[WillieTan]

Its alittle last minute but my wife and I would like to visit central europe in mid jan 2020 for 2 weeks. Would love to have some inputs.
Tentatively we are looking at Vienna, Prague and if time permits, Budapest too.

1) are chrismas/winter marketplace readily available?
2) daylight will be shorter, will it compromise the operating hours for restaurants and attractions?
3) any nice place or town to check out? Would love if someone could guide us on a possible itinerary

[gerdhold]

1) by mid -Jan most likely no. They usually run till first weekend of January max

2) yes. Check the specific hours beforehand.

3) depends on your style of travel and interests. Cities are ok for walking around (museums, cafes, churches etc). But being mid- Jan and dead of winter, Europe can be a cold, dark and miserable looking place.

[finale1]

Vienna nothing much to see. 2 nights I think enough.

You can try to go Salzburg and make day trip to Hallstatt. Beautiful town by the lake.

Prague 4 nights
Budapest 4 nights

WillieTan wrote:

Its alittle last minute but my wife and I would like to visit central europe in mid jan 2020 for 2 weeks. Would love to have some inputs.
Tentatively we are looking at Vienna, Prague and if time permits, Budapest too.

1) are chrismas/winter marketplace readily available?
2) daylight will be shorter, will it compromise the operating hours for restaurants and attractions?
3) any nice place or town to check out? Would love if someone could guide us on a possible itinerary

[galacticnick]

in prague, the vast majority of sights are concentrated in the old town, which is extremely compact. two full days is more than sufficient. do devote another full day for cesky krumlov, which is three hours by bus from prague. if you have time, you can check out the bone church in kutna hora, one hour by train from prague, though i find it overrated (spent a grand total of ten minutes there).

the sights in budapest are more spread out, requiring more days. three full days at least, but more if you can. it's one of my favourite european cities for history, architecture and gastronomy.

i've never been to vienna. but salzburg is highly recommended as a base for exploring the region, though it is further away from prague and budapest. there are too many day trips you can make to nearby scenic mountains and lakes - hallstatt, berchtesgaden, wolfgangsee, et cetera. one week is not enough (that's how long i spent there this summer), though some attractions may be closed during winter. check out https://www.bigboytravel.com/europe/austria/salzburg/ for more ideas.

[Windowlover]

Flooding already clear seem last month reported quite serious issue.

[bradforlif]

Be prepared for very extreme weather in central europe during winter.