, but the price was better then other companies offered.