Enil,

Even if you drop either Rome or Prague, that’s still a lot for one week. My suggestion would be to stick with two or three well-chosen cities that are not far from Budapest. And, if possible, fly back home from one of those cities (not from Budapest). In other words, an open-jaw ticket.

Some city-pairs for you to consider:

Salzburg, Graz, Munich
Salzburg, Vienna, Munich
Ljubljana, Venice, Bologna
Bratislava, Salzburg, Munich
Novi Sad, Belgrade, Zagreb
Bratislava, Cesky Krumlov, Prague
Venice, Munich, Salzburg
Graz, Vienna, Cesky Krumlov
Graz, Venice, Bologna
Bratislava, Krakow

I’m in total agreement with Luv — 3 places is the absolute max for a week and they need to be close together and places you can comfortably see in 2 days. While I wouldn’t be excited about an extra flight in a 2 week trip, it’s really the only way to deal with more than a couple of cities on your wish list. Is there some reason you’re relying entirely on the train??? IMO, Luv’s 3 city combos are all excellent options. Rome is almost an impossibility because it’s so far from Budapest and there’s so much to see there. I think it takes a minimum of 3 days to see even a fraction of Rome, 4 is a lot more comfortable. If you include travel time that’s 4 or 5 days out of your week.

I think an open jaw is the best option (maybe Munich and Budapest??), but if you can’t find one that’s reasonably priced then I’d look at using Vienna as your hub instead of Budapest. Budapest is an easy train ride from Vienna, Bratislava is nearly as close to the Vienna airport as Vienna so it’s doable as a day trip, you could stop in Salzburg all day on your way to from Vienna to Munich and maybe hit another spot in Austria for an all day stop on your way back.

Thank you both, you’ve been very helpful. I have definitely had a change of thought with all this. It being my first time to go to Europe, I was hoping to get a lot of ground covered, but instead of trying to over-do everything, I am going to simplify. I now plan on just doing Budapest and Prague. The reason I want to fly into and out of Budapest is because I am staying (for free…) with a friend who lives there. So I am thinking I will maybe just do a weekend in Prague and then spend the rest of my time in Budapest or traveling around the area, wherever my friend suggest. That leaves things more flexible for any opportunities that might come up, and it also makes it so that I can see as much of Budapest as I like. Your comments have been very helpful, thanks again!

I say two cities max in one week. It take about 3 days to get used to a city and do you want to see a city or just rush through and take photos? Less is more!