Can't decide between Prague and Budapest.
 

Help! I need some persuasive power between Prague and Budapest.

A bit about me:
I'm 33-years-old, female, and will be travelling solo from Los Angeles. My only European travel so far has been a solo trip to Ireland (LOVED IT!) and Fodorites were VERY helpful while I was planning that trip. Not sure why Prague and Buda+Pest have gotten stuck in my head as ideal 2011 vacation spots. I do not drink alcohol (no Czech beer for me). I like to walk, swim, visit museums, sightsee, do other touristy stuff.

Dates to travel: May 8-ish through May 17-ish
Budget: about $1000, excluding airfare
Phobias: language barrier; large spiders; inability to transport, house and feed myself within my budget parameters

Questions:
1. Is it feasible to visit both cities in 10 days, explore both of them relatively well, without rushing around? I have looked into purchasing a ticket flying into Prague and out of Budapest, and it's about a hundred bucks more. I prefer a relatively slow pace.
2. If I were to visit both cities, is that a reasonable budget? I prefer B&Bs or self-hosted accommodations, and will be using public transportation. I am not a foodie.
3. If you had to pick one, with a couple of day trips to surrounding areas built in, which would you pick and why?
4. Any reason I shouldn't be travelling to either solo?
5. Is either city better to visit during that time of year or are they fairly equal in that regard? Is that even a good time to visit either city (i.e. crowds? weather?).

Thank you in advance for your advice and ideas!! I'm searching out trip reports and other threads, but I'm still undecided. Heck of a dilemma to have, I know, so I very much appreciate the feedback! =)

> Any reason I shouldn't be travelling to either solo?

I visited both solo and enjoyed both tremendously.

> Is it feasible to visit both cities in 10 days, explore both of them relatively well, without rushing around?

In my opinion, yes - but I won't be surprised if others disagree!

hi skspaz,

I can't see any reason why you can't see both in the time you've got.

I got flamed for saying that they are similar in many respects - that remains my view but there is enough variety to keep your interest I'm sure.

Hmm. As the person who flamed annhig, I recall she didn't put in the qualifier "in many respects" ;-). Fact is, they are Central European cities but the culture, history and politics are very different.

Not being a foodie is fine for those two -- it's not like finding the finest Czech cuisine possible will be a trip highlight. There's only so much that can be done to make game meat and dumplings haute cuisine. Hungarian food is better. And English is the first alternate language for the natives, so the language barrier won't be bad.

Considering the dollar and the bite that a Prague-Budapest (or reverse) train ticket will cost, I'd up the budget about 20%. That said, both places are relatively inexpensive compared to the Euro-zone. You can offset the cost of a Prague-Budapest train ticket by taking the overnight train, thereby cutting out a hotel night. And staying in decent Penziones should be relatively easy in both cities, esp. Prague. Hit trip advisor HARD for suggestions.

To go through all your questions:

(1) Yes, both cities are relatively small and you can see a lot in a leisurely pace. The main sights in Budapest are compacted into essentially two or three areas, I'd say. Prague's highlights are more spread out, but the trams will get you where you need to go.

(2) Up the budget a bit to be safe. Also depends on if you're going on guided tours, heavy clubbing, etc.

(3) Prague for the day trips (Karlstejn Castle, Terezin, train ride to another nearby town). Budapest resonated with me more. If you can do a day trip to Transylvania and some of the Romanian castles (dunno distance or feasibility), that could lean in Budapest's favor.

(4) No.

(5) We went in May and had good weather generally (some rain in Hungary) and comfortable temps. Crowds will be more abundant in Prague but shouldn't be terrible then.

I personally liked Prague a lot more and found more culture there as well. Just me. Others here love Budapest, but I just didn't find all that much to do there except that I did love the food...

have fun!

I went to both cities as a solo female traveler. Had a wonderful time. There's no reason to be concerned about either city as a solo traveler.

If you could work it out, I'd add a night or two to Cesky Krumlov. Maybe 4 nights each in Prague and Budapest and 1 night in C. Krumlov.

I considered going to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest for a 10-12 day trip, and then decided to just spend all 10 days in Prague. In retrospect, I wish I had split my time between Prague and Vienna or Prague and Budapest, flown into one city and out of the other. So I think your plan is definitely doable.

I went solo and felt perfectly safe. I don't drink either, but enjoyed sightseeing and simply wandering around. Also did a day trip to Kutna Hora.

Both cities are fascinating - and in the time you have you can see quite a bit of each.

If you decide to do just one I think that Prague has a slight advantage based on language. Many people speak English and many older ones speak German (so you can intuit a little based on the similarity to English). Hungarian is from a completely different language group - not like other European languages - although English is widely spoken in tourist areas.

In the time you have you could fully explore Prague and do some day trips to csatles/the countryside.

But if it were me I would do both.

Absolutely doable in my opinion, I would even consider doing all three, Prague, Vienna and Budapest at a squeeze.
I've been to Prague and Vienna, but not Budapest - yet. If you were able to have three nights in each city, I would definitely do it this way - but that is just my opinion. This would give you a taste however of where you would like to go back to the in the future. Prague is beautiful, so is Vienna and I'm sure Budapest is too. Also C. Republic has so many lovely smaller places, - Telc - magnificant town square, is well worth a couple of hours, for example.
I'm sure you will be okay on your own. I've just returned from three weeks in Germany and Vienna, solo, and I survived it. :)
Maybe fodors should have a 'solo network' where people can meet up if they are travelling by themselves in a certain country. I would have really welcomed this on my travels :)

If you do a search for Prague and Budapest in this forum you will find a lively debate as well as great arguments for posters' preferences for one or the other. I am a Budapest fan, but of course I've also visited Prague and will tell you that theres lots of lovely stuff to see and do in both cities, so go for it. Each city has a distinctly different vibe or atmosphere to it, and you should try to embrace both, rather than compare them for preferences.

10 days is enough to get a good taste of both, to become familiar with your immediate surroundings and smell the roses - you know that you're going want to stay longer somewhere - but I'm not so sure about your budget. You can get by relatively inexpensively (or expensively if you wish) in both cities, but $1000 to cover lodging, food, ground transportation, any tours or day trips (and there are several very nice ones from both cities) over 10 days may be a bit limiting. You don't want to feel cash-strapped and restricted from enjoying the simple pleasures that both these cities abound in. I'd also recommend flying between the 2 cities to save time (its an hours flight), and you can get some inexpensive fares on the very reputable Czech Airlines between the two cities. I did it in Nov 2009 and it was great.

I wouldn't include Austria as a third country on this trip, beautiful as it is, for 2 reasons : 10 days isn't enough for all 3 cities, and Austria is much more expensive. But thats just my opinion. Save Vienna and Salzberg for your next 10 day trip, at which time you can also go back to either Budapest or Prague, whichever you preferred.

10 days is plenty to do both cities. If you only want to do one, I prefer Prague to Budapest, by a wide margin; but this, of course, is highly subjective.

I would suggest Vienna and Prague, or even Vienna, Prague, and Budapest, though this may stretch your budget a little. In general, Vienna is a more expensive than Prague and Budapest. I am one who can spend three days in a city and feel like that is enough, others feel differently. It is amazing how much one can do and see in just three or four days. If you decided to stretch your budget a bit, you could do three or four days in Vienna, two or three days in Budapest, and four or five days in Prague.

Of course budgeting is very important, but you might also want to think about the fact that you should take advantage of as much as you can while you are in this part of the world since you do not get there very much. Your budget seems a little tight, but if you can swing it, great.

May is a great time to go to any of these cities.

Oh definitely you can do both. I did both, as a solo female. No language barrier for basic tourist interactions. Very easy to get around. In Prague I walked everywhere, in Budapest the metro and trams were wonderful and easy/cheap to use. Here is the link to my trip report for Budapest - http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...d-budapest.cfm

I didn't do a trip report for the Prague trip but my photos of it are here - http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/prague

In Budapest I stayed at a GREAT B&B- run by two Americans. The price was amazingly cheap, the guys are great - it really made my trip. I can't recommend it highly enough. http://www.budabab.com/index.htm

With ten full days you could even squeeze in Vienna but I really think five days each in Prague and Budapest would be perfect. From Prague I did a day trip to Cesky Krumlov and I did it by a day tour company. There are places all over the city where you can book these day trips the day or two before you want to take them. I hate tours but felt the language barrier and transportation difficulties of the Chech countryside warranted it in this case. From Budapest I did a day trip to Szentendre. That one was easy to do by public transportation (Ron and Ryan from the B&B were able to give me explicit directions,etc). But even with 5 days in Prague and 7 in Budapest with only one day trip each I was not at all bored.

BigRuss - are you stalking me?

never mind, we seem to be agreeing about our answer to the OP's first question, which is yes.

I would do Vienna and Prague and add a couple days in Ceske Krumlov, a lovely little town reachable by bus from Prague.

I know that there is at least one B&B in the center of Vienna that Fodorites stay in. Try to use the Fodors Search engine to find it.It may be called Pension Anna or Ana.

In Ceske Krumlov, we stayed at Pension Ana. The accomodations were very simple and very cheap. I felt very safe there. If you bring sensible luggage (one carry-on), it is walkable from the bus stop. We did have to buy our own soap, though. a simple breakfast come with the room.You can walk everywhere from there.

By the way, I did also like Budapest. I just don't think it is as interesting as the others. I know that our hotel there is beyond your given budget.

Also, look into Austrian Air. It often has good deals into Vienna, Also, Czech Airlines.

Whatever you choose, you will love Central Europe.

Pat

I am sure that our accomodation in Prague, Bishop's House, is
beyond your means, but I think that our booking sight was called Travel cook. I am sure that many booking sites have lists of inexpensive places in Prague. I would suggest that you try for something in walking distance to the Charles Bridge-maybe Mala Strana.

Although Prague and Budapest are less expensive than most other European cities, I wouldn't feel comfortable with anything less than $200 per day for food, lodging, travel, etc. and even then, you're going to have to be frugal.

You guys are wonderful! Currently the plan is to drop my trip length to 8 days, add a couple hundred bucks more to the budget (yay tax refund), and to divvy up the time between both Prague AND Budapest, but to leave out Vienna. I love the idea of day trips, so I'm leaning toward a 5-day-Prague+day trips, 3-day Budapest vacation. I'll look into flying vs. train. I read on another thread that the train is not ***amazingly*** scenic for the length of time one is chugging along, so the overnight train sounds more appealing.

And then a friend told me I should visit Scotland. (LOL!)

Thank you again!!!! I'll keep reading the threads for more info!