Dining & sightseeing in Vienna & Budapest

[rundent]

My upcoming cruise has three days in Prague where we will be at a hotel so I have been getting info. from this board on restaurants and touring. But in Vienna and Budapest we will have the ship to supply meals [which are supposed to be very good]. Will the ship be convenient to return to during the day? Will we miss some of the flavor of the cities by not eating out? I assume that the ship will prepare meals that reflect the country that we are in. As far as the sightseeing, is it best to go on the provided tour and then wonder around and shop, etc.? Thanks, Larry

[aagra]

We were in Vienna and Budapest this past April and did it this way. In Vienna the center of town is several miles from the ship dock. We phoned for a cab that took us to the Hofburg Palace in the morning which is in town and then had lunch at an outdoor cafe in a park setting behind the palace. There were many cafes to pick from on the main shopping street also.

In Budapest you dock in the middle of town so we took a morning tour, came back for lunch and then went walking to the shopping strret and market which are very close to the docks.

The restaurant we stopped at in Vienna was the Cafe Restaurant Palmenhaus which is recommended by Rick Steve's and was very good and a relaxing stop.

Enjoy it was a great trip.

[GlobeMan]

We've visited Budapest via river cruise twice. Both times we decided to forgo on board dining to have diner at Gundel.

 

It's pricey, especially for Hungary but it is world class fine dining. The live musicians are very talented, the food and service are excellent. You may never get to Budapest again so why not splurge? ;)

 

It is located just behind Heros' Square; about a 10 - 15 minute cab ride from the boat.