Is April/early May a good time to visit Vienna, Budapest area?
 

I'm thinking of visiting Vienna and Budapest and that general area using AA miles. It's "off-peak" to go by May 15th. Is it a pretty good time of year to visit the cities around there, or would it be way better during the summertime? I like to walk around cities, visit museums, stuff like that.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

Spring is definitely a great time to visit. The weather is getting warmer, and the locals are usually in a good mood.

Temps in April and early May tend to be in the 60’s, and rise to the 70’s (and even 80’s by late May/early June). Spring showers are common, but typically they’re not all day affairs.

Personally, my strategy is fly as close to the May 15th off-season date as possible for a 20,000 mile outbound booking, and return in late May or June for 30,000 miles. That will save you a few miles, and insure mostly warmer weather.

I would suggest you look at weatherunderground.com. Enter a historical date for April and May, and click on “monthly”. You'll get a historical day-by-day weather calendar for the entire month.

As an aside, there is a terrific rail deal between Budapest and Vienna. A round-trip tickets cost about $35 if you complete your journey within four days. For a few dollars more, it includes free transportation on all of the subways, trams and busses for your destination city.

Thanks for the suggestions. Weather is definitely an issue, but also I was wondering whether there's any seasonal things that won't be open yet, stuff like that.

I might do that suggestion where I go before 5/15 and return after -- especially if I can redeem BA miles on an AA flight without the fuel surcharge, which seems to be a soon-to-be impossibility. :(

Early May should be fine for walking around Vienna and Budapest, visiting museums and other points of interest, etc.

Vienna Summer and Winter should give you some ideas for the trip.

It's a great time! Just make sure you have an umbrella (just in case) and a light jacket. Everything will be open.