We took advantage of the two weeks of recess at the end of the year to visit countries that were new to both of us: Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. We started looking for flights in November to places that had real winter, with lots of snow (Dublin hardly has any), and to our surprise, the cheapest flights we found on Google Flights were Dublin – Salzburg (Austria) – Dublin.
We bought it and from there we put together the itinerary, taking into account what each person wanted to see, the costs associated with the cities, travel, etc. We wanted to spend New Year's Eve in Czech Republic, but we found the prices too high for the quality of the hotels offered and ended up visiting this country on other trips – see here. )
Final Script
At the end of the research, we concluded the following itinerary (table and map with cities visited):
Places Visited
We chose to spend Christmas in Vienna, because we wanted options of things to do so that we wouldn't be so sad about spending our first Christmas away from our families. We had thought about having dinner at a restaurant so that we could celebrate midnight in style, but all the dinners we found ended before this time, and they were also quite expensive. We ended up buying delicious food at the market for our supper, which ended up being in the hotel room, and then we went out to midnight mass at the city cathedral. The ceremony was beautiful! New Year's Eve was in Bratislava, because we wanted a top hotel without being too expensive in a place with fireworks and shows free. THEWe watched the fireworks on the Danube bank and enjoyed the local bands in the main square. It was great too. <3
We don't like to repeat cities when we travel, but these days in Salzburg at the end of the trip they were strategic, because we wanted to take a train/bus to nearby cities to go skiing. We could have stayed in these cities too (Bad Ischl, Flachau, Gmunden, etc.), but the prices of the available hotels were much more expensive than in Salzburg and when we booked, we didn't know if there would be any real snow. (When we arrived in Austria in December, there wasn't!). In the end, we didn't end up skiing, but we enjoyed the city again, which this time was covered in snow and beautiful, even more so than without it, in my humble opinion.
Hospitality
Considering that we don't speak German, Hungarian or Slovak, we managed quite well with some mimes and conversations in English with young people. It's amazing how older people understand English, but don't speak it to you, maybe out of embarrassment or fear, I don't know. We've had this problem several times. Regarding friendliness, I can say that none of the three peoples scored high in this category. We found the Austrians friendly, but very direct and serious when we asked them something obvious. The Hungarians, however, are even worse. They were not very hospitable and often when we asked them something in English, they would answer in Hungarian. To our surprise, the Slovaks were friendlier than the Hungarians and, although many of them didn't speak English, they tried to help us with mimes, smiles, apologies and even taking us to the right places. They were so sweet!
Coin
The currency in Austria and Slovakia is the EURO, so it was easy for us, since we already use euros here in Ireland. However, in Hungary, they use FORINTS (1 euro = 330 forints) and we exchanged them at the train station, as soon as we arrived in Budapest. We ended up having a pleasant surprise with the exchange rate at the station, which was 1 euro – 300 forints. In many places in the city and even at this same train station, we found 1 euro – 270 forints, so be careful not to buy at the first place you find.
Climate
The weather was deliciously cold most of the trip. I say deliciously now because I find the cold pleasant when I think about it, but when we were outside the attractions, stopped because of a line or to take a photo, I suffered a lot, but Celo not so much. We even got -11th in Bratislava, which was absurdly punk for us, but after a few days with subzero temperatures and more layers of clothing each day that passed, I can say that we managed it in the end. . We got snow in Budapest, in Bratislava and in the last few days in Austria and even though we have seen snow several times, we still get silly when we see the flakes falling or when the city is all white. Snow will always be magical for us!
Update: Nowadays, after some experience with the cold, I would say that the best strategy is to have a very good coat, protect your head and hands, wear socks and shoes suitable for the cold and thermal shirts/pants so that you don't need so many layers of clothing.
Transport
We didn't rent a car in these countries because we're afraid of driving in the snowy winter, since it requires special care with chains, tires, etc. We chose to do everything by train and we didn't regret it. The trains in these countries are great, especially in Austria, which is by far the country with the best infrastructure of the 3. The main train station in Budapest (Keleti) is a bit scary, because it's a bit dirty and old, but the worst thing of all is not the look of it: we had to get a number in a line to be able to buy the ticket from Budapest to Bratislava and we only managed to buy it after two hours. Crazy! I don't know if it was a one-off thing or if it's always like this, but we were used to buying our tickets from machines in the stations and we had this terrible surprise there. I read about it in several places in the Internet that it was better to buy it there and then, as some websites They charge extra fees, but I really regretted not having bought them from the comfort of my home. Bratislava's main station is very simple, but it wasn't as scary as Budapest's. The trains we took were very comfortable and punctual, but since they were always full, there was always a rush to get the best seats, especially on the trains that had closed cabins with 6 chairs, a table, a specific temperature, etc. Anyway, it wasn't the end of the world... we were able to sit together, drink our wine, eat snacks and read our guides and books, since we weren't yet addicted to them. smartphones…lol.
Hosting
Fortunately, our experiences with the hotels we chose were great in every way. We usually stay in more affordable hotels or even in hostels, but when we were putting together this itinerary, we thought that since it was Christmas and New Year's Eve, we deserved more comfort, so we compromised a little. Nothing five stars, of course, but they were better than our usual. 🙂
See below the list of hotels and transport we used from one city to another, with their respective details:
- Hotels in Salzburg (Austria) – Blogger Hof and Best Western Plus Amedia Art
- Hotel in Hallstat (Austria) – Gasthof Pension Gruner Anger
- Hotel in Melk (Austria) – Madar Café Restaurant zum Fürsten
- Hotel in Vienna (Austria) – Star Inn Hotel Wien Schonbrunn
- Hotel in Budapest (Hungary) – Eurostars Budapest Center
- Hotels in Brastislavia (Slovakia) – Michalská Brana and Art William Hotel
Detailed Itineraries
If you want to know more about this trip, see below posts of the cities we visited:
