VIKING-Seeking Excursion Advice For Budapest

[FinelyRetired]

Doing Amsterdam-Budapest itinerary on Viking. We will arrive Budapest

on a Tues, overnite and then debark for transfer to Prague the next day.

 

We are considering if using a private guide in Budapest might be a good

option for us? While we love walking about cities we are older and our pace is unhurried

and we do not cover great distances. If there is one area of broad interest we generally

confine ourselves to that. If multiple areas are of interest we have often used a private

driver/guide so that we can wander about each easily.

 

Would love any thoughts on this. Would also be helpful to us to know the following:

 

-Approx when does Viking arrive in Budapest? ie. early AM, afternoon, etc.

-If you did not stay extra days in Budapest, did you feel Viking’s bus tour to Buda & Pest

was sufficient? Where did this tour end? What did you do on your own after?

-Was there an optional evening/dinner or some such excursion offered? Did you

do that and would you again? Or were good local restaurants nearby for dinner?

-Approx. what time did you debark and travel to Prague?

 

Thanks for your experiences, advice, etc.

[tassietravellers]

We are travelling Avalon Budapest to Amsterdam and arriving in Budapest 3 nights before the cruise, from information on here we will be doing a hop on hop off plus at least one free walking tour, http://triptobudapest.hu/, these tours you just pay the tip..., they sound great and have great reviews on tripadvisor..I wouldnt know anything about them if it hadnt been for this site...thank you

[FinelyRetired]

We are travelling Avalon Budapest to Amsterdam and arriving in Budapest 3 nights before the cruise, from information on here we will be doing a hop on hop off plus at least one free walking tour, http://triptobudapest.hu/, these tours you just pay the tip..., they sound great and have great reviews on tripadvisor..I wouldnt know anything about them if it hadnt been for this site...thank you

 

I'll look into the HOHO. Have used those, but in smaller cities. Would also depend upon the approx arrival time in Budapest Viking normally has on this itinerary. Thanks.

[meredithmn]

Just back from Viking GE AMS to Budapest tour. We arrived in Budapest late in the evening-maybe 9:30pm. Viking had a cocktail party for us on the sun deck and the arrival was one of the highlights of the trip. Budapest at night is awesome-all lit up. The tour next day was a bus/walking tour-mainly an overview. I stayed on 3 days in Budapest and only scratched the surface. It is a great city. Be sure to go the Baths if you can.:p

[sparty1]

Wholeheartedly agree!! And if you have 2 hours to relax, do it at the Baths! The combo of massage and Baths was definitely different than anything I could have expected, but wonderfully so. It was a cultural experience that I have suggested to anyone who has asked about suggestions for Buda Pest.:D

 

Just back from Viking GE AMS to Budapest tour. We arrived in Budapest late in the evening-maybe 9:30pm. Viking had a cocktail party for us on the sun deck and the arrival was one of the highlights of the trip. Budapest at night is awesome-all lit up. The tour next day was a bus/walking tour-mainly an overview. I stayed on 3 days in Budapest and only scratched the surface. It is a great city. Be sure to go the Baths if you can.:p

[FinelyRetired]

Just back from Viking GE AMS to Budapest tour. We arrived in Budapest late in the evening-maybe 9:30pm. Viking had a cocktail party for us on the sun deck and the arrival was one of the highlights of the trip. Budapest at night is awesome-all lit up. The tour next day was a bus/walking tour-mainly an overview. I stayed on 3 days in Budapest and only scratched the surface. It is a great city. Be sure to go the Baths if you can.:p

 

Thanks for your info. Happy to learn of your evening arrival time. I love to see cities at night. As our itinerary is also AMS to Budapest, I will hope that our arrival time is similar. How fortunate you were to be able to spend 3 days in Budapest.

 

Do you recall the timeframe for the overview tour the next day? AM? That would be helpful to know so we can plan what else we might want to do/see the rest of that day and plan how we might best accomplish that. That is our only full day in Budapest.

[MURPHY27]

MikeMabel has posted the activites for the time in Budapest. Optional Jewish Tour or Horse Show/tour, so the included Budapest tour we must assume is in the am.

 

Also the times for groups to disembark for airport transfers, begin at 4am and the Prague extension group is scheduled for 8:30am. All luggage (color coded by transfer time) must be placed out of stateroom by 9am, even for later groups. So you will definitely come into port the day earlier.

[FinelyRetired]

MikeMabel has posted the activites for the time in Budapest. Optional Jewish Tour or Horse Show/tour, so the included Budapest tour we must assume is in the am.

 

Also the times for groups to disembark for airport transfers, begin at 4am and the Prague extension group is scheduled for 8:30am. All luggage (color coded by transfer time) must be placed out of stateroom by 9am, even for later groups. So you will definitely come into port the day earlier.

 

Thank you very much. Very helpful info.

 

Martha

[meredithmn]

I dont remember exact time of tour, but it was in a.m. and we had the afternoon and evening free.

[no fuss travel]

The tour wasn't rushed in the morning and you had plenty of time to see the church and take pictures outside. They gave you some free time and several of our tour mates went into a small bazaar and shopped. Unfortunately for us Budapest was hit with a severe thunder and rain storm in the afternoon and we stayed aboard the ship rather than getting drenched. Make sure you have some Hungarian money to pay for bathroom stop the next day when you are going to Prague. They would not take American dollars there. We had problems in the city we stopped for lunch trying to get the ATM's to work as we needed local currency there as well. When in Prague, don't eat in the centre square as it is very expensive there an if you wander about a block down from the main square you can find some local restaurants for half the price and the food is excellent.

[MURPHY27]

The tour wasn't rushed in the morning and you had plenty of time to see the church and take pictures outside. They gave you some free time and several of our tour mates went into a small bazaar and shopped. Unfortunately for us Budapest was hit with a severe thunder and rain storm in the afternoon and we stayed aboard the ship rather than getting drenched. Make sure you have some Hungarian money to pay for bathroom stop the next day when you are going to Prague. They would not take American dollars there. We had problems in the city we stopped for lunch trying to get the ATM's to work as we needed local currency there as well. When in Prague, don't eat in the centre square as it is very expensive there an if you wander about a block down from the main square you can find some local restaurants for half the price and the food is excellent.

 

During the Viking tour of Budapest, where did you get off the coach? Was it just Hero Square and the Castle area? For the Mattias Church was going inside included? Did you enter any other buildings or just drive by? Thanka.

[MURPHY27]

Also do you remember where you stopped on the road to Prague?

[no fuss travel]

During the Viking tour of Budapest, where did you get off the coach? Was it just Hero Square and the Castle area? For the Mattias Church was going inside included? Did you enter any other buildings or just drive by? Thanka.

 

We got off the coach 4 times. We went inside the church and it was beautiful. The nice part it was cool as the temperature that day was very humid. I do not remember entering any other buildings other than the church. There was a small shopping area near the church and we were given an hour to wander around on our own after the church visit. We are going back to Budapest next year in the fall before we cruise from there to Bucharest and no we are not sailing Viking. We could not find a cruise that fit into our timetable.

[no fuss travel]

Also do you remember where you stopped on the road to Prague?

 

Sorry, no. It was a larger city well past Bratislava and I believe we were in Czech Republic at the time but fairly near the border. We ended up eating at McDonalds (our one and only time) as it was quick and left us time to wander around town before we had to meet up with the bus again to finish the trip to Prague. You will love Prague. Fascinating city. We climbed the tower on the famous bridge and really enjoyed the view. Do watch out for pickpockets on the bridge though. You are so busy watching the street entertainers you forget to watch out for the pickpockets. We were lucky but we did see a couple of sting operations. They use children and women to distract you. When you go to see the clock, make sure you get there early enough to garner a good view. The square gets very crowded. We ended up sitting in a cafe across from the clock and ordered a drink each so that we could have a good view. The castle is well worth visiting and we found some really neat restaurants over in that area. We went slightly off the main tourist street and found where the locals were eating and noticed that the price of food was more reasonable.