I've been remiss about posting after our trip in October that included Budapest and Prague. I will share some of our impressions without a full trip report--two 70-yr-olds who like to walk, see architecture, some local food/culture/history. I had been to Prague before but Budapest was new for both of us.

The free local public transit for 65+ made using metro, tram (not sure if we used a bus) easy without worry of which card/how much. In Budapest we were "carded" almost every entry to the metro. Staff were standing at the top of most escalators and wanted to see our ID. Most looked closely for the age but a few waved us on once we pulled out our passports.
The BRU airport bus was easy to use to the city center with small luggage, but I didn't see any place for large luggage and most people didn't have any bags. We had an AirBnB that was within walking distance of a stop. We left via train at Nyugati. I had picked a unit that was walking distance to a Metro 3 station for elevator access with luggage and direct line. Lovely Eiffel station exterior, but waiting area for international trains dismal. We found food kiosks below in underground and the McDonalds is well known, but maybe we missed more services over by the local platforms? We should have planned better for our breakfast and train pastry snacks.

I was a little disappointed after all I had read/heard about how lovely Budapest is lit up at night. We were up by Fisherman's Bastion (where people waiting in line to take photo with themselves in each arch) at sunset and the view was nice even before sunset. I thought the parliament building was impressive.after dark from riverside. We rode the tram up and over the bridge, then down after dark. We chose not to take the boat cruise. My husband was fading.
We caught a great concert at the Liszt Academy of Music. Beautiful venue and lovely music. We also got tickets to the Turandot opera. We aren't big opera fans, but I wanted to see the venue in use. Lovely too. I was just going for OK seats but the view was much more restricted than implied. We decided to leave at intermission.
We did the parliament tour. Booked the tickets weeks in advance.
To get out of the center, we took metro and tram to Vasarly Op art museum. It was quite interesting.
We enjoyed a Rocher and beverage in the lobby of the Parisi Udvar Hotel.plus great food in nice surroundings with live music at the Central Grand Cafe.

In Prague, we ventured to Vysehrad where we visiting the basilica and cemetery, then walked and tram along the rive back to center.
I enjoyed a return trip to the old Mucha Museum. We didn't try the new one.
Did the municipal building tour again. It covered less than I saw before but still lovely.
I had seen mention of the historical part of Prague train station above the modern area, so we found our way along the streets to the exterior (I would recommend finding the escalator up from inside the station because of the heavy traffic.) The old interior was nice with a cafe still operating. Cute Lego train station down in the modern station.
A pleasant surprise was a small coffeeshop just before the entrance to the Golden Lane at the castle. We were cold and a little damp, so stopped in for hot beverages and pastries. One of the best we found on the trip.

We prebooked an Uber for 5:50am to PRG. The driver was on time and a safe driver.

Of course, we found plenty of architectural gems in both cities. I could wander around Prague for weeks.
We stopped in many other places I haven't mentioned. We also had a list of "if we have time" and "if the weather turns bad" stops that we didn't get to. My husband developed some head congestion that slowed him down so we returned to our AirBnB for longer breaks and earlier evenings than we usually do. I had booked some train tickets directly online for a trip from Prague that we decided to cancel due to his fatigue and the online cancel/refund process worked well.

Some additional thoughts--
In Prague we ate in the cafe at Municipal House and at House at the Black Madonna for the atmosphere. Both nice surroundings with OK food. Many people getting just cake and beverage.
We didn't find the museum at House of the Black Madonna very interesting.

I found a walk through Vinohrady on the city tourism site. It started from Namesti Miru to Havlíček Gardens to the tv tower. We found some good stew at a basement Ukranian restaurant along the way. Some uphill parts in the sun that day. We caught the metro back instead of completing the entire loop. Nice to be out of the center a bit.

Prague is on my bucketlist (as is many places), but Hungary, especially Budapest is one of my favourite European countries. Everytime I go to Budapest I find some hidden little corner of bliss I had not seen before. I was in Budapest in March this year again, and ventured into some of the "rougher" areas of District VII, found a delightful little local restaurant that I doubt tourist ever see and was treated to some lovely local dishes and a bottle of local red wine. After the wine, I had enough brevado that I meandered my way over to Szimpla Kert and watched the youngster drink.

I have to admit my love of Hungary has declined as the government has moved to be anti-democratic and pro-Putin, but Prague is a delight and has many wonderful sites

Reading that, would this trip be feasible for a 60YO?

Nice to see this post, Budapest is on my bucketlist for 2026.

Two beautiful cities. Prague we visited 12+ years back, always wanted to go back, but never did.

We spent 5 days in Budapest end April 2024 and loved it. Walked everywhere, despite buying the transport pass. Don’t remember it was free for 65+, maybe that’s something new. But even then they checked for tickets all the time and fined ticketless travelers.

We did two walking tours with an excellent guide, she was most vocal about the current government and its policies. I was surprised, I’d have thought she’d be more circumspect. The same with our guide in St Petersburg 10 years back, she too was extremely critical of the powers that be!

I went to Budapest for the first time in August with my son and his wife. We only had 3 nights there but crammed a lot in.
We stayed at the Aria Hotel half a block from St. Stephens Basilica and the night we arrived they were having a free classical concert outside which was fantastic, we got an outdoor table at a restaurant beside the cathedral, had some goulash and beer and enjoyed. My DIL is a classical musician so this was perfect.
We walked to the Jewish quarter and toured the whole Dohany St Synagogue complex on our first full day, we did a river cruise that night to see the lit up buildings, the area by the river was full of little bars and people dancing and having fun. I guess because it was summer there was a lot going on at night, near our hotel there was a ferris wheel set up and next to that a full on house music DJ dance party happening.
The next day we took the bus over to the Var (Castle Hill) and walked around the whole area. It was Hungarian National day so we lucked out again, there was a giant stage set up near the cathedral there with all kinds of different dancing and music going on all day. The whole area was set up with different booths selling food, crafts etc. So interesting.

raincitygirl, my husband was in Budapest in August last year, during their national day. Just by happenstance, but he greatly enjoyed the music and dancing, also the fireworks over the river. It was raining, so everything ran behind schedule, but DH had a blast!

I can imagine he did geetika, the Hungarians know how to throw a celebration!

Hi, Kay2,
Thanks so much for your trip report - this is very helpful as we will be going to Prague and Budapest in the spring.

Would you mind sharing the Airbnb that you stayed in? Was it a place you liked and found convenient? I’m having a hard time with finding somewhere that checks ticks most of my preferred boxes!

Another thought I had the other day: Price-wise, how does Prague compare to Budapest? I'm guessing if some people are like me and try and avoid tourist areas, you tend to find places that the locals go to for good food and good prices. This is universal all over, but I was wondering how it is with Prague?

progol I have mixed feelings about our Budapest AirBnB. The location on Varoshaz was convenient to Ferenciek tere Metro station and not bad to Astoria. The street had limited traffic but noisy garbage and other trucks early in the morning. Some unsavory garbage on the sidewalk one morning and another guest said the pub down the street was noisy on Saturday but we were there on weeknights. The floor to ceiling windows gave great natural light, but also the bright street lights on the government building opposite. As expected, the apartment in an old building had some quirky design elements. It was well furnished, including a clothes washer, and the owner provided a well stocked kitchen. When I said my review would suggest light sleepers would want earplugs/noise app and eyeshades, the host got very upset and took these as major criticisms that would keep people from renting his unit, that no one else had complained. I wasn't complaining, just being honest. I think the pros outweighed the cons but he wanted a perfect rating with no comments that could be construed as criticisms. I don't know what would happen if you had a true issue with the unit.

Kay2,
Thanks so much for your comments. I’ve been looking at so many Airbnbs that I’m getting blurry-eyed trying to make sense of them and making a decision. I appreciate your honest thoughts!