From the US, which city should we fly to? Also, do you suggest taking the train between these cities? We have never been to Europe but have a mid-range----three to four star hotel budget. We've never been to any of these cities, but they seem so intriguing!!!

Tom and Trishia (Celebrating 40 years of marriage in August)

1) You can click on my username and see my recent trip report to Vienna and Budpaest.

2) You should take the train between these cities; as most trips are between 3-4 hours. However, Prague is a bit out of the way - it is 6 hours from Munich.

3) When you say 18 days, does that include arrival and departure day? If yes, you really only have 16 days on the ground. Minus 0.5 day for each "move", you are left with 14.5 days for these 4 cities.

5) I would pick the sequence of cities based on the best airfare and connections you can find. Where is your home airport? If you live in a major hub, you should be able to fly nonstop to Munich. So I'd use Munich as either the starting or ending city.

The sequence should be:
Fly into Munich, train to Prague, train to Vienna, train to Budapest, fly home from Budapest

Or vice versa.

Remember to choose the "Multi-city" option when you check for flights. This will allow you to fly into one city and out of another.

yk's suggestions are good. Those are 4 wonderful cities and I think you can do them in your time frame, even if slightly rushed.

Train between those cities is the way to go.

Definitely consider the open-jaw flights so you don't "waste" time backtracking. That's our preference and we've found it's rarely more expensive than flying in and out of the same city. My guess is that LH may be your best option, but check sites like kayak.com to get some comparisons.

Hi Tom/Trisha; We took this 'independant' tour in the early 90's and enjoyed. They arrange hotels, train tickets and half day city tours and daily breakfast. Everything else is done on your own. You can also add days to the beginning and ending of the trip, but I don't think the middle two cities. You can also select the level of hotels, from standard to deluxe. www.tradescotours.com/tours/budapest_express.php So consider; fly into Prague and out of Budapest. Dick

Hi tp,

Your plan is doable.

However, have you considered flying into Munich an out of Prague (or VV) and making Budapest a daytrio from Vienna? 3 hr by train

It will ease your travelling somewhat.