V9

The same route, Bud-Brat-Vienna, if I have more time, should I take boat or train? Or can boat travel the distance in one day?

Where is the Danube River? Which parts of the river have boat transportation (not necessarily cruise)?

Thanks

astroflyer

I'll post a counter-argument. I find Budapest immensely nicer than Prague. It's just absolutely stunning, still reasonably priced (although getting pricier), and it's much less overrun with hordes of badly behaved tourists than Prague.

I just spent a week there between work and fun and loved every minute of it.

exilencfc

Budapest is definitely less tourist infested than Prague - I don't like Prague overmuch and I think that's largely down to the crowding (combined with the fact that it's the only place i've been to in years which i've struggled to navigate).

V9 your post isn't very clear. You can find the Danube on a map which will probably give you a better idea of where it goes than anything we can say.

EmailKid

IIRC the easiest one is VIE-BTS, as it's a short distance, and there are several boats each day. It's been a couple of years since I've been to Bratislava, so I'm going by memory. I think the boats to Budapest are more touristy, and I remember the train took a while, so boats will be that much slower.

GUWonder

The boat ride from Vienna to Bratislava is nothing special IMO; the only reason I would take a boat for that journey rather than the train is if I were staying at the Radisson Carlton, Park Inn or if I had business at the US Embassy there and wanted to avoid the scam taxis at the Bratislava main train station on arrival to the city. My opinion would be slightly different perhaps if I hadn't done a full tour of Vienna covering (by land transport) part of the river bank in Austria.

EmailKid

Which is why I suggested this as it is the shortest possible ride, if one wants to say they sailed on the Danube - which we all know isn't blue like the waltz says

And it's a short walk from main train station to a large street to catch a regular taxi. Though I was under the impression that most of the trains from VIE arrive on the other side of the river at Petržalka station.

gj83

I went in the summer, but I found Prague to be very crowded. It was not easy to get pictures anywhere people say to get pictures because people were all over the bridges and near the clock. I also thought the city gave me a cancun vibe with drunk college kids all over the place.

Public transit was OK until I got stuck on it during the strike.

I really enjoyed Budapest. I agree it's a much smaller city and overall has less to do than Prague, but it also didn't feel as Americanized. There were a couple McDonalds and such, but at the time I went there were only 3 Starbucks in the city and they were all in the outskirts.

exilencfc

The two stations are both served hourly from Vienna HBF though I suppose one might have more frequent services by virtue of being used by long distance trains as well as the hourly service. If you buy an EU regio (I think that's what it's called) train ticket in Vienna that includes the buses in Bratislava which are perfectly adequate for getting from the station to the old city for day trip purposes.

Having taken the train both ways, i'm not sure where the boat landing in Bratislava is but the one in Vienna is next to a U-Bahn/Tram stop and so very easy to get to.

CMK10

I saw Prague in December which must have helped. Other than the Castle there weren't too many tourists around. In fact, I prefer Europe in the colder months, fewer people around in general and you can better judge a city when it's cold and miserable than when it's nice out. The good ones are still great in bad weather.

charlie2025

I would say, spending 3days/city is okay and you will have enough time for all of them.

Every listed city is from one point of view different, but they have something common - a lot of historical monuments, so if don't want to visit every castle or church in each city (what would be boring I think).. and rather feel the atmosphere, taste food and get to know local culture, you will be fine.

I was in Budapest one and half day and it was quiet enough for me .

I would also reccomend you to don't add Bratislava to the list, as if you will spend some time in Prague and then in Budapest, Bratislava will not suprise you in anything..

But maybe you could consider spending something like half day in some smaller town in Austria/Czech republic during your travell between cities ? What about St.Polten in Austria or Cesky Krumlov (really nice city, but also very tourist and crowded place) or Brno, Kutna Hora in Czech? I think it would variegate your trip, as it is completly different from big cities.

Yep, another thing - if you come in winter, in december, at least in Budapest and Vienna there are very nice christmas markets, worth to see..

Anyway 100 people = 100 tastes, so I am just saying my oppinion, some people don't mind to spend 10 days as a tourist in L.A., while I would die bored during that time..

GUWonder

The walk from the main (hl.) train station in Bratislava to the main road with street taxis isn't all that smooth even for wheeled luggage. At that station, I would either call for a reserved taxi or try my luck with AAA or one of the other called in taxi services that may have an idle car waiting in the "reserved taxi" spot to avoid the main taxi rank full of rip-off artists. That or use the public buses to get into city -- but those buses can be packed making it difficult to use it even if a party with just wheeled cabin-bag-size luggage.

MaxVO

Going upstream by boat (BUD-VIE) is also quite slow on top of being expensive. I would recommend taking the Austrian express train (especially with a small premium for the 1st class).

elizadoo

Daughter age 21 was studying in Istanbul and took long weekend trips to both Prague and Budapest. She went alone.

She said Prague was very nice architecturally but it was crowded with young people (her age) as it has become one of the "hip" new cities in Europe for the under-30 crowd, and it was geared to tourists.

Budapest was less touristy and she visited two different thermal baths and loved it. She also said the food was better in Budapest--more fresh fruits and veggies, and higher quality coffee--and prices were cheaper.

Austria BTW is famous for having more smokers per capita than anywhere in Europe, which has put me off from visiting....I believe it is the last EU country to adopt stringent non-smoking policies, and it is hard to not be exposed to lots of smoke. I'm hoping things will change in the next few years, would like to visit.

MaxVO

I visited Budapest and Austria a year ago, and can not corroborate your impressions about the food and smoking. The food in Budapest was ok, but a tad too heavy on meat, especially pork. I found it less interesting and more expensive than the food choices in Vienna. I also did not see too many smokers in Austria, and the official stats contradict your description as well:
http://www.tobaccoatlas.org/products...e_consumption/

exilencfc

I don't find the smoking situation in Austria too bad, most restauraunts are either smoke free or well divided, and the railway stations are not as bad as German stations. Unless you've got serious issues with smoking I wouldn't be put off.

Food wise, my experience is that Budapest is cheaper but Vienna is better. Budapest has a lot of over-priced touristy restauraunts and the place we found where the locals were eating suffered from a shortage of fresh veg.