Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Vienna or Budapest?

Noticed that this thread is old, but I myself search through old threads to find information myself, so even though the original poster won't need this info anymore, maybe others will! Here is my two cents:
I'm currently in Vienna, tomorrow will be my third. I was in Budapest for 3 days as well, and since I went to Krems ( a lovely small town an hour away from Vienna) today, I would have spent 1 day more in Budapest than Vienna. I also felt like I explored more areas of Budapest, just to put things into perspective.
Arguably the most beautiful about Budapest was the view along the Danube. There were also many gorgeous buildings, my favorite being the Vajdahunyad castle, and like everyone else has commented, architecture here is definitely more diverse than Vienna. However, I still like and will be more likely to return to Vienna... Here's why.

Even though the architecture in Vienna might be too uniform, one (or I, at least) couldn't help admiring the grand scale of all these buildings. Their uniform style A lso makes the city feel like one entity throughout. Wherever I walked, I would always have to stop and admire the architecture. For Budapest, many parts are run down and not well maintained (for reasons others have elucidated). Perhaps because I'm from a country with much Soviet influence (read: Communism), I found the Communist era buildings depressing, and they remind me of a huge prison both literally and symbolically. Others might find this aspect interesting; I felt like returning to a home whose past I'd rather forget. As such, the city itself to Mr had a melancholic, bordering depressing feel. It's a city where I'd go back to drown in its somber beauty if I was heartbroken.

Vienna... I don't judge a city by its museums, though I usually check out the most famous ones in each city, how a city "feels" to me is independent of its museum richness. But I love having a coffee in Vienna and people watch, stroll down the streets and admiring the grandiosity of its history. Vienna also has plenty of international food that it was almost shocking to me (I live in Southern California where people take pride on ethnic food diversity).

For the people, I got a lot of help from both. The Hungarians don't look very jolly, and they might not speak English, but they will try to help. A simple köszönöm ("thank you", pronunciation here http://www.hungarianreference.com/Gr...-love-you.aspx) goes a long way. In Austria, most people will speak English. It !might be because their English is good, some of them even approached me before I asked, when they think I look lost. Both countries have friendly people, so that shouldn't be a factor that deters you at all.

Last thing, I'm from Asia and live in the US. Due to my background, Budapest was more of a familiar feel that Vienna. On the contrary, those who are very familiar with (Western) European cities might find Budapest different and more "interesting". I would say both are a must visit in a lifetime.