Fodorites, I need some help. We are planning a trip to Prague, Krakow, & Budapest.
Is Prague the best city to fly into?
What is the best way to get to Krakow and from Krakow to Budapest?
All flights to Prague, Krakow, & Budapest from the USA stop in Amsterdam. Would it be best to skip Krakow and stay in Amsterdam instead?

Krakow vs. Amsterdam ... well, that would seem to depend on what you want to see and experience! Both are wonderful. Maybe one is more likely to fit with a future travel plan?

Best way to get from place to place? Depends on your preferences and how the timing works with your plans. You can start your research with rome2rio.com

Best order? Depends on your schedules. Many museums, etc., close one or two days a week, so you might want to plan around when the things you want to see are open.

I hope that helps!

I flew from Washignton DC to Krakow via Munich. Prague and Krakow are two of my favorite places in Europe.

BTW, the website flightsfrom lets you input a city and tells you about every non-stop flight going to that city. I see there is a nonstop on Ryan Air form Prague to Krakow, for example.

www.flightsfrom.com/KRK

train is normally good, start with rome2rio.com to get overviews which also show buses etc. Then Bahn.de for detail. NB train station names matter and need to be spelt correctly (just saying but ...)
seat61.com explains a lot

Last year we flew into Budapest via Frankfurt on Lufthansa. Spent 6 nights there, then took a train to Krakow. There’s supposed to be a direct overnight sleeper train, we could see it online on both the Hungarian and Polish railway websites, but tickets for the sleeper never opened up. We called both helplines and spoke with extremely helpful agents, who said bookings would open shortly, but we couldn’t book online. Later we were told it wss possible only in person, at the station, not sure how accurate this information was.

Anyway, we booked via Vienna, Budapest-Vienna by chaircar and Vienna-Krakow by sleeper coach. It was a comfortable journey, though we’d much rather have taken a direct train.

This was our first time in Krakow and we loved it, so glad we went. We had five nights there and could easily have spent an extra day or two. The old town is lovely and I would have liked to have explored some more, but we had time constraints.

From Krakow we took a train to Warsaw for 3nights, it was interesting, but nothlike Krakow or Budapest. An old friend and colleague of my husband’s lives in Warsaw, which was one of the reasons we went. Flew back to the US, again via Frankfurt.

I strongly recommend including Krakow if you’re going to Budapest and/or Prague. IMO Amsterdam is easier to get to from anywhere western Europe, unlike these other cities further east. I love Amsterdam, but I would keep it for a subsequent trip. Just my two cents! 😉

Thanks, geetika, that does help. You followed our initial plans, but we had it in reverse order: Prague, Krakow, then Budapest. I only considered Amsterdam since most flights connect through there, but we have been there before, so it was not our first option.

Again thanks!

Yes, Prague is usually the easiest to fly into. From Prague to Krakow, take the train or a direct bus, it’s straightforward. Then from Krakow to Budapest, the train is also a common route. No need to skip Krakow unless you're short on time. It’s worth visiting.

NanoBossana, so you suggest flying into Prague and out of Budapest.
What if we want to visit Cesky Krumlov? With that option, would it be best to take a long train ride to Cesky Krumlov to Budapest? We know it goes through Vienna, (where we visited previously with no great desire to return.

Thanks!

You are, perhaps, aware that several of us responded before geetika?

Thanks to all who took the time to comment!

If you run your dates through Google Flights and switch out the cities, you'll be able to see, in many combinations, what is the cheapest/quickest combination. Krakow is highly rated for its low cost, its salt mines, and the chance to visit Auschwitz, but if you'd rather see Amsterdam, that may make your trip smoother logistically. The Prague to Budapest public transit does not usually pass through Cesky Krumlov, so unless you find a good route for that, I wouldn't plan your trip around that. You may also find cheap budget airlines between the cities that don't go through Amsterdam, if the trains aren't convenient. That may be both faster and cheaper, depending on how much luggage you have, etc.

Doing Brno, and Prague next week. Rental vehicle to see some Napoleon battle sites. Then Padua/Treviso in early December. Busy travel months.

Thanks Sophie! After some due diligence we decided to follow a Rick Steves itinerary, Fly into Krakow, train to Prague, bus to Cesky Krumlov,then train/bus combination to Budapest before flying home. Apparently Rome2Rio shows a train/bus route from Cesky Krumlov to Budapest.

Well Amsterday is not a place to miss, so depedns on whether you're willing to miss krakow for it.

Been there but never been to Krakow. Amsterdam was a convenient place to go due to connection flights stopping in that city.

Krakow is very special. I don't think you'll regret visiting it!