First time European traveler needs advice

Am planning a 3 week trip to Europe in October 2006, with a base in Budapest. Want to go to Vienna, Prague, Rome, and if possible, Germany. Need help to figure out how much time to allow in Vienna. Also, anyone out there with advice on the best itinerary to catch all the places.

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There is SO much to see in Vienna. It all depends on what you like. The history is never ending, The Hapsburgs and their palaces, the museums, the riding school, the Vienna Boys Choir. This will be our 3rd trip to Vienna and we make it our homebase and travel from there. Pick out your %26quot;Must dos%26quot; and go from there. Maybe 3 days of filled days would do it, you could catch a train to Prague, spend two nights and 3 days there. We found it easier to get around then in Budapest. Fly to Rome from Prague. 5 days there as there is even MORE to see there than in Vienna, We have never been to Germany, so can%26#39;t offer advice there

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There are airlines in Europe which fly to other spots within Europe for cheap money. You can check out their selection of flights and prices (which continually change, up and down), by going to their individual websites. Here in Germany there is German Wings, which flies into Budapest from Stuttgart, and Air Berlin (I think). If you get on their mailing list, you can get notice of their upcoming sales, usually only up to one day ahead of the sale. The last ticket I purchased from German Wings to Budapest cost me 38.00 Euros, return, with all taxes included.

Another airline worth considering may be Sky Europe, based in Bratislava, Slovakia. I have never used them before, but they also have many flights out of Budapest. Later this year I will be going from Bratislava to Rome with this airline (that ticket cost me 45.00 Euros one way), look around Rome, then take a train down to Naples and Sorrento. After a few days to see places like Pompeii, etc,I will catch a return flight from Naples to Budapest with the same airline (that ticket cost me 19.00 Euros one way).

If you are already in the German part of your trip, and want to go from there to Italy, the other airline you can use is Hapag Loyd. They fly to several destinations in Italy from Germany.

The down side to using the airlines is that if you want to cancell your flight, you don%26#39;t get your money back. So you want to be totally sure about your itinerary before you buy your tickets. But on the up side, it is generally alot cheaper and sometimes even less time-consuming than taking the train.

I have also provided you with info on the prices I paid for the flights. I did that because it is really a gamble as to when you should buy your tickets. For example, the price I paid for the Sky Europe flight to Rome was about double what I would have paid if I had waited a couple of weeks and bought the same tickets on a sale at that later time. On the other hand, the tickets could also become double what I paid if I had played the waiting game. That is why I say it is a gamble, but nevertheless the prices are still fairly cheap.