Blue Danube - Budapest

GailNY

Hi everyone. Help!! Tauck itinerary not particularly helpful with details. Trying to decide whether we need to arrange for a private tour of areas that Tauck is not taking us to. For example. Doheny Synagogue on our own, and do Parliament and St. Stephen's with Tauck? What should we do on our own vs. what Tauck is taking us to see? Holocaust Museum vs. Terror Museum or both? Margaret Island worth the time? How to fit everything in. We are arriving the day before the tour begins so we will have time to tour beforehand. We will be there the beginning of August. And restaurants when on our own. Anyone have any favorites?? Thank-you

CalKat

I suggest you call Tauck and ask for particulars because they are always changing/updating itineraries. Also, do read through the posts on this forum for comments and ideas from other travelers about what to do in your free time. When we went on this tour in October 2016, the walking tour options covered the outside of buildings, but not inside. So if you want to go inside Parliament, synagogue or any museums, you should do those on your own. We arrived only 1 day early and did a tuk tuk tour, which was lots of fun. We had the driver include Shoes on the Danube, which we knew wasn't covered by Tauck. As far as restaurants go, we enjoyed ÉS Bisztro on our arrival evening, which is right there at the Kempinski Hotel. On the other free evening, we went to Zeller Bistro, which is in the Jewish Quarter (Izabella utca 36-38 | 1077, Budapest 1077, Hungary Phone Number: 30 651 0880). It was fabulous, but you must make a reservation because it is tiny. I did the reservation via email before we departed the US.

AlanS

You still haven't nailed down Budapest from your 12 Feb post?? : )

Since you don't have your green book and are still a tad over 4 months out and not close enough (60 days) to departure to have received the Options Selection Email, it may be hard to decide. Even after you receive those the problem is that there are differences in content and level of detail between the online itinerary, green book itinerary, and the Options Selection info. So, if you are contemplating hiring a guide early (now), in addition to doing as much research on the forum and online as you can, I suggest making a succinct list of questions then follow Kalkat's advice and give Tauck a call.

We depart on the Eastbound cruise in a couple of weeks. I know there are minor differences between our itinerary and the Westbound itinerary, but I was going to copy and paste the local tour Options info here, but unfortunately, it is no longer available at the link we were provided. Suffice it to say there is not enough time to see and do everything you want. Also note the distinction between Tauck terminology- "introduction to, city tour, etc." means a drive-by by bus, "walking tour of" (a particular area) means a guided walking tour where you may, but do not typically enter any buildings", a "guided visit" means you have a guide and enter the building/site.

Here is a link to another thread about Budapest- https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=42041#post42041 See my suggestions in post #5. Trying to decide between (near) equals is personal, and everyone has their opinions. For that reason I don't like "choices." I want to see everything : )

Rick-stir

We are arriving a day before the official start of the Tauck Tour - Blue Danube. We hired a guide for a 4 hour tour of the Jewish quarter, which will include the synagogue. The company is Milk and Honey Tours, which is headquartered in Berlin. I was referred to them by people whose opinions I trust.

AlanS

RichardMorse wrote:

We are arriving a day before the official start of the Tauck Tour - Blue Danube. We hired a guide for a 4 hour tour of the Jewish quarter, which will include the synagogue. The company is Milk and Honey Tours, which is headquartered in Berlin. I was referred to them by people whose opinions I trust.

We are doing the same in Prague on the Eastbound Blue Danube. We booked a tour of the Prague Jewish quarter/museum with PragueWalker for the day we arrive and also booked them for an all day excursion to Cesky Krumlov the next day (before the welcome dinner.) They were recommended here and by Rick Steves. That will allow us to do the other Prague tour option with Tauck on Day 2 and do the Salzburg option instead of Cesky Krumlov on Day 5. We fly out Tuesday!

dolciani

Alan S - I look forward to trip reports as you embark on your Danube tour. We are also planning a Prague Walker day trip to Cesky Krumlov and I’ll be interested to see your opinion of that tour. Also waiting to hear about any Vienna stallion sightings. Bob Voyage.