Budapest or Vienna?

[Anonymous]

Just you and your spouse--no kids.

You will arrive around noon on a Sunday in July, and leave around 10 am Friday morning.

Would you rather be in Vienna or Budapest? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I'd rather be in Budapest because family is there, but it's such a lovely, fun, interesting city anyway. But Vienna is lovely... you do have a difficult decision.

[Anonymous]

You can do a day trip to either-via train the are less than 3 hours away.
Spent time in Budapest as a student and loved it- regret not spending more time in Vienna...
Whatever you chose try to do both while you are there.

[Anonymous]

Different people have different preferences, and often incidentals like what weather you have influences your impression of a city, so take this with a grain of salt, but I would probably recommend Budapest over Vienna. I found Budapest more interesting and charming. 4+ days in either probably gives time for a day trip somewhere else, so you might look at whether the available day trips convince you one way or the other (although it's true that each is sometimes a day trip from the other-- you could perhaps fly into one and out of the other).

[Anonymous]

Personally, Vienna. But Budapest is lovely too. I just think there is more to do in Vienna since you will be there for five days.

[Anonymous]

I recommend Vienna. Take a day trip to wonderful Salzburg.

[Anonymous]

Just returned from Vienna. It was even lovelier than I remembered. I have been to Budapest twice as well. 5 days is just enough to cover all the major sites. Get Vienna pass, if you plan on sightseeing, it gets expensive fast.

[Anonymous]

Both are great, but I really love Vienna.

[Anonymous]

Blue Danube wins hands down every time

[Anonymous]

I did both in the same trip. I preferred Budapest. I found Vienna pretty but sterile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blue Danube wins hands down every time

??

[Anonymous]

Vienna and Budapest are two quite different cities despite a long shared history. Having been to both cities multiple times I will try to summarize the difference (from my experience).

1. Architecture / urban planning:

Vienna was the imperial capital city, so there's a much stronger "imperial" flavor with many grand baroque buildings and palaces. The Hofburg in the Inner Stadt was the old imperial palace/castle for the Hapbsurg monarchy, and there's also the huge Schonbrunn Palace just outside the city (within easy reach by public transit). The Inner Stadt still retains a strong baroque vibe and the city is ringed with boulevards and squares. Although Vienna was bombed in the war, the city was fairly well preserved and contains a wide mixture of glorious architecture from the 17th century through the 19th and 20th centuries, including many wonderful Secessionism and Art Nouveau examples along with the baroque.

Vienna grew from a tightly central inner stadt, within the original city walls (now a long boulevard ring), giving Vienna a fairly compact and eminently walkable feel. Although the Danube runs alongside the city, the river's presence is far less pronounced and you can easily miss it during your visit. Vienna, while not flat, doesn't have a pronounced or memorable topography. Vienna has pretty good public transit, with buses, underground metro and street-level trams.

Budapest, by contrast, despite an age comparable to Vienna, feels much more a 19th century / early 20th century city. The oldest surviving part is the castle hill with several streets that date back to the 17th/18th century, but it feels like a village within (and isolated from) Budapest, and the rest of the city is 19th/20th century. The architecture is also glorious and one of the virtues of the communist era is that there was no money to demolish large sections of Budapest and replace it with awful modern crap. I loved walking around Budapest and admiring the highly decorative Nouveau and Victorian and Secessionsim and Deco architectural features and trims. Budapest feels much bigger than Vienna despite similar populations, and it's because the Danube runs right through the city and one side is literally a hill, while the other stretches out as flat as a pancake, so from the eyes of a pedestrian, Budapest just feels a lot bigger and more spread out. However, Budapest has fabulous public transit with an overabundance of trams, metro and bus routes, even if it does take a while to figure it all out. Budapest does have some amazing landmarks, such as the Hungarian National Parliament right on the Danube and the river nestling through the city opens up many more broad sights and views than Vienna.

2. Art and Museums

Vienna has spectacular museums. After all, it was the imperial capital. However, Vienna is a bit limited when it comes to contemporary art, if that's your thing. There is a modern art museum but despite being there several times (mostly for the cafe) I really can't remember much about it. The real art is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Hofberg, the Litchenstein, and a selection of smaller niche museums, but it is heavily towards the "past" with Great Masters and decorative arts and some cultural ethnography / antiquarians.

Budapest has a museum complex on Castle hill, in the restored remains of the old castle. Like many middling countries, they're proud of their "national museums," which are often dull to others. Hungarian National Gallery is forgettable. Lots of 19th century Hungarian works. The Budapest History Museum also in the castle has three parts: Roman, Medieval and "modern age" fine arts, which is more interesting and there are several impressive medieval artwork. More interesting are the smaller niche museums, I really enjoyed the Museum of Applied Arts, the Hungarian version of the V&A in London. There's also a Terror Museum, which is a pretty interesting viewing as it covers both Nazism and the Soviets. There's also smaller exhibitions in the various synagogues including the National Jewish Museum that are both sad and worth visiting.

3. City sights and activities

Outside the museums, palaces and churches, Vienna itself is the main sight. City walking, window shopping, people watching, Vienna was designed for this. One of the most popular activities is to go to a coffeehouse for coffee (wonderful range of coffees) and pastries or a light meal and read the papers and relax. The Austrian coffehouse model is what inspired the current range for coffeeshops. My favorite is Cafe Sperl although there's a selection of others. Demel's is Vienna's most famous pastry shop and is a fabulous place to stop for pastry and coffee.

Budapest does not have the same coffeehouse culture that Vienna does (thanks to communism, which helped destroy that heritage), although some are trying to revive it. Budapest has the baths, which are fun places to go to. Different baths have their advantages. Budapest also has the "ruin pubs," which are large cavernous bars in "ruined" buildings, which are festive places. Budapest has the famous caves underneath the city that are fun to explore. And this is all in addition to the usual city exploring and walking around and enjoying the views from various points on Castle Hill

4. Food

Vienna, hands down, has the best food of the two cities. They are very proud of their Austro-Germanic culinary heritage and it can be surprisingly well done. And then we have the fabulous pastries in the cafes and coffehouses. And there's also a decent range of non Austrian food, from Italian to Asian. Italian food in Vienna can be quite good. Lots of good wines. Beer is good. It's not the Czech Republic but holds its own. Vienna has a tradition of excellent Weinstubes, which are their versions of bistros, as well as Heuriger, which are wine taverns associated with a vineyard and serve fresh wine along with traditional Austrian fare.

Budapest suffered from 50 years of communism and that took its toll on the culinary heritage of Hungary. The Hungarians do appreciate good food, but the logistics and supply chain to provide consistent high quality food across a broad spectrum was destroyed and is very slowly being rebuilt. Most of the pastry shops, for example, still serve pastries made with vegetable shortening rather than real butter, to use as an example. There are good restaurants in Budapest, but they are fewer in number and not as consistently good in quality compared to Vienna. There's too many middling places selling slop....er....goulasch... to tourists, but if you do your research carefully, you can find good Hungarian restaurants and have an enjoyable meal - but research is always a must. Hungarian tends to be spicer than Austrian and they serve a lot of goose liver pate. And wine There's fewer ethnic / non-Hungarian alternatives in Budapest.

4. Overall city vibe

Vienna is very.... preserved. I love Vienna, but there's unquestionably an element of proud, proper, bourgeois Vienna that pervades the city. It's not a "hip" place although there are artsy quarters, but even those have the smack of bourgeoism. There's many shops in the inner stadt that still proclaim k.u.k., which translates into Purveyor to the Imperial and Royal Court - and the monarchy was abolished a hundred years ago! There's many traditions that have been passed down from past eras and you see very well preserved traditional shops and restaurants that have been around forever. They are highly appreciated by the Viennese. Some might think of it as fussy, I don't, but Vienna is a proud place. It's a great city for people who enjoy a leisurely, relaxed, cultural trip.

Budapest is much more young, hip and relaxed. There's definitely more of a nitty-gritty feel, a slight character of decay pervades most of Budapest and the city still evokes a slight just-post-communist atmosphere because it doesn't have the wealth that Vienna does (thanks to the communist legacy). I also like this and it's part of the city's charm. Active people will likely enjoy Budapest more.

I hope this helps. I don't think you can go wrong with either place as long as you know what to expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vienna and Budapest are two quite different cities despite a long shared history. Having been to both cities multiple times I will try to summarize the difference (from my experience).

1. Architecture / urban planning:

Vienna was the imperial capital city, so there's a much stronger "imperial" flavor with many grand baroque buildings and palaces. The Hofburg in the Inner Stadt was the old imperial palace/castle for the Hapbsurg monarchy, and there's also the huge Schonbrunn Palace just outside the city (within easy reach by public transit). The Inner Stadt still retains a strong baroque vibe and the city is ringed with boulevards and squares. Although Vienna was bombed in the war, the city was fairly well preserved and contains a wide mixture of glorious architecture from the 17th century through the 19th and 20th centuries, including many wonderful Secessionism and Art Nouveau examples along with the baroque.

Vienna grew from a tightly central inner stadt, within the original city walls (now a long boulevard ring), giving Vienna a fairly compact and eminently walkable feel. Although the Danube runs alongside the city, the river's presence is far less pronounced and you can easily miss it during your visit. Vienna, while not flat, doesn't have a pronounced or memorable topography. Vienna has pretty good public transit, with buses, underground metro and street-level trams.

Budapest, by contrast, despite an age comparable to Vienna, feels much more a 19th century / early 20th century city. The oldest surviving part is the castle hill with several streets that date back to the 17th/18th century, but it feels like a village within (and isolated from) Budapest, and the rest of the city is 19th/20th century. The architecture is also glorious and one of the virtues of the communist era is that there was no money to demolish large sections of Budapest and replace it with awful modern crap. I loved walking around Budapest and admiring the highly decorative Nouveau and Victorian and Secessionsim and Deco architectural features and trims. Budapest feels much bigger than Vienna despite similar populations, and it's because the Danube runs right through the city and one side is literally a hill, while the other stretches out as flat as a pancake, so from the eyes of a pedestrian, Budapest just feels a lot bigger and more spread out. However, Budapest has fabulous public transit with an overabundance of trams, metro and bus routes, even if it does take a while to figure it all out. Budapest does have some amazing landmarks, such as the Hungarian National Parliament right on the Danube and the river nestling through the city opens up many more broad sights and views than Vienna.

2. Art and Museums

Vienna has spectacular museums. After all, it was the imperial capital. However, Vienna is a bit limited when it comes to contemporary art, if that's your thing. There is a modern art museum but despite being there several times (mostly for the cafe) I really can't remember much about it. The real art is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Hofberg, the Litchenstein, and a selection of smaller niche museums, but it is heavily towards the "past" with Great Masters and decorative arts and some cultural ethnography / antiquarians.

Budapest has a museum complex on Castle hill, in the restored remains of the old castle. Like many middling countries, they're proud of their "national museums," which are often dull to others. Hungarian National Gallery is forgettable. Lots of 19th century Hungarian works. The Budapest History Museum also in the castle has three parts: Roman, Medieval and "modern age" fine arts, which is more interesting and there are several impressive medieval artwork. More interesting are the smaller niche museums, I really enjoyed the Museum of Applied Arts, the Hungarian version of the V&A in London. There's also a Terror Museum, which is a pretty interesting viewing as it covers both Nazism and the Soviets. There's also smaller exhibitions in the various synagogues including the National Jewish Museum that are both sad and worth visiting.

3. City sights and activities

Outside the museums, palaces and churches, Vienna itself is the main sight. City walking, window shopping, people watching, Vienna was designed for this. One of the most popular activities is to go to a coffeehouse for coffee (wonderful range of coffees) and pastries or a light meal and read the papers and relax. The Austrian coffehouse model is what inspired the current range for coffeeshops. My favorite is Cafe Sperl although there's a selection of others. Demel's is Vienna's most famous pastry shop and is a fabulous place to stop for pastry and coffee.

Budapest does not have the same coffeehouse culture that Vienna does (thanks to communism, which helped destroy that heritage), although some are trying to revive it. Budapest has the baths, which are fun places to go to. Different baths have their advantages. Budapest also has the "ruin pubs," which are large cavernous bars in "ruined" buildings, which are festive places. Budapest has the famous caves underneath the city that are fun to explore. And this is all in addition to the usual city exploring and walking around and enjoying the views from various points on Castle Hill

4. Food

Vienna, hands down, has the best food of the two cities. They are very proud of their Austro-Germanic culinary heritage and it can be surprisingly well done. And then we have the fabulous pastries in the cafes and coffehouses. And there's also a decent range of non Austrian food, from Italian to Asian. Italian food in Vienna can be quite good. Lots of good wines. Beer is good. It's not the Czech Republic but holds its own. Vienna has a tradition of excellent Weinstubes, which are their versions of bistros, as well as Heuriger, which are wine taverns associated with a vineyard and serve fresh wine along with traditional Austrian fare.

Budapest suffered from 50 years of communism and that took its toll on the culinary heritage of Hungary. The Hungarians do appreciate good food, but the logistics and supply chain to provide consistent high quality food across a broad spectrum was destroyed and is very slowly being rebuilt. Most of the pastry shops, for example, still serve pastries made with vegetable shortening rather than real butter, to use as an example. There are good restaurants in Budapest, but they are fewer in number and not as consistently good in quality compared to Vienna. There's too many middling places selling slop....er....goulasch... to tourists, but if you do your research carefully, you can find good Hungarian restaurants and have an enjoyable meal - but research is always a must. Hungarian tends to be spicer than Austrian and they serve a lot of goose liver pate. And wine There's fewer ethnic / non-Hungarian alternatives in Budapest.

4. Overall city vibe

Vienna is very.... preserved. I love Vienna, but there's unquestionably an element of proud, proper, bourgeois Vienna that pervades the city. It's not a "hip" place although there are artsy quarters, but even those have the smack of bourgeoism. There's many shops in the inner stadt that still proclaim k.u.k., which translates into Purveyor to the Imperial and Royal Court - and the monarchy was abolished a hundred years ago! There's many traditions that have been passed down from past eras and you see very well preserved traditional shops and restaurants that have been around forever. They are highly appreciated by the Viennese. Some might think of it as fussy, I don't, but Vienna is a proud place. It's a great city for people who enjoy a leisurely, relaxed, cultural trip.

Budapest is much more young, hip and relaxed. There's definitely more of a nitty-gritty feel, a slight character of decay pervades most of Budapest and the city still evokes a slight just-post-communist atmosphere because it doesn't have the wealth that Vienna does (thanks to the communist legacy). I also like this and it's part of the city's charm. Active people will likely enjoy Budapest more.

I hope this helps. I don't think you can go wrong with either place as long as you know what to expect.

Wow! Thank you for this very thorough comparison! I'm thinking that Budapest sounds more interesting, but that Vienna is more my style!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recommend Vienna. Take a day trip to wonderful Salzburg.

Thank you, yes that is one thing we discussed. We wondered if it was better to just take a train early in the morning and come back at night, or if we should spend the night in Salzburg. The advantage to spending the night would be less time-constraint pressure, and getting to know Salzburg better. But we also like the idea of having a "home base" at our hotel in Vienna and not having to drag luggage from one place to another.

[Anonymous]

Vienna