Awesome day trips from Prague, Krakow, and/or Budapest?
September 10, 2014 6:26 PM   Subscribe

When I went to Copenhagen back in May, I went to the Louisiana Museum and the Viking Ship museum, both not too far from the city and incredibly awesome. I also went to Malmo, Sweden which was awesome in its own way as I got to experience a different country that was only 18 miles away. Recommend me awesome day trips for my trip that commences Friday night!

I stayed in Copenhagen for 7 nights, but I actually got bored after the first 3 days so that's why I did the day trips. They were necessary in a way, but showed me some awesome places not too far from the city center that I normally wouldn't have seen otherwise.

I am staying in Prague, Krakow, and Budapest for 5, 4, and 6 nights respectively. I am a city person, more so than your average person. But Copenhagen was so small that I felt like I covered it pretty well after those first 3 days. I do not think I will get bored in the 3 cities I am visiting next as they are bigger, cheaper, more up my alley, and I'll be surrounded by awesome people more so than last time. So I'm not forcing myself on day trips here, more so just wanting to know what's out there. But just in case I do get bored or even want to venture out regardless, what are some cool places to go?

For Prague, I have heard great things about Kutna Hora and Cesky Krumlov, although I know nothing of those two places besides a few pictures and hearing them frequently name-dropped. Dresden also sounds cool, but I think at a 2.5 hour train ride it might be more of a day trip than I want.

Being that Krakow is the shortest part of my trip, I only plan on leaving town to see the Auschwitz concentration camp. And being that I'm largely Polish and have never been to Poland, I definitely want to use all that time in Krakow itself. But feel free to suggest something if it's absolutely amazing. The Salt Mines didn't really catch my interest.

Budapest? Are there any smaller spots in Hungary to check out? I know that Vienna and Bratislava are only a few hours away.

Thanks in advance for your preliminary suggestions!
posted by signondiego to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I liked Memento Park when I was in Budapest. It was a slightly different place then but it's still a short public bus ride outside of town.
posted by jessamyn at 6:33 PM on September 10, 2014 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Hi, I was in all these places last year.

Cesky Krumlov is beautiful and worth the day trip. We spent some time in the castle, did one of the tours and looked through the (small but interesting) art gallery, wandered around the old town and visited the Egon Schiele gallery. Plenty of people do it as a day trip from Prague, although that seems like a long trip to me (we did it as a day trip from Ceske Budovice).

Kutna Hora is quite interesting and the bone church is worth seeing, although really you'd only spend 30-60 minutes there. There's also a couple of churches that are quite nice (but not as good as the one in Prague Castle). I'd lean towards Cesky Krumlov if I had time, but if not Kutna Hora is a good option. (And Dresden is cool but you'd probably want to spend more than a day there anyway; I'd leave it for another trip and spend 2-3 nights).

Budapest: I agree with jessamyn about Memento Park. I've been to a few other places in Hungary that I liked, but they're probably a bit far for a day trip (Pecs, Lake Balaton - I'd consider hitting Pecs for a day or overnight if you can make the timetabling work). Lonely Planet says that there are some interesting towns upriver from Budapest, so they might be worth investigating (haven't been there myself).

Krakow: you could easily spend 4 days there, and Auschwitz is a full-day trip, so I think you're being sensible. I enjoyed the salt mine tour, but if it doesn't appeal to you then don't bother (there's also a lot of travel on local buses and a lot of queuing to get in). I would highly recommend a trip to the Schindler factory museum (it's a short tram ride from town; don't get suckered into paying for an organised tour) and maybe the art gallery next door.
posted by Pink Frost at 6:49 PM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Szentendre is the standard suggestion for a day trip out out of Budapest---it's easy on one of the commuter rail lines. You can hit Aquincum (the old Roman baths) on the way out or back too, since it's on the same line.

Esztergom or Pécs might be possible day trips too, but transportation is a bit more difficult, as they're outside the commuter-rail network.
posted by jackbishop at 7:10 PM on September 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


Memento Park is a great suggestion. I'm really glad I went the last time I was in Budapest.
posted by asterix at 7:18 PM on September 10, 2014


From Krakow, you could get down to Zakopane easily enough- about a 2 hour car ride, 2 and half hour bus ride. It's kind of a touristy mountain town, and the park can be a bit crowded, but it's quite pretty, and definitely a change of scenery.

I would also recommend swinging by Nowa Huta for an entirely different sort of change in scenery from the Old Town.
posted by damayanti at 7:20 PM on September 10, 2014


I took a boat upriver from Budapest to Esztergom -- it was both a nice boat ride up the Danube and an interesting destination.
posted by gingerbeer at 8:05 PM on September 10, 2014


From Krakow;

Zakopane is beautiful, and the walking is fantastic though it is a long journey - I'd maybe try and stay overnight If I was going.

The other visit from there is Auchwitz, which is a short minibus ride, the synagogue museum in the adjoining town of Oswiecim is worth seeing too, and certainly gave me a different perspective on Judaism in Poland.

The other canonical trip from Zakoppane is the Wieliczka salt mine, which is admittedly pretty impressive in size and scale but didn't do that much for me personally, in comparison to natural caverns.
posted by Middlemarch at 11:11 PM on September 10, 2014


Best answer: For the Czech Republic, Cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora are both good options (definitely see the Ossary if you are in Kutna Hora). If you like castles, Karlstejn and Konopiste are both impressive.

The UNESCO world heritage village of Telc is also very nice for strolling around.

For trains and buses outside of Prague, this website is good [although sometimes they have pictures that might be not safe for work at the bottom]. Inside of Prague, the official transport site is very good.

If you want a trip inside of Prague, Prague Zoo is very modern and nice, you could go hiking in Divoka Sarka, there is a lot to see along the river (good nightlife vibe along Naplavka).
posted by brambory at 11:29 PM on September 10, 2014


Best answer: We went to Terezin concentration camp outside of Prague when we were there this summer. I recommend Wittman Tours.

I wish we'd seen Memento Park when we were in Budapest.
posted by marguerite at 5:43 AM on September 11, 2014


I stayed in Warsaw while in Poland and made a day trip to Krakow and saw the salt mines. So, alternatively, you could make a day trip to Warsaw (we went via train) from Krakow.
posted by jillithd at 6:42 AM on September 11, 2014


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