We have 9 days to hit these 3 cities, and the trip can't be extended. Wondering if it is worth taking a day to go to Salzburg. I don't want to short-change any of the other cities, though. Thoughts? If we do Salzburg, which city would you limit to 2?

I would not miss any of the above cities just to see Salzburg.

We won't miss the others. We would just do 3 days in 2 of the cities and 2 days in the other if we did Salzburg. Worth it or no?

if you only like to skim a city from a tour bus, and not go in anywhere.. you could do that, but the three mentioned would easily take up even MORE time than you have.

So I would say you WOULD be shortchanging one of the other cities if you cut it even shorter.

Prague is were I would spend the least time. It is so visual..

Remember, Salzburg is not exactly near any of them.

Hi; Salzburg is perhaps, 2 1/2 hours by train, so you will lose half a day traveling. Plus you will not have three full days in either city, considering travel time between cities. Each city deserves the time you have alloted. We did an 'independent tour', that arranged hotels, train tickets and a half a day city tour in the early 90's. They allow a choice of hotels, delux, first class or standard. For everything else, you are on your own. For your consideration. Richard http://www.tradescotours.com/tours/prague_express.php

Thanks, everyone. We'll save Salzburg for another trip!

You cannot do 3 cities for 3 days each in a 9 day vacation. You haven;t allowd for transit from one place to another. While Vienna to Prague is a relatively short trip the train from Prague to Budapest takes about 8 hours - eating up a whole day. So you already have one city with 2.5 days (when you arrive in the am), another city with 2.5 days (Vienna to Prague minus the 1/2 day train trip) and a third with 2 days (after you spend a day on the train to Budapest).

IMHO you are alredy short-changing all 3 cities. To add Salzburg would make your trip little more than a tour of the train stations of central europe.

nytraveler, why would you have OP taking that route? The more sensible route would be Prague to Vienna to Budapest or vice-versa. Vienna is between the two other cities.

I wouldn;t take that route. Based on the post I assumed theywere landing in Vienna. If I had the choice I would do them in geograpical order - if the OP's flights allow.

But the general idea is still the same - too many places in too little time.

I'd pick just two places. Five days Vienna, four days either Prague or Budapest. At least half a day is lost in transit between Vienna and either city.

Back to OP Q - i would take a day off Budapest - that's my opinion after having been in all several times - and yes Salzburg is very very exceptional - IMO one of the cutest cities in Europe - a Baroque fantasy.

Are you driving or going by train? There are decent Prague to Salzburg rail links. If going by train i'll add some comments relevant to that.

I agree with most of the people here. Salzburg is nice but definitely not worth missing another day in those cities. If you absolutely want to go I'd say that Vienna is the city to cut short. You can hit all the highlights in a day or two. Whatever you do don't cut Prague short.

Prague, Vienna, then Budapest is probably the best route to take.

To each his own... I'd say there is much more to see in Vienna than Prague, but I preferred the overall atmosphere in Prague over Vienna.

Vienna is one of my favorite cities and it has so much to see. We were there 3 days and it was not enough. We did the 3 cities and did train, boat, and bus. Quite easy to do. Prague was excellent and I guess Budapest would my least favorite of the 3 cities if you have to order them.

Really hard to select one of the three cities oveer the others. So much depends on one's likes/dislikes. Yes, Salzburg too far off. And yes, must consider transportation from one place to another as nytraveler says...must be planned well.

Be assured that you will enjoy whichever you choose.

Ozarksbill
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The plan was to fly into Prague, take the train from there to Vienna and then the train from Vienna to Budapest. We'd fly home from there. I am reconsidering P, B and V since we are limited on time. Was thinking about previous European trips and flights getting in in the morning. I checked and it appears it would probably be late afternoon/early evening before we would get to Prague given the timing of flights.

What do you think of flying into Prague and then heading to Vienna and doing a day trip to Salzburg one day?

That's certainly doable. And, in that case, I'd add one night in Cesky Krumlov between Prague and Vienna.

We visited these three cities in 2003, but we had two weeks. We flew into Prague, trained to Vienna and then Busapest and flew home from there. I have files on all three cities that I put together when planning our trip. I'd be glad to e-mail them to you if you're interested. Granted it has been six years since we took this trip, but I think you'd find some pertinent info in them. [email protected]

Agree Salzburg should wait for another trip. Sorry you don't have more time for this trip. We loved Prague and Budapest. Enjoyed Vienna for what we did and saw there, but it was our least favorite of the three cities.

Thanks, Giovanna! I'll shoot you an e-mail from my hotmail account.