SuperG1955

We have a fun trip planned for September and since we haven’t been to any of the places we’re visiting, I have the usual bunch of questions and will appreciate all of the feedback and information you provide.

We are 2 couples, all over 60. Our travel schedule is: Prague, arriving 4 Sep in the afternoon after a long travel day in business class for 1 couple (MSY-JFK-SVO-PRG) and either overnight train or flight from somewhere else in Europe for the other couple (we don’t know where yet). We leave PRG on 9 SEP via Night Train (EN 477) to Budapest, arriving 10 Sep. We leave Budapest on 15 Sep to Vienna on a morning train. We depart Vienna in the evening of 20 Sep – 1 couple VIE-SVO-JFK-MSY arriving on 21 Sep and the other VIE-AMS followed by a flight back to the US on either 21 or 22 Sep.

Travel in cities. We prefer to take public transit and to walk. We all live in New Orleans, which can be a dangerous place for tourists nowadays, so safety is a concern. I have one specific travel safety concern. The night train from Prague to Budapest leaves the Main Station in Prague at 23:50. I assume that we have to be at the station about 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Are there any precautions we need to take at the station?

Hotels. We prefer non-chain hotels located in areas convenient to tourist areas and public transport. We require rooms with private baths, internet, laundry service, and elevators. Room safes are a big plus. We try to keep the cost at a maximum of €150 per night for each room. We want to feel safe walking back to the hotel at night. Decent same day or next day laundry service is of great importance. My wife and I travel with 1 carry-on roller board each, which means a limited amount of clothing. We send out laundry on the day after our arrival in a city and need it back by the following day.
Food. We don’t do big or heavily alcoholic lunches. We usually do 1 or possibly 2 high end dinners in a city and prefer to eat at places predominately frequented by locals. Recommendations for restaurants for all meals will be appreciated. (We’ve had great luck with restaurant references here on FT.)

Tourism. We usually do a Hop On – Hop Off, without getting off on our arrival day to get an overview and feel for the geography of the city. We also always plan an “open day” in each city to do things that we hadn’t known about before we arrived. Suggestions of private guides, tours and places to see, and to avoid, are appreciated.

We’ve successfully travelled together before. We divide the planning up and it works well for us. I do all of the travel, the other gentleman reserves the hotels and the ladies plan the touring in and around the cities.

Thanks in advance for your help and recommendations.

Schedule:
Aug 29 - 1 couple to somewhere Europe from JFK
September 3 - 2nd couple leaves MSY to PRG via JFK & SVO
September 4 - All arrive in Prague
September 5 -8 in Prague
September 9 in Prague, night train to Budapest
September 10 arrive in Budapest
September 11 - 14 in Budapest
September 15 morning train to Vienna
September 16 - 20 in Vienna
September 20 evening departures via air to US.

fassy

Regarding safety:

You'll be fine. All three cities are quite safe as long as you stick to the normal precautions like not leaving your baggage unattended, your wallet or electronics out in the open, do not follow strangers down a dark alley for a special 'deal', and so on. Like said, the usual reasonable things...

If something happens it is usually pocket thieving or getting ripped off. Muggings and more serious things are quite rare in the public areas in those cities.

I do not know Budapest to well but the few times I have been there never had a problem besides having to fight off the usual offerings... Women, strip clubs etc. same goes for Prague, not so much for Vienna.

About hotels, for that money you should have a quite good selection. Sadly done if the best places I know are the chain ones like the Marriott and Hilton in Prague and Vienna or Le Meridien in Budapest. Are they a total no-no? Given they are reasonable cheap mist if the year and in excellent locations I would look at those as well.

Laundry service works well with those but is perhaps a bit pricy.

Revilo199

No safety worries to be concerned about. Central Europe is one of the safest places to travel to, train stations at night are largely fine as well especially when traveling in a group of four. Nobody bats an eyelid when people are walking home alone at night here in Vienna and the same mostly applies to Prague and Budapest as well, although I don't have too much first hand experience there except for occasional visits over the years.

There is not necessarily a 30 minute cut off time at all, in fact you can be at the platform 2 minutes before a train departure and that's absolutely fine. Although arriving around 30 minutes early is definitely adviseable in case anything unexpected were to happen.


That's very hard to say for Vienna without knowing your preferences (Austrian, Greek, Chinese, Street Food?) and without knowing where in the city you are staying. There are excellent options everywhere in town. I'll be glad to point you in a direction once you give a bit of detail.


Definitely try out the food stands on Naschmarkt though for lunch, you can find everything there, from mouth-watering Israeli hummus at NENI to arguably Vienna's best Sushi.

fassy

For dinner in Prague consider dropping by the little Blue Duck: http://www.umodrekachnicky.cz/en/nebovidska

You will need to reserve a table but it my favorite place in Prague

helosc

Public transport is very good in all three cities.
I always prefer to buy day or multiple day tickets as it gives a certain freedom, I find.
All three cities have trams which is a nice way of sightseeing if you are tired of walking ( or it's raining).

I have never worried about security in either city.

I am a Hilton person and I love both Hiltons in Prague and the castle property in Budapest.

Restaurants in Prague that I like :

http://cestr.ambi.cz/en/#menu
I always have the three course menu.

http://www.nostress.cz/restauraceen.html
They have very good lunch deals.

A restaurant in Budapest that I can recommend for your high end dining experience :
http://www.csalogany26.hu
(I had a problem with this link so you might have to google the restaurant yourself - it's called Csalogany26)
You can have a four or eight course menu with or without wine pairing.
Local wines and they were surprisingly good.
They also have good lunch deals.

Add : there are many classical concerts in Prague (and opera and ballet).
See this link for information (I have bought tickets from this site with no problems):
https://www.pragueexperience.com/ope...&EventMonth=09

SuperG1955

Thank you all for your quick responses.

I was mostly concerned about the late night at the train station in Prague. We had an encounter with a group of pickpockets in Rome last summer and we came out on top so we are aware and careful.

To answer a few questions - Food - we prefer to eat the food of the country we're visiting, and street food, recognizing that street food is always from diverse places.

I had no problem with the web site for csalogany26.

I'll post our hotels once my friend has made his decisions. We will be out touring around during the day and will also gladly go to a recommended restaurant outside of the neighborhood we're staying in. I've had wonderful experiences at places recommended by FT'ers and never a bad one. We do make reservations at places that take them. I've found that you're are treated better if they know that you selected their restaurant specifically rather than just walked by and decided to give it a try.

Hotels - I'll pass your comments on to my friend.

We are planning on Opera in Vienna and we'll now look at Prague as well. I'll try to pick something light that they've heard musical selections from. I can fill them in on the Libretto over a meal beforehand. If someone can recommend a good ticket broker in Vienna as has been done for Prague, that would be appreciated. I know that the best seats for viewing are not necessarily the most expensive and I'd like to have good seats for viewing.

Thanks again for you responses.

SuperG1955

fassy,

We just spend an very enjoyable 4 days in ARN. The highlight of our trip was the VASA where we spent hours. We had great food - I lived on herring, salmon, char and crawfish. My wife added elk for diversity, And of course coffee and sweets.

We stayed at the Sheraton for location and our ability to walk to many places. A delightful city.

JBord

A few thoughts:

- Good itinerary, you will have a great trip in 3 of my favorite European cities.
- I didn't encounter any pickpockets in Prague, but from what I've heard it's not uncommon. My belief after visiting is that a group of aware adults are a much more difficult target than the numerous British stag parties wandering the city drunk. Thieves aren't dumb. I would count your change. I think some of the street merchants are aware that since they don't use the euro, tourists may assume the change given is correct.
- For authentic food in Budapest, I always recommend Rosenstein for a dinner, and a stop by the Central Market for lunch. And, as an American you may not expect this, but butcher shops are fairly popular for lunch too. In Prague the key is to wander a couple blocks out of the tourist areas to find good food at local prices, and also the street food around Wenceslas square made good lunches for me a couple times. You will find Hungarian wine to be quite good in Budapest. The beer in Prague is second to none.

Non-NonRev

For the Staatsoper:

Your dates coincide with performances of La Cenerentola (16th and 19th) and La Traviata (17th). I think either (or both) is good for novices, as they combine strong stories (the Cinderella tale, or a classic tale of love denied).

Both productions are updated; the Traviata more so (a de-emphasis on heavy scenery, the better to focus on the characters). The production is from the 2011 Aix Festival - I watched the live webcast on the Internet, and I loved the focus on youthful love and celebration. I also think that the cast (Lungu and especially Breslik) will fit this concept very well.

The Rossini has more of a physical production with handsome sets and costumes. I'm intrigued by the Angelina, who is only 28 years old and is a winner of Placido Domingo's Operalia competition. Spagnoli as the "evil" stepfather is a master of comedic acting and singing.

There are still quite a few tickets on the Staatsoper website (without having to go through brokers or concierges):

http://www.wiener-staatsoper.at

SuperG1955

THANK YOU for the detail. I've put it to a vote with a recommendation for La Cenerentola on the 16th.

I haven't followed opera closely for a number of years and realized that while I knew that the opera existed, I'd never seen or heard it and wasn't familiar with it. I grew up at the Met. I had an aunt who loved opera and I started going with her in the late 40's. She, and a group of her fiends, sat in the Family Circle and had Odd, Even, and Special Wednesday subscriptions. After my first season('47), she bought a subscription for me and I became a regular through '57 when I went off to college. After I returned to New York, I really didn't like the acoustics and audience after they moved to Lincoln Center so I stopped going.

I believe, based on the quick research I just did, that the Met never staged it until 2009, which explains my unfamiliarity with it. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing it.

Non-NonRev

Actually the current (and first) Met production was first given in October 1997, starring Cecilia Bartoli. It was revived in 2009 (for Elina Garanca) and in 2014 (for Joyce di Donto). Both of the latter were shown in the Live in HD movie theater series.

railways

You are right to consider this. Approaching the main station is actually best by metro, since the metro exit decants you right into the concourse of the station. Arrival by taxi is also straightforward (but others can advise you about not getting ripped-off).

If you approach on foot, or by tram, from the city, however, you will walk through a small park which is frequented by various unsavoury types at all hours. Not necessarily dangerous, but it can be discomfiting.

At the Budapest end, there are similar types hanging around Keleti station. Beware especially of unauthorised taxi drivers - don't be fooled by official-looking IDs hanging around their necks.

The best advice as always is to look as if you know what you are doing (although this won't be easy after stepping off a night train!). If you are heading to your hotel by metro, this is incredibly poorly signed. Head for the main exit (the impressive huge arch) and go down the stairs just before the exit. There is a BKK (Budapest public transport) ticket/information office about 20 metres ahead on the right where they are very helpful.

Vienna is one thing, but this is a generalisation I wouldn't agree with.

Revilo199

I know experiences may differ and this is based purely on my personal travel experience, but I travel around Europe quite extensively and usually either by train or bus and never ever felt unsafe. I go to CZ, Hungary and many other Eastern European countries quite often and absolutely never feel threatened.

My last visit to Prague was in December, departing at night from the main bus terminal, couldn't say it was anything but a safe and smooth experience. Same goes for Budapest, last visit in March by train. I'm aware of the "drug-park" in front of Hlavni Nadrazi in Prague but seriously, those people are far from threatening.

There actually is a tour company in Prague offering tours led by former homeless people to those a bit more shady places of the city. I plan on going on one of those next time I'm in Prague.

railways

I was in Prague last weekend, and the station park was fairly teeming with, let's say, colourful characters. Presumably it's much busier during the summer than in winter. I'm willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt in the first instance - but really, how do you think these guys fund their drug habits - by doing a hard day's work?

Keleti station is renowned for scams and pickpocketing, and is not a place I would hang around in - I use it about 6-10 times a month. Luckily the police presence seems to have increased recently, but this is probably in response to the groups of asylum-seekers now hanging around there.

From my experiences of travelling around Europe by train, on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is/feels the safest station environment and 10 is/feels the most unpleasant/dangerous, I would rate Budapest Keleti and Prague hlavni n. at about a 7. Up there, but not as bad as Brussels Midi which I'd give a 9+. Awful place.

SuperG1955

I've ordered tickets for La Cenerentola on the 16th. What I think is a decent compromise on location and price:

BALKON MITTE LINKS, Row 5, Seats 13-16 for 68 Eur each.

Thanks again for the information.