Dear Friends,

Me and my wife are planning a trip in July 2018 to Central Europe. We are from India and would like to tour Central Europe for a period of 9 days. Arrival and departure not included.

We were planning on Poland - Budapest and any other if it fits in our itinerary. We have seen Prague, so will not be keen on Prague.

Can you please suggest a tentative itinerary.

We love to explore the place on our own, try local cuisine and experience the local culture. We love Souvenir shopping, musuem, palaces, nightlife etc...

Look forward to some suggestions please.

Thanks,
Nitish

With only nine days, Krakow, Budapest, and one other city (Warsaw? Viena?) would be the most practical I'd guess.

Krakow, Warsaw , Budapest & Vienna would be ideal...as we have seen Salzburg in Austria , but not Vienna. CAn you pls suggest an itinerary and where would it be ideal to arrive & depart from....Thanks

There is easy train service between Warsaw and Krakow and between Budapest and Vienna. There is a long daytime bus ride between Krakow and Budapest, but I'd probably consider the night train given how little time you have. See if you can fly open jaw into Warsaw out of Vienna or vice versa.

If by chance you could fly to start (or end) in Krakow and train to Warsaw, there are direct flights between Warsaw and Budapest.

How many days is up to your and your interests, but obviously you will have to do 2 nights at most in most of the cities. You're really moving very fast, not much time to absorb things. If you know that's a comfortable travel style for you, then go for it, but many would find it too fast and stick to three or maybe even two cities instead of four.

Poland -Krakow - Budapest would fill nine days - can take overnight train Krakow to Budapest and end in Vienna. Pretty rushed though. Taking trains? Lots of info at www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Neat way to go between Budapest and Vienna is by hydrofoil on not-so-blue Danube.

Definitely go visit Cracow. You might also want to see "Zalipie" village (please check in google, that's the village with folklore painings on buildings, it looks amazing) It is about 70 km from Cracow.

Night trains are great in many ways but are not for everyone - especially light sleepers as there is alwys a modicum of noise from inside and outside the train. But if works saves a lot of daylight travel time.

With the time you have, I would think Warsaw, Krakow, and Budapest could work -- although some people would find the time a bit rushed. I would NOT try to add Vienna, and personally, I wouldn’t want to try to see Krakow, Budapest, and Vienna in the same 9 day trip – I would find that WAY too rushed. YMMV -- and really, it depends on what YOU want to see and do. I recommend that you consult some good guidebooks to see what you want to see and experience and work with a calendar to figure out if you can make it work for you. Good luck!

If doing Auschwitz plan a whole day from Krakow. And Krakow also has the UNESCO World Heritage Site the Wielcizka salt mine tours - just a few miles south of Krakow and a wonder of salt tunnels out of which have been hewn ornate dining rooms with chandeliers, etc.

One day for Krakow itself should be enough unless wanting to see suburban Nowa Huta - a new socialist planned new town where Polish Pope held court.

It all depends on what YOU want to see and do, but personally, I can't imagine thinking that one day would be sufficient for Krakow itself -- even if you skip Nowa Huta.

I based in Krakow and it seemed city center- historic core was compact but yes two days would be better and Nowa Hutna is of marginal interest to many I would think.