In October we took a quick weekend trip to Vienna and Budapest. Germany has a National Holiday on October 3rd so it made for a long weekend for us to head east and travel more of Europe.
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Weekend Trip to Vienna and Budapest
I was more excited about this trip than all of our other trips since being here because it was our first trip taking the train. It felt so European and that’s what excited me.
We caught a train on Wednesday afternoon from Regensburg to Vienna. The trip is normally about three hours, however, we encountered a bit of a hiccup when we got on the train. After riding for about an hour we were forced to disembark on the train and catch a different train due to the toilets not functioning.
We spent Wednesday night, all day Thursday, and Friday morning exploring all Vienna had to offer by doing a walking tour from Rick Steves and eating lots of good food recommended by my friend Sara.
After a quick lunch on Friday we got on another train to Budapest and arrived there just in time for a bite to eat and a riverboat ride down the Donau at night.
Saturday was a rainy and cold day, so we took our time in the morning, opting to read and enjoy our coffee in our cute Airbnb before venturing out to see the Budapest highlights.
Sunday morning we finished exploring the beautiful city that is Budapest then headed to the train station for our seven-hour return trip to Regensburg.
As I did with our trip to Denmark, I challenged myself to create a story through pictures of our trip. I’ll do my best to share that here along with a few words or stories along the way!
Vienna Through Pictures
After arriving in Vienna and getting checked into our hostel (yes, hoStel!), we went out to find some food because when the Jacksons vacation, it’s our number one priority!
My friend Sara traveled to Vienna last year and her husband is a chef, so she had quite the list of restaurants to recommend! We started out with 1516 Brewing Company and the food was pretty good, but the beer was even better!
Thursday morning we got a cup of coffee and ventured out to the Naschmarkt- an outdoor market with tons of Turkish vendors and food!
Since traveling in Europe, we have found Rick Steves’ books and walking tours to be the best way to see the city and learn a little about the culture. Now, every time we travel somewhere we immediately look to see if he has a tour.
Luckily for Vienna, he did!
Sometimes, Rick even has extra “little” tours like this church. Instead of paying the entrance fee, we stood on the side and did our best to spot the pieces of architecture he talked about both inside and outside of the church.
While we were there they were putting up Christmas trees (in October!). I can’t wait to see how the city transforms when we go back in December!
After lunch at another restaurant recommended by Sara, Motto am Fluss, we continued touring Vienna- only now we were on the hunt for dessert!
Our walk wrapped up at the Hofburg Palace. We still had plenty of daylight left so we walked through a park to the Rathaus (city hall).
We did find some dessert at Kondetori Sluka where we got some traditional Viennese treats! Cody got the Sachertort with cream and I got Curdled Cheese Tart. In this situation, I picked the best! 😉 But unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it.
After the Rathaus, we went to the Austrian National Library- courtesy of Helene, my favorite travel blogger!
By then it was dark out so we found ourselves the best schnitzel in Vienna. This was THE BEST schnitzel I’ve had (besides our favorite place in Regensburg!)
We ended our evening right where our tour started- at the Opera House for the last few photo ops for me!
I enjoyed playing with my camera and settings trying to create all different pictures.
Friday morning we checked out and headed to Schönbrunn Palace. We arrived at 8:45 to this:
And by 9:30 when our tour was done this place was full of people trying to take their most Insta-worthy pictures.
We finished our time in Vienna with traditional Balkan food at Pita Werk, a last walk to the train station, and promises to each other to make it back before we move home! (Lucky for us we are going back in December!)
Budapest Through Pictures
The minute we rolled into the Budapest Train Station we immediately felt the difference between western and eastern Europe.
But after a few short minutes walking around and checking out the food + coffee…we were in love with Budapest!
We got dinner at Karavan, a food truck yard, in Budapest. I didn’t get any pictures of this because we were in a rush, I was hangry, and we had a boat tour to catch.
Saturday morning was cold and rainy so we took our time getting out of the house and enjoyed a gray and rainy walk towards Central Market Hall.
Central Market Hall is an indoor market with tons of grocery and food vendors. Central Market Hall is huge and had, what felt like, thousands of people walking around- mainly tourists. Because of this, I have no interest in going back.
The whole reason we went here was to try Lagos, a traditional Hungarian “fast food.” It is essentially fried bread with sour cream and cheese all over it. It’s every bit of delicious as it looks and sounds.
After lunch, we did our best to hit all the highlights in Budapest.
When the rain got heavy, we stopped into a cozy coffee shop, Espresso Embassy, for some tea and coffee to warm up.
After a break to warm up and journal about our trip so far, we returned to our tour of Budapest.
Cody wanted local beer from Budapest so after a break at a wine bar, we found a brewery that also served dinner. Neked Brew Pub had good food and even better drinks but probably could have stepped up its game on the atmosphere.
I don’t even know what I got for dinner, but it was good! And came with flowers (as did the brownie).
Sunday morning we took the bus to Heroes’ Square and a park nearby to kill sometime before we headed to the train station for our ride back to Regensburg.
I forgot to pack my swimsuit so we totally missed out on the Thermal Baths in Budapest. I guess this means we’ll be going back. 🙂
Until next time,
