jet519

My husband & I are planning a trip for a year from now, early-mid Sept. 2016. We would like to include the five cities mentioned in topic title in under two weeks (13 nights total). We will probably get a four country first class eurail pass and use the train to get from city to city. The tours that we have prioritized are the Castle tour from Munich (all day-10 plus hours), The Sound of Music Tour, Mozart dinner concert and Eagle's Nest tours from Salzburg, and possibly Eisenstadt (Esterhazy Palace where Franz Joseph Hayden lived and worked, & Fertog-Hansag National Park) from Vienna. Incidentally, I have not found much on the last place, it must not be as popular a destination as many other places but I am interested since I am a musician. We were considering flying into Prague and spending two nights, then train to Budapest, 2 nights, three nights in Vienna, two nights in Salzburg and the final two nights in Munich. This is a rough plan at this point and from what I have read in many of the forums it sounds pretty busy for a couple in their sixties or maybe any age! We have discussed dropping Prague because it seems to be the most out of the way whereas the others cities are a a straight line from point to point and we could fly into Munich and out of Budapest or vice versa if we left out Prague. But everyone loves Prague and we will probably never be in this area of Europe again. In addition, we explored the option of taking the overnight train from Prague to Budapest but we decided we don't want to do that as it sound like we would not get much sleep. Any advice?

Michael

Since you do not mention any special reason for Prague, drop it from your itinerary and go directly to Budapest. You might be able to go to Eisenstadt while on the way to Vienna. Dropping Prague would give you more time for some of the other cities.

kja

I must admit that I think you plan is overly ambitious, at least for my tastes! In fact, with only 13 nights -- so 12 days and jet lag? -- you might consider limiting yourself to just 3 of these locations. Any chance of extending your trip? If you could manage 14 days on the ground, I think you could have a nice experience of 4 of these cities, and agree that dropping Prague would likely make most sense.

If you haven't already done so, you might try marking up a calendar: Mark the places and tours you most want to see on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

My experience with overnight trains has been mixed. I actually like to sleep on trains (not everyone can), but if the train schedule doesn't match my sleep schedule well, than I don't get enough sleep.

You'll see some wonderful things no matter what you decide!

nytraveler

Well I agree that you have too many places and will spend too much time just getting from A to B. I would cut back to3 or at most 4 cities. I would drop Vienna since it is not my favorite out of this group - although it does have a lot to do/see.

But you need to lay out what you want to see and how long realistiiclly it will take you to see your musts. I doubt you can do it in any of these cities, esp since you are trying to add in day trips as well.

Sometimes what seems like more will actually give you much less - and I'm afraid you will have a blur rather than a memorable trip.

fourfortravel

I agree with everyone above that the plan is perhaps overly ambitious. Living in Vienna we have the privilege of exploring at a much slower pace; but even as an active 40-something couple we find that distances on maps don't always match reality, and don’t factor in all of the logistics time (getting to and from train stations (or parking, in our case), checking into and out of hotels, etc.)

Here is what your itinerary might look like in terms of travel. Though, if I added correctly, this only accounts for 11 nights. A day and change in cities like Budapest and Prague is about enough time to cover the respective castle complexes in each city, plus some organized wandering to fill in what little time is left. (I write this as one who has taken visiting friends and family on these journeys.)

Fly into Budapest (2 nights, 1.5 days for sightseeing.)
Morning Train to Vienna (3hr train, 3 nights, 1.5 days sightseeing and 1 day for Esterhazy)
The day trip to Eisenstadt (Esterhazy) would require a 75 minute one-way train trip. From there it’s another 2 hours to Fertöd National Park. I wouldn’t try to see both in one day.
Train to Prague (4hr train, 2 nights, 1.5 days sightseeing)
Train to Salzburg (7hr train, 2 nights, 1 day sightseeing—not enough to see Salzburg and take the Sound of Music Tour)
Train to Munich (2 hrs, 2 nights, 0.75 days in Munich, 1 day on the Castle Tour)

GinnyJo

I agree with others that this is far too much territory to cover and still enjoy and take in the experience. I don't know where you are flying from, but you likely need to factor in jet lag too.

Try to narrow your trip to 3 bases, and given what you have prioritized, you would then skip Prague and Budapest. Alternately, center your trip around Budapest-Vienna-Prague and save Munich and Salzburg for another time, perhaps with other parts of Germany.

We spent 4 nights each in Budapest-Vienna-Prague a few months ago, and could have easily spent more time especially in Budapest. We packed in a ton of things, but didn't have enough time to relax at cafes or just enjoy the scene. And although "everyone loves Prague," we will probably not revisit given the hoards of tourists and relatively limited number of sights. If you love Disney, you’ll probably love Prague.

Despite being very organized travelers, another reality is that we lost 3/4 day each time we moved to a new city, between packing, checking in/out, transit to/from train stations and the train ride itself.

jet519

Thank you all so much for the great advice. We have decided to leave out Prague. So we can fly into Munich and out of Budapest or the reverse so there is no backtracking. We will be able to do all the tours we really wanted and not feel as rushed. Since we are not going to need a four country eurail pass, would it be better to do the point to point? Also, do people use Uber very much in Europe for shorter distances?
Thank you for helping us make what will no doubt be a good decision. I want to have time for the cafe experiences, etc.and this will help.