Planning a 12 day trip to cover Vienna, Salzburg, Prague & Budapest. Need advise on splitting the days between the 4 cities. Is there anything else we should add to these?

Vienna 4 days
Salzburg 2 days
one day travel to Prague
Prague 3 days
Budapest 2 days

well the plate is already pretty full - one thing could be a day trip from Vienna to the nearby Wachau Valley, a pretty vineyard-clad part of the Danube - take a train the Melk, tour the famous abbey, board a boat to Durnstein - cute wine town with ruined castle where Richard-the-Lion-Hearted was once imprisoned after being kidnapped return from some Crusade - then take train/bus/boat to Krens and go back to Vienna from there by train - an outstanding day trip.

Not sure you are going by train but just going to those big cities I'd take the train and not have to worry about having a car, cars being fairly useless in many cities.

For a lot of good info on Eastern European trains I always spotlight these IMO supberb sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com. Look into the European East Pass, a railpass valid in Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland - hop on any train anytime.

You can take an overnight train between Prague and Budapest to avoid a day-long marathon train ride and save on the cost of a hotel and give yourself an extra day in Budapest.

I guess it depends what you like. I personally can't imagine 4 days in Vienna... but if you are a museum or classical music buff, then that might work perfectly.

Salzburg is cute - and it is easy enough to get to - but if you are there duing the music festival, you could spend a week.

My favorite of all the cities is Budapest - and it was even before I moved here. But I love coffee houses and the boulevards. And the opera house in Budapest is, to me, better than that in Vienna.

Without knowing more, it would be presumptuous to suggest a time split. What do you love to see?

I would add at least an extra day to Budapest and take that day away from Vienna.
I would see the Schonbrunn Palace also when in Vienna.

Three days in Prague is okay as there is lots to see everywhere and is easier walking about then either Vienna or Budapest.

I think it is easier to go Budapest ..Vienna ...Prague.

I agree with some of the others - if you have an extra day, add it to Budapest, not Vienna.

My wife and I did Prague-Vienna-Budapest (by train) last fall and had a blast. Budapest was our favorite city of the 3 hands down.

4 days in Vienna would really be 3 if they did the very popular day trip to the Wachau Valley - Melk - boat, etc. Otherwise 3 days is more than enough for Vienna unless of course you are into classical music and art museums.

Thank you all for your fabulous help. Just had 2 other questions:

1. Are there cheap bus services to travel between the cities that would be worth while or is the train the best option?
2. We land and fly out of Vienna - what would be the ideal order of travel to the 4 cities?

The only bus I ever take is from Vienna to Bratislava ( since you have not mentioned this city, I assume you are not considering it.

I would start in Vienna then train to Prague. Then train to Budapest ( and an overnight train here could be good... It is largely a boring ride). Finish in Budapest. You can take the rail jet to Vienna ( I assume you will need to spend the last night there).... Which is just a nicer train.

An alternative, you could spend that last night in Bratislava and take a simple 45 minute bus ride from Brat to Vienna airport in the AM. You can easily train from Budapest to Bratislava.

I have lived in this area for a while (I am an American)... And I have written trip reports about all these cities at

Www.worldinbetween.wordpress.com

Lastly, if you are not a museum or classical music fan, I would cut Vienna to 2 days. (I always take grief for this, but it is what I would do)

Bratislava ids a real nice city for a day and like worldinbetween says a short bus ride to Vienna's airport - see the lovely capital of Slovakia!

Thanks PalenQ... I needed that!.... Brat love

Bratislava is also an easy day trip of an hour only by train or bus from Vienna - I did it as a day trip - can even take hydrofoils on the Danube there. 4 days in Vienna could include 1 day in nearby Bratislava!

Are there cheap bus services to travel between the cities that would be worth while or is the train the best option?>

IME no for the cities you mention but Prague to Salzburg could involve a bus to the Austrian border train station but generally buses only run where trains do not.

Do you already have your air tickets?

Flying into Prague, then going to Salzburg ,then Vienna before finishing and flying home from Budapest would make better use of your time. (Or reverse it, into Budapest and out of Prague.)

Flying into Prague, then going to Salzburg>

Even flying into Munich could be fine - just a few hours by train to Salzburg - start in Salzburg - go to Prague then Vienna then Budapest - Munich may have more air connections and better fares perhaps.

Hi
We are flying in and out of vienna as these are the best connections from India.

We are flying in and out of vienna as these are the best connections from India.>

Then how about

Vienna 3 days
Salzburg 2 days
one day travel to Prague
Prague 3 days
Budapest 2 days
Bratislava 1 day

Note adding Bratislava and another country to your itinerary is easy since Bratislava is a short cab or bus ride from Veinna's airport - almost as close as Vienna or closer perhaps than some parts of Vienna!