<p>Requesting the collective wisdom and experience of CC for suggestions on where to go and what to see and do in Austria and/or Hungary. The only thing certain right now is that we’ll be departing from the Nuremberg area on or after July 26th and we have, thanks to a relative, tickets for the opera in Salzburg on July 30th. We’d like to see Vienna and Budapest at some point on the trip. Budget rather than luxury, don’t have to be home by any special date, but thinking 10 days will exhaust our budget, so August 5th or so.
Looking forward to hearing about your adventures and having our own!</p>
<p>You should do the obvious of course, but take some time to also explore the little towns with their medieval and Baroque churches and funny little museums. </p>
<p>What about one of those river boat cruises?</p>
<p>Budapest is wonderful, and not expensive. The food is stupendous, ranging from nothing sausage dives to elaborate pastry shops to high-end cuisine. Don’t miss the Szechenyifurdo – marvelous public baths in the middle of Pest’s main park. Dozens of different kinds of steam baths, saunas, plunge pools, masseurs, and a vast, ornate outdoor pool that offers everything from serious lap swimming to serious floating chess. And the whole thing teeming with people of all ages and walks of life being completely lovely to one another. For whatever reason, it’s not quite on the beaten path for American tourists (the guidebooks we read sent you to the Gellert baths, which were beautiful but less interesting and less fun), but it should be. I also loved the Ervin Szabo Library, in a Secessionist mansion, and hiking in the Buda hills, which are completely accessible via public busses.</p>
<p>My wife is a big fan of china, and she had a great time visiting the Herend factory in Herend, a couple of hours (or less) from Budapest, near Lake Balaton.</p>
<p>If you get a chance, even for just a few hours, try to visit Halstatt, which is about an hour from Salzburg. It is a little lakeside village straight out of a fairytale.</p>
<p>^If you go to Halstatt, there are also interesting tours of old salt mines around there.</p>
<p>We are definitely budget travelers, and we stayed in hostels in both Salzburg and Vienna. I don’t know how man of you there are, but the three of us rented a 4-bed room at the hostel in Vienna. It was a great place, the best one we’ve ever stayed at. We were focused on music during our trip–in fact, the entire reason we trekked to Vienna was S’s desire to hear the Philharmonic in the Musikverein. We had a hard time finding something in Salzburg that wasn’t extremely touristy Mozart-lite at the time we visited, but it sounds as if you have already solved that problem. In Vienna, we got tickets to a subscription performance of the Vienna Philharmonic. Since they apparently have something like a 13-yr waiting list for subscriptions (!), they keep a certain number of tickets available for others. They go on sale by phone a few weeks before. If one of your party is in Europe, they can call on the date. We also attended a performance of the Mozart Requiem in a cathedral: 16 voices and period instruments. It was wonderful. I would avoid the things that involve the aforementioned Mozart Lite and musicians in costume. 
My only other tip regarding Vienna, which is packed with wonderful things to do, is to plan to park your car, if you have one, and take public transportation. </p>
<p>I <em>really</em> wanted to go to Budapest, and JHS has made me desire it even more!</p>
<p>Spend some quality time at the Heurigen just outside of the city limits of Vienna. Small privately owned wine taverns . Great inexpensive food and conviviality. </p>
<p>I have not yet been to Budapest, but I hear it’s wonderful and I am anxious to hear about your trip!</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions!
There’ll be 2 of us traveling, and it looks like we’ll plan more time for Budapest! And wine taverns sounds like my idea of fun.
Not sure about a car; will compare the cost to a rail pass and see how it works out.</p>
<p>Second visiting salt mines - I’d completely forgotten doing that years ago.</p>
<p>I was in Vienna and Budapest (same trip) and greatly enjoyed both cities.</p>
<p>Vienna - we stayed right across from the Opera House, which is magnificent. Hofburg Palace is easily accessible. You can see a show of the Lipizzaners (sp?) - royal horses. Also see Schonbrunn Palace and the Prater (amusement park with famous Ferris wheel).</p>
<p>We took a boat from Vienna to Budapest, passing by Slovakia. I found Budapest haunting. Its design was based on Paris. Their parliament building is stunning (though not open to the public). I did the Gellert baths and enjoyed them. The great synagogue / Jewish quarter is worth touring even if you aren’t Jewish. I got up super early and walked for miles. Enjoy your trip! </p>
<p>Pizzagirl - did you stay at the Hotel Bristol in Vienna? That’s where D2 and I stayed when we went there.</p>