any recommendations on small hotels in each city?
any highlights and recommendations on things to do or places to eat?
many thanks.
michael

Hi
That's a popular trio, have you tried searching here on each city? You can also click at the top of the screen on Destinations and find your way to lots of basic info.

If you can say how much time you will have, and what your interests and budget are like, it will be easier to make suggestions.

I liked residenz.cc in Vienna. Stayed in an apartment (Zatec) rented from www.athos.cz on the same trip, in Prague - - but their website is good for hotels too.

Best wishes,

Rex

Starlight suites (Starlight suiten, in German) has 3 all-suite hotels in Vienna, catering to business travellers. We stayed in Renngasse location very near the centre (inside the Ring) and liked it very much.

This small chain also has a centrally located hotel in Budapest. Other choices in Budapest: The K+K Hotel near the Opera is nice, new and pretty fancy. Higher-end still -- as in stratospheric: the newly opened 4 Seasons hotel in the just-renovated Gresham Palace, opposite the Danube.

If you want something cheaper, the modest but perfectly adequate Hotel Anna is central, clean, quiet.

Restaurants: Vienna -- the Palmenhaus, converted palm conservatory right on the Ring; great food and setting and hip crowd throughout the day. (It is just opposite the drop-dead chic Meridien Hotel, another commendable hotel choice)

Budapest: Central Kavehaz (café-bistro); Muzeum Etterem (restaurant); or the lovely and not overly pricey Karoly restaurant in the centrally located Karoly (pron. Ka-roy) Palota (palace)-- wonderful food and it has a courtyard, open to a beautiful public garden

In Vienna, the Hotel Kaiserin Elisabeth is very nice. It's four-star, so pricey, but great location by the Stephansdom and very elegant little boutique-style hotel. In Prague we stayed at a three-star pension, the U Lilie, in Old Town. It was nice enough, nothing special, but clean and friendly. Another pension looked nicer, in Lesser Town on the other side of the bridge, and we wished we were in that less hectic side of town. It's called the Pension Dientzenhofer. It was a bit more expensive than the U Lilie, but we would have preferred it.
Enjoy yourself-- both cities are great.

We like the Starlight Suites in Budapest for the great location near the river and pedestrian street. We thought the Josef in Prague had a great, quiet location and with a very stylish, modern design. The Josef has a great breakfast, too.