HELP for trip to Prague, Vienna & Budapest
 

We are planning to stay for two weeks and spend most of the time in Prague and Vienna and have the following questions.

1. How many days do you think we would need for each city?
2. Would it be better to travel by train or boat to reach each destination?
3. We like to stay in boutique hotels rather than large chain type - any suggestions?
4. Is it necessary to get a guide in each city - This is something we try to do when we travel - get a guide for at least one day. Any suggestions?
5. We are going to Budapest because we are both of Hungarian descent - Any suggestions on how many days needed or
which part of Budapest is the best to stay in?

We have traveled quite a bit and received great advice on our last trip to Amsterdam, Brugge and Paris through Fodors and Trip Advisor as well.

Thank you,

Judy

I did Budapest in 1 1/2 days (missed flight connection), vienna in 2 full days), and Prague for 5 days. I flew into Budapest, took the train to Vienna, and to Prague, before flying out of Prague.

To answer your questions:
1) If I were to do this again, I would shave off a day or two from Prague and add it to the Budapest. I also went to these cities in Oct/Nov, and Prague was FREEZING.

2) I highly recommend trains. As with most Euro cities, train stations are usually very close, if not in the the city center.

3) I stayed at the House at the Red Lion in Prague - independent, clean, good location - close to charles bridge and castle.

4) Fodor's has a combined book for vienna and budapest. It is usually more helpful I find. I also like the Time Out book for Prague.

5) I stayed on the Pest side and it is definitely more central than Buda. Enjoy the goulash!

I was in Prague for 4 days last month. That was plenty of time to see most of the outdoors stuff, but it didn't allow us time to visit museums or explore the palace, etc.

We stayed at a small hotel called the St. George for GBP100 per night. It was fairly modern, neat, clean and quiet. It's about a 15 minute walk from there to Wenceslas Square.

The comments on trip advisor seem to cover all the bases (you'll probably have to cut-and-past the tail end of this long link):

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...e_Bohemia.html

Hi Judy

i can help you with the prague part of your trip - email me privately if you wish - [email protected]

Mark

Towards the end of my report I mention the B&B where we stayed. I recommend it.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34659808

1. You should specify how much you want to spend on hotels.

2. RE Budapest: most posters here prefer staying in Pest. Buda is pretty but farther from the action. Of course, there are dissenters who adore Buda. I prefer Pest.

3. Travel by boat?? No you will travel by plane or train. Prague-Budapest is the longest (7Hr) of the 3 sides of the traingle.

4. I agree that you might shave time from Prague or Vienna to give more time for Budapest -- a gritty but fascinating city that is only half-way back to its pre-1914 splendour.

I realized after I initally posted I forgot to say how much we are willing to spend on hotels. We like 4* or really nice3* and will pay up to $300 a night but would prefer to pay a lot less. In one of the cities, we want to use either our Hilton or Starwood points. Thanks again.