River cruise Prague to Budapest- additional itinerary help needed

Parent Cafe
21

I asked my MIL, who has done a lot of cruises and she did the one from Budapest to Prague (or vice versa, I didn’t ask) what her hints and tips were.

  1. Bring cards, it's kind of boring on the boat unless you like to drink.
  2. The nuts in the cones are delicious. (I could get no more info about this particular tip).
  3. Some guy has collected a bunch of instruments and plays them in an orchestra and it's interesting.
  4. Hot wine is good.
  5. They charge you by the roll in Prague restaurants, which she thought was weird.
  6. The castles are nice.
  7. They give good talks about the history of the towns you'll be visiting on the boat.

Ok, so…she’s old, lol. I was hoping for something more specific, but there you go :).

22

Eat Trdelník. Yum. But there is no shortage of awesome and yummy pastries and cakes in that area.

23

Many if not most of the river cruise companies do a great job. I would also recommend Tauck and Viking. Read about any of them at Cruise Critic, the most comprehensive website on all types of cruising. Bookmama, heard the Douro River is awesome. On my bucket list as well. I really like Uniworld because when they say “all-inclusive” it really is. No “hidden” charges. Viking spends a small fortune on their direct mail advertising annually. I always wonder who’s really paying for it?

24

Still trying to work out post cruise so I can work on air tickets. Once we get off the boat we have 4 nights. One we will for sure stay in Budapest. That leaves 3 nights. H is leaning to just staying in Hungary and exploring the areas outside of Budapest. Younger D wants us to head to Austria and explore the Salzkammergut area, she especially wants to go to Hallstatt. We have a day in Linz on the cruise. It appears the excursion choices are explore Linz, Cesky Krumlov or Salzburg. Obviously we can only do 1 when they all sound inviting. That gets me thinking maybe we should take a train back to Linz since 1 day isn’t enough.
For those who have done this route- what Linz excursion did you do.
For others who have spent time in the area-
Hungarian countryside -lake Balaton or Linz or Austrian Lake area.
Another idea thrown out was going back to Prague. My H and I can go early to Prague but the kids can not. We want to see Prague but also see the town their grandfather was born in which is 100 miles from Prague. Terezin is also of interest since we have family who were sent there. There just isn’t enough time.

25

For what it is worth -/My cousin is married to a Hungarian man and has spent a lot of time in Hungary lately because her mother-in-law is very ill. She is Jewish and reports that anti-Semitism is rampant in Hungary, especially outside of Budapest. This is consistent with what has been reported in the press. For that reason, I personally would not want to spend my travel dollars there right now, and if it were me, I’d choose someplace else for the remaining days of the vacation.

In my cousin’s view at least, the problems are greater and more obvious in Hungary than elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

She’s experiencing this as somewhat of an insider so it is not clear to me whether the problems would be obvious to a tourist. But she was pretty disgusted when she returned from her most recent trip.

26

http://m.jpost.com/Diaspora/Despite-high-anti-Semitism-incidents-low-in-Hungary-375118#article=0QzkxNTUxNEEyOTVBNDA1MDZCQTNDRDU1NzY4QjRFRDM=

Acts of violence against Jews is low despite about 20% of the people being anti-Semitic . As a Jew who’s grandparents are Hungarian, that would not prevent me from visiting.

27

My wife is a big “Sound of Music” fan, so she was beyond thrilled with the Salzburg excursion. I also enjoyed it very much.

28

Budapest is both interesting and inexpensive. It still retains some of the communist era flavor, but is mostly updated. Food is amazingly good. You could easily spend a week there. I’d also rent a car and check out some of the area, lots of interesting history and ruins, and maybe visit Lake Balaton (great party spot) if they have more time.

29

My two cents is to recommend you spend time in the town where the grandfather was born. We drove from Germany to Prague and got lost several times in CZ on the way (too many roundabouts). The contrast between Prague (Disney-esque crowds) and the smaller towns is significant. You will no doubt find people who remember your relative’s family and will be invited for beer and a meal. The experience and memories may exceed anything Prague has to offer. The only complication will be language, we found very little English spoken outside of the tourist destinations.

30

“Budapest is both interesting and inexpensive” - It sounds like we should put that on our retirement travel wishlist. At that point we will have more time, but less money.

31

For those who have been on river cruises in Europe what is the attire at meals?

32

My wife wore a dress on some nights but nothing too formal. On others she wore a dressy top and slacks. I wore a long sleeve sport shirt and cotton slacks every evening. On 2 of the “formal” nights, I wore a black suit jacket with black jeans and a dressy sport shirt. Took no ties. The dress on these excursion heavy river cruises is pretty laid back. We never felt under dressed.

33

One suggestion for Budapest: My son and some friends were there a couple of weeks ago. They went caving and had a lot of fun. It was certainly a new experience.

34

Thank you @jshain. Do you think the late 20’s young men need a sports coat?

35

Mom60, I do not think a 20-something needs a coat. Maybe have him wear a tie with one of his sports shirts to dress up his outfit a bit on those “formal” nights, along with a dressier shoe. It’s amazing how a non-sneaker shoe can dress up a man’s outfit.