Time to cash in those ff miles - H and I have decided that we want to go to Prague for our 30th anniversary (2016). Neither of us have been. Wanted to combine with either Vienna or Budapest - I’ve been to both and think H would prefer Budapest, but maybe Vienna is more convenient. So world travelers … Suggestions for Prague (esp hotels) and fight over Vienna vs Budapest! I think we would drive between cities, though open to train or other options. This would be in summer.
We loved Prague. The architecture and the Art Deco was so fascinating, too. We stayed in the Hotel Metamorphesis which I highly recommend. Location central to everything and very good breakfasts.
We visited Prague last year and loved it. Rented an apartment (very reasonable) as the kids traveled with us. If you are interested in this option I can provide the name of the company.
Kids booked a train to a small town where we visited Franz Ferdinand’s home. (we had to walk through the village and then a few kilometers to get there). That was a highlight of our trip.
We also rented an apartment/condo in Prague, and found great options through here:
http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/europe/czech-republic/prague
We met up with my D and her fiance in Prague in April. Stayed in a spectacular apartment and had a fabulous time. Nice town and wonderful people. The highlight was box seats at the Estates theatre. We saw Don Giovanni. Worth the visit, it’s where Mozart premiered the it.
We like K&K hotels, and there’s one in Prague.
Between Vienna and Budapest, I’d pick Vienna, but it would be a close call.
Vienna for the hotel breakfasts, Budapest for pizza and beer at lunch time. Budapest is my favorite city, Vienna maybe should be visited first though.
Both of them are optimized for the gluten-tolerant …
Another vote for Budapest, although it’s only by a hair. We also rented an apartment each time we visited Prague; I’d highly recommend it.
First, may I say that I envy your dilemma! Budapest is top on my list for cities I will revisit in the next 5 years, so that would be my vote. Of course, Vienna is also on that list, so I think you can’t loose no matter what the decision. I love both, but the Budapest spas sort of appeal to my current mood… I did do a quick price check recently hoping to get Hubby on board for a journey, seemed that Budapest hotels were a bargain compared to some other European cities?
If you purchase train fare a couple months in advance of the trip, it can be quite inexpensive. I, personally, would opt for train rather than car if just going from city to city without wanting to make intermediary stops. (Of course, I say that without having checked specific train schedules from Prague to Budapest or Prague to Vienna. I was looking a month or so ago, as I recall Prague to Budapest was easy to do.) You aren’t likely to want or need a car in the city, no matter which city you choose. We have rented a car for just a a day to drive out of Vienna for a little exploration, then returned it the same day. This way, no need for overnight parking, etc.
Why not visiting all three and not having regrets about the missed one? Vienna is 1/2 way between Prague and Budapest and less than 3 hours by car for each leg.
There is a special ticket for the train as a car might be a nuisance in the cities.
http://www.raileurope.com/rail-tickets-passes/central-europe-triangle-pass/index.html
I am not sure about the speed of the trains but I think the car is faster.
As far as hotels go…our apartment was just a block from the Four Seasons. Not sure if you want to pony up that much money, but we thought that is was perfectly situated. Check out the rooms overlooking the river. It was close enough to the center of town yet far enough from the tourist crowds. (There are A LOT of tourists in Prague. But its’ relatively easy to keep away from the crowds) It also has a very good restaurant.
We can only spare a week due to H’s job, so I don’t think all 3 is a good option, as tempting as it is.
Makes sense – the suggestion came from Vienna being in the middle of Prague and Budapest.
We’ve landed on Prague and Vienna since we can go nonstop to Vienna from ORD. is there anything worth seeing between the two that would make a car worthwhile, vs just take the train?
Probably not but the train takes about 5 hours. If you decide on a car, you might add this city http://wikitravel.org/en/Brno and perhaps try a more local lunch on your way to Prague.
Flying also seems to be quite expensive.
we explored this option severa years ago and found that it was prohibitively expensive to rent a car in a Euro currency country and return in a non-euro country plus as you do not need a car in either place it is a hassle to rent a car, deal with parking/garages, etc. The train from Vienna to Prague was easy and fine and then we flew home from Prague. The one place that we did not have time to visit as south of Prague is the World Heritage city of Cesky Krumlov. We only had one day for a trip outside of Prague and chose to visit Terezinstadt…it was well worth our time to explore there, the Nazi “model ghetto”. It is located NW of Prague and we went on a tour in a mini-van with four other people, small group and tour guide was outstanding. We lucked out with the same tour guide who we had for our tour of the Jewish Quarter. You can tour on your own there without a guide but she was really informative and gave us lots of information about Art Deco Prague along with a dinner recommendation, the restaurant in the Hotel Imperial which had recently been restored.
We stayed at the K & K Central, extremely comfortable hotel, good location, excellent breakfast and very helpful to book a shuttle van for our return to the airport. There is also a well-situated K & K Hotel in Vienna, we actually stayed at a small pension type hotel, the Zipser which was fine and good location right near the Rathaus.
Thank you for the specifics, bookmama and xiggi! I would be up for visiting Terezin but I don’t think H will be.
I seem to remember that some of the attractions of Vienna are on the outskirts of town (Schonbrunn Palace, the Prater?) but I imagine it’s fine with public transportation or taxi, that a car would be unnecessary in Vienna.
H has some romantic notion of driving between the two and stopping at small charming towns but it’s not based on anything concrete!
Well, the Prater and Schonbrunn are easily accessible by U-Bahn, so a car for the Vienna sights would be impractical, IMO. If you really wanted to expand outwards, you can take the train for a day trip from Vienna to Bratislava.
with frequent flyer miles may be able to do an open jaw - fly to Budapest, train to Prague, fly back from Prague or maybe Munich. In one week, I would either fly or try to only do the trip between cities one way, or possibly take a night train back to my home base …
I recall the train from Budapest to Prague slow but pretty along the Danube and it is still slow … and you only have one week.
Train and highway both go through Vienna, so you could overnight there, spend the evening walking around the center square near the cathedral, etc. Train is 18 hours, possibly due to current construction and stop in Vienna, drive is 5 hours, you would have to figure out cost for drop off.
Budapest is a bit more exotic in food and more Eastern Europe but Vienna is much more of a tourist town, one of the prettiest Germanic towns. Public transport is excellent in both. Budapest is likely cheaper to stay, including private apartments, and eat.
Parking in Vienna is so bad that I parked my car in my far flung hotel with free street parking and then took public transportation down to center city, which is the prettiest area.
Prague is gorgeous and small and walkable. Went there in early 90s before the tourists, ate in local restaurants for cheap and stayed with a nice family for $10 a night … Walking up to the castle you feel like Ivana Trump, in a good way.
Can’t miss on this trip…
We drove from Bratislava to Vienna–the countryside was really lovely. We stopped once. As I recall it was a very easy drive. There’s isn’t too much to see in Bratislava–a day trip would be about all you would need. The Old Town area was interesting and the one area I would explore.