Vienna & Budapest: 8 Day Itinerary
If you are visiting Central Europe, I highly recommend taking advantage of Europe’s train system that allows you to easily get to Vienna, Budapest, and Prague in one vacation. I had already visited Prague years back so I decided to stick to just Vienna and Budapest this time around. In hindsight, I could have squeezed in a day trip to Bratislava as well, but regardless, I’m glad I was able to see so much of these two very unique cities. Here is how I spent my 8 day trip to Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary:
Day 1:
If you are flying from the United States, you can expect to spend most, if not all of the day, flying to Vienna. I had found a good deal on an evening flight out of Boston that included a quick layover in Dublin on Aer Lingus airline. The flight left Boston at 5:45pm and the journey took me a total of 11 hours. I arrived in Vienna at 10am and immediately headed to the hostel that I was staying at. I opted to take a taxi for efficiency and because I was feeling exhausted, but there is cheap and easy public transit that will take you from the airport to city center.
It was too early for me to check into my room at the hostel but I was able to drop off my bags and start exploring the city. I stayed in a private room at Hostel Ruthensteiner which was a quick 5 minute walk to the trains that bring you to city center.
I started at Stephansplatz and wandered through the beautiful streets. My favorite thing to do when first arriving to a new city is to just walk around and get lost so that is exactly what I did. In the evening, I stopped by a restaurant that served traditional Bosnian food on the way back to my hostel and had an early night since I was worn out from a long day of travel.
Day 2:
I started off the day at the Opera House, also called Wiener Staatsoper, to beat the crowds. I had hired a professional photographer because it was something I hadn’t done before and I thought it would be a fun way to get some good shots since I was traveling solo.
From there, I walked to Michaelerplatz which is probably one of the busiest spots in the city. Afterwards, I strolled through Volksgarten before getting coffee and a bite to eat at Demel. The kaiserschmarrn is a traditional Austrian dessert that you can’t miss.
I’m a huge fan of quick afternoon naps and need them to recharge when walking and being on my feet all day. After a quick rest, I headed back to city center and went to the Parliament building and Rathausplatz.
Day 3:
I headed to Schönbrunn Palace to once again try and beat the crowds. I’m so glad I had time to do a quick tour inside the palace and explore the rest of the palace grounds early because by noon there were tons of people trickling in.
Next I took the train from the palace to Naschmarkt to grab lunch and browse through the marketplace.
I ended the day with a dinner and some ice cream afterwards back in the city center. Vienna at sunset is so beautiful and a great time to just slowly stroll through the streets and listen to some the musicians playing live music in Volksgarten.
Day 4:
I ate a quick breakfast at a spot near the hostel, then checked out and headed to the train station. It was really simple using public transit to get to the main train station, print my ticket, and find the tracks my train would board from. The Rail Europe ticket cost about $60 USD and the ride from Vienna to Budapest took a little less than 3 hours.
At the train station in Budapest, I was able to take a short bus ride to my airbnb in the 7th district. After dropping off my bags I grabbed lunch at Karavan which was conveniently right next door and had a variety of different food trucks.
After refueling, I did my usual first day routine of getting lost and ended up Elizabeth Square. I spontaneously decided to take a ride on the Ferris wheel, because why not, and then treated myself to an ice cream chimney cake.
Day 5:
This morning was the perfect example of when my “early starts” on vacation can be a bit extreme. I had read that sunrise was great to watch at Fisherman’s Bastion, so I got there by 4:30am so that I wouldn’t miss it. There are no Ubers in Budapest, but alternatively they have an app called Bolt and that is what I used to get myself there so early before public transit operational hours. After sunrise, I walked down to the river to get a view of the Parliament building from the opposite side of the river.
By 7am, I was back at the airbnb to take a quick nap (or go back to bed?) because waking up at 3:30am was a little crazy. I grabbed lunch later at Mazel Tov and then wandered around St. Stephen’s Basilica. I toured the inside of the church and got amazing panorama views of the city at the top.
In the afternoon, I explored the rest of Castle Hill before going back to city center for dinner. I realize this was definitely not the most efficient order to do everything in since I had just been near Castle Hill earlier that morning.
That night, I got a taste of the nightlife in Budapest by visiting some of the ruin bars, which is a must-see during your time in the city, and then hopping around to a few other bars nightclubs after that. Leave it to me to find a latin place that was playing Bad Bunny in Hungary, so naturally that is where I stayed and danced for the rest of the night.
Day 6:
I continued my routine of visiting the most touristy locations at the earliest time possible and got to the Széchenyi thermal bath right when they opened. From there, I went to Margaret Island where I spent several hours grabbing lunch, watching the music fountain and wandering the park.
That afternoon, I sipped coffee at the famous New York Cafe and for dinner ate traditional Hungarian goulash and spaetzle.
Day 7:
The morning started with coffee and breakfast at Parisi Passage, a cafe and restaurant located inside a stunning historical building. Then I visited the Parliament building and walked around the surrounding area.
I wandered through part of theshopping district before getting lunch near St. Stephens Basilica. I spent my last night in Budapest taking a night cruise on the river which ended up being my favorite activity during my time in Budapest. A link to the tour can be found here.
Day 8:
I had enough time to do one last morning stroll through the city and grab breakfast before heading to the airport to fly home. I flew on a 2:30pm Swiss airlines flight with a layover in Zurich and landed back in Boston at 8pm.
