Fairytale castles, neighborhood beer gardens, and peaceful forest hikes: experience the best of Central Europe with Moon Prague, Vienna, & Budapest. Inside you'll find:
- Flexible itineraries for multiple days in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest that can be combined into a longer trip
- Must-see highlights and unique experiences: Admire Prague's intricate Gothic architecture, stroll the grand halls of Schönbrunn Palace, and climb the winding staircases to a magnificent view at Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest. Relax to classical music where Beethoven composed his masterpieces or in the healing waters of a natural thermal bath. Cycle alongside ruined castles, vast vineyards, and the banks of the Danube in Wachau Valley. Wander through the largest art history museum in Austria, studying ancient Egyptian frescoes, Renaissance and Baroque paintings, and various antiquities. Get into the holiday spirit at an Easter or Christmas market filled with handcrafted gifts, street food, and spiced wine
- Savor local flavors: Sip a Mélange in a cozy Viennese coffeehouse or a foamy pivo in a sunny beer garden. Snack on hearty sausage, classic schnitzel, or peppery goulash. Satisfy your sweet tooth with flaky honey cake, rich Sachertorte, and cinnamon sugar trdelník
- Ideas for side trips from each city, including Liberec, Danube Bend, Lake Balaton, and the Kutná Hore Bone Church
- Expert insight from Budapest local Jennifer Walker and Prague local Auburn Scallon
- Full-color photos and detailed maps throughout
- Helpful resources on COVID-19 and traveling to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest
- Background information on the landscape, history, and cultural customs of each city
- Handy tools such as visa information, Hungarian, German, and Czech phrasebooks, and tips for traveling with children or as a senior, solo female travelers, and LGBTQ+ travelers
Experience Central Europe's cities at your own pace with Moon Prague, Vienna & Budapest.
Exploring more of Europe's top spots? Check out
Moon Rome, Florence & Venice or
Moon Barcelona & Madrid.
About Moon Travel Guides: Moon was founded in 1973 to empower independent, active, and conscious travel. We prioritize local businesses, outdoor recreation, and traveling strategically and sustainably. Moon Travel Guides are written by local, expert authors with great stories to tell—and they can't wait to share their favorite places with you.
For more inspiration, follow @moonguides on social media.
Jennifer Walker is a British-Hungarian writer who grew up between Hungary and the UK. A PhD in Physics first took her to Madrid, Spain, where she stayed for 7 years. After casting off her hat as a nuclear physicist, Jennifer grabbed a new hat as a writer. She completed a journalism internship in Tbilisi, Georgia, before moving back to Budapest to reconnect with her Hungarian roots. She now mostly writes about travel, food, culture, and language in Central and Eastern Europe. She has written for National Geographic Travel, Condé Nast Traveler, Oxford Dictionaries, BBC Travel, The Guardian, and The Independent, among others. Although Hungary is in her blood, Vienna is her City of Dreams: its wide boulevards and old-world cafés continue to inspire her, as she walks in the footsteps of Klimt, Freud, and Mozart. She feels at home in Budapest's ruin bars and underground art hubs, Vienna's cafés and museums, and prefers to spend the summers under the colonnades in the historic spa towns of Central Europe rather than on the beach.
Like so many Prague transplants, Auburn Scallon came to the Czech Republic planning to stay for just one year. This worked out about as well as the notorious Czech suggestion to go out for just one beer. The Seattle native has lived in New York, New Zealand, Greece, Scotland, and Malta but as Franz Kafka eloquently observed, "Prague won't let you go, the little mother has claws."
Auburn loves surprising locals with stories of how a friendly wager pushed her to find reasons to visit each of the Czech Republic's fourteen regions. She has since spent the better part of a decade confirming the clichés (yes, the beer and the architecture are both mind-blowing) and falling in love with the undiscovered quirks of the country. Come for the Pilsner, stay for the Moravian wine and local spirits. Enjoy the pastel facades by day, delight in the affordable excellence of the performing arts by night.
With a BA in Marketing and Master's research in Adult Education for Social Change, Auburn is passionate about encouraging travel as a cross-cultural learning opportunity. Her freelance writings on the arts, food, culture, and living abroad have appeared in The Independent, Prague Visitor, Expats.cz, Flydoscope, Brisbane Courier-Mail and official content for Czech Tourism. She hopes to encourage visitors to look beyond photo ops to find the Prague experiences that they'll fall in love with. Consider yourself warned, however, that you just might start considering how to stay longer than you ever expected.
