Vienna and....? Need advice!
 

Hi there,

I'm a Canadian travelling to Vienna on Feb 14 to meet my husband who will already be there for business. We are planning on staying in central Europe for 6 or 7 days.

We have a moderate budget (no need to go super cheap, but not overly luxurious either), and are both into exploring big cities, good restaurants and bars (but not clubs), shopping, checking out local culture and historical sites, etc.

I have some questions I'm hoping someone knowledgeable can help out with. Sorry in advance if any of these are really stupid - I'm not an experienced traveller:

- We would like to stay in Vienna for a couple of days (since my husband's hotel is paid for) and then move on to another city (or two) for the rest of the trip. Cities that we're interested in are Budapest, Berlin, Prague. I do realize that 6-7 days is not a lot of time. What do you recommend in terms of cities to visit?

- How should we travel from Vienna to the other destinations? I'm thinking train, but I'm concerned about wasting time....

- Would really appreciate any hotel/restaurant/stuff to do recommendations for any cities you suggest.

Thank you so much in advance!

SW

<< How should we travel from Vienna to the other destinations? I'm thinking train, but I'm concerned about wasting time.... >>

How would you get from Vienna to wherever that is any faster than a train? I don't understand the concern about wasting time.

I would choose Prague because it's beautiful but you can't go wrong with any of the cities you've mentioned.

If you have to have a second destination, I would pick Prague (apologies, I don't know Budapest, and Berlin warrants more time on its own). But you could find enough in Vienna and surrounds to take up the entire time you are there.

I would also catch the train, if you do a second destination. We found flying between Vienna and Prague unfavourable (times, expense), and have caught the train on two separate occasions. The best times take 4.5 hours. By the time you get into the airport and past security, and get from the airport to your new hotel, you probably take up that amount of time anyway. You could possibly also do an open-jaw ticket (into Vienna, out of Prague), if your husband's employer will come at that.

In Vienna, try to get to a Heuriger (outdoor wine tavern) in the surrounding suburbs, or out to Melk to see the abbey.

Lavandula

Any of these destinations could be wonderful, or just staying in Vienna could be a great option. The problem is that NONE of us can tell you what places will most suit YOUR interests. So get yourself a good guide book or two and see what most captures your interests.

With only 6 or 7 days, you can see AT MOST 2 cities (including Vienna, which I personally thought worth a bare minimum of 4 days). A train should work well for each of the other places you mention; any decent guide book should cover transportation information. FWIW, I think that on average (it really depends on one's interests), Budapest deserves at least 4 days, Berlin deserves at least 5 to 6 days, Berlin, Prague deserves at least 4 days, Berlin.

If you decide to visit a 2nd city, try to arrange open jaw flights departing from that 2nd city. If you have to back-track to Vienna, I'm really not convinced that you have time for a 2nd city.

Good luck!

Remember from Vienna you can do daytrips, such as to Bratislava and Salzburg. I really love Vienna, so I'm inclined to say to stay there the whole time. But otherwise, I'd probably choose Prague next as a not-so-huge, beautiful city.

You could spend the entire time in Vienna and add one or two day trips (Melk is a good suggestion; or a day in Bratislava.) In Vienna, though, none of the heurigen gardens will be open in February; quite a few heurigen close for periods during the winter, and finding a non-smoking heurigen is next to impossible (if that's desired).

Vienna to Budapest is 3 hours by train; Vienna to Prague is ~6 hours. Berlin is 6 hours away and really should be its own trip. Salzburg or Innsbruck might also be of interest, both easy train travel from Vienna.

Prague and Vienna make a good contrast in all respects so that combo would liven your trip. An alternative to taking a train to Prague would be bus. It is not much longer than the train (although not as comfortable) but costs a fraction of the price. We have used both.

Vienna with day trip to Melk/Durnstein.
Shuttle to Cesky Krumlov.
Shuttle or Student Agency bus to Prague.

Fly multi-city (open jaw) into Vienna and out of Prague.

It is not clear how may full days you have. Are you counting days like this?

Feb 14: arrive in Vienna - day 1 ( 1st of couple days in Vienna)
Feb 15: day 2 (2nd of couple days in Vienna)
Feb 16: day 3 (travel to next location)
Feb 17: day 4
Feb 18: day 5
Feb 19: day 6
Feb 20: day 7 - fly back to Canada? Likely to be early AM.

If this is the case, you only have three full days at destination #2 on day4,5,6. If so, there really is no time to add yet another destination. Choose any of the destination and fly home from there. If you have to back track to Vienna, well, you are now down to 2 full days at destination #2 presuming your return flight is early in the morning.

I also is puzzled by train concerned about wasting time. How does a train trip waste time but not with other means of transport?

I'd vote for Budapest as your second city. I've been back to Budapest twice but not to Prague, which I thought was way too full of tourists in 2004, and must be worse now. Budapest has the added advantage of being closest.

I, too, don't understand your comment about trains. You get a view,which you don't on a plane, and travel city center to city center.

We're getting ready to visit Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Prague in 2 months. I've been researching these great cities in detail, as they're each different.

Budapest is the place to go for a secondary destination. It is simply an incredible place.

Your alternative would be to stay in Vienna and take day trips to Bratislava (39 miles) and Melk. Or you could take the train over to Salzburg, another one of my favorite cities.

Vienna is definately worth a couple of days to visit. Then what? I automatically think, "what's close?" But with cheap intereuropean flights and the ability to book multiple cities on the same plane ticket you can think of literally anywhere from Athens to Amsterdam, Dublin to Barcelona, Rome to Paris or London to Copenhagen. What exciting possibilities!

Hi,

I would definitely recommend Budapest and Prague (taking into account that Berlin is even further north, so more travelling time).

Train sounds like a good travel option even though it's not the fastest - but catching a plane would end up being almost as long as you need to go to the airport and wait before taking off.
Moreover train travel is rather cheap in Central Europe!

As far as Prague and Czech Republic are concerned, you can use the national train operator to travel "internationally" (Ceske Drahy - http://www.cd.cz/default.htm) but you may use other Czech private operators for better service & cheaper prices if you travel within Czech Republic (see more info on http://www.visit-prague.net/2014/01/...zech-republic/)

Budapest is also a beautiful destination but for some reason has not the same atmosphere that Prague has... not being very objective as I live there! :)

Enjoy your trip
Nicolas