We will be in Budapest end of March-beginning of April. Any suggestions for day trips to other towns/citites? Prabably iffy weather at that time: may not be great for long strolls in the forest/countryside!

Bratislava. Cheap return rail (about €15 each); expensive, but fun, return high-speed ferry (about €100 each). Charming centre, but I am told that the rest of the city is pretty dreary.

Sorry about the foregoing post -- complete lapse of attention. That's from Vienna!

From Budapest, there is a pleasant short trip to Szentendre, using suburban rail.

Padraig - I actually did check out Budapest to Bratislava. It takes 2 1/2 hours and costs $53 per person U.S. round trip.

Don't know if it's worth it.

Thanks about Szentendre. Have you been there? I think I read that it's extremely touristy.

On Bratislava: if it's 2.5 hours each way, no I don't think it worth it unless you actually enjoy the journey itself.

Szentendre is indeed very touristy, and I consider that a negative. But it's a very inexpensive outing, and will not use up a lot of your time. You will find my trip report at: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/ (you need to copy and paste the url, because of the way this site treats it).

Not quite out of town: a trip on the children's railway in the Buda Hills is a treat.

We did a daytrip to Pecs. Took the train, but I don't remember how long the ride was. Anyway, a nice town with churches, a mosque and a synagogue. Pretty picturesque although nothing phenomenal. Not touristy at all.

Eger, but better as an overnight.

http://www.egercity.hu/virtualisseta.eger

HI Clifton - Why do you say that Eger is better as an ovenight than just a day trip? Too much to see for one day?

Well, yes. At least I thought so, but everyone is different. We stayed overnight, but were enroute from further east, on our way back to Budapest. Plenty to see really. The map on that page I linked connects to different subpages for the different attractions.