Eastern Europe Advice Needed
 

My wife will be traveling to Prague this May to spend about five days on a business/pleasure trip. We will have another five days free to explore another city and are unsure where to visit. We are thinking about either Kracow or Budapest. We love to walk around, shop, and dine out. We prefer antiquity over modern cities.

Any suggestions?

I really enjoyed Krakow; I easily filled my four days there and could have used another. You can click this http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34841274 for an account of the trip. (Of course, I'd love to go to Budapest, too, so...no help in decision making!)

Hi Dan,

Actually, you are still in Central Europe.

Is there a reason for not going to Vienna?

((I))

I loved Krakow! I much preferred it over Budapest, but perhaps that was because the weather was poor in Budapest, whereas it was beautiful in Krakow in may.

The churches are wonderful--many done by the "Young Poland" artists. It has a wonderful square with lots of restaurants and sidewalk cafes. There's also a castle that's worth seeing.

Everywhere we went, teachers were taking groups of school children on tours--of the castle, the churches, etc.

When we were there in May, children were making their first communion, so we saw many families with a young girl in a long white dress and veil or a boy in a white suit, everyone going out to celebrate by having lunch.

Vienna is wonderful place : great museums, art, history, food,cafes shops, plus it is easy to get around.
It gets my vote in Central Europe over other
cities

Thanks for the feedback. I used to live in Switzerland and spent considerable time in Austria and Vienna. We are now planning on Prague to Krakow to Warsaw. Any suggestions or sample itineraries would be helpful.

Dan, In your OP, you mentioned Budapest, too. Why not Prague, Budapest and Krakow? If you do not prefer modern cities, you may not enjoy Warsaw as the entire city was rebuilt. While a section of the Old Town has been rebuilt, the city's architecture features mostly Soviet-era buildings. It just was not that appealing to me. I'm sure others can provide further insight.

Budapest did not suffer much damage during the war, and is a wonderful city to "walk around, shop and dine out." The city features some stunning architecture. I think it's a nice contrast to Prague, one of my favorite cities.

Dan, Sorry, I just reread you OP. With only five days, you may want to consider just one other city since travel time between destinations will eat up a good portion, if not all of, one or two days.