Budapest, Vienna and Prague - best things to see and do?

[Buteo]

We're spending 3 nights in each - what did you find the best things to see and do? It will be me and DH, plus the DCs who are 20 and 13 - they are quite used to walking and doing museums / castles / cathedrals etc but we'd like to throw in some fun stuff for them too.

Oh - and food? DS1 eats like a horse (and I'm talking Shire rather than Shetland) so any cheap recommendations would be great!

Vienna
Schonbrun palace. Take the tram and explore the castle and gardens.

Wiener Riesenrad - huge old fashioned iconic Ferris wheel at Prater Park. Lots of other more modern rides there too.
Just walk the streets in the centre- it is an absolutely beautiful city. When you are tired take the ring tram around the edge or stroll to Hotel Sacher for the original Sachertorte.

I loved Vienna- will definitely be going back.

Vienna:
Agree with PP about Schoenbrunn Palace. If the Dc don't want to tour the palace, there's a large hedge maze, tropical greenhouses and a large zoo (with giant pandas) in the grounds.
I definitely recommend a trip to the Prater theme park for the whole family. There's a good chocolate museum in Prater too.
Museum of Illusions is fun.

Prague:
Vytopna Restaurant is a must, even if you don't have kids. An extensive model railway weaves its way around the tables, through tunnels and over bridges etc... your drinks get delivered in the carriages! The food is delicious and it's reasonably priced.
On a similar theme, Kingdom of Railways is good fun for any age.
Take the funicular up Petrin Hill, go up the lookout tower and have a go in the mirror maze.
Try a trdelník (around £2), a chimney-shaped cake, made on a spit and coated in nuts, sugar and cinnamon. You can find them at stalls across the city.
Black Light Theatre is a mix of ballet, animated film, illusions, puppets and mime artists. The shows are highly visual and I definitely recommend seeing one.
At the gates of Prague Castle you can watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony, which takes place every day at noon. It includes a fanfare and banner exchange.

Budapest:
Definitely go to Fisherman's Bastion.
The Labyrinth caves under Buda Castle are fun to explore.

Have an evening drink in one of the Ruin Bars.
Your DC might enjoy spending one of the days at Aquaworld which is one of the largest indoor water parks in the world. It's really easy to get to. A free shuttle bus runs on a daily basis between the complex and the city centre (Heroes’ Square).

Budapest - Museum of Terror

Sounds awful but it was amazingly well presented and fascinating. Worth getting the audio-guide.

Blatant place marking. I’ve never been but these cities are on my list.

Hope you have a lovely trip Buteo

Budapest- a second vote for the museum of terror, also the communist statue park (outside town but we made it easily using Google Maps public transport). My top vote though would be best be of the spas, my favourite was Gellert, but Palatinus was also fun and near the musical fountains on Maria (?) island

Fabulous - thank you everyone! Will definitely try out lots of these ideas and report back.

Just back from Prague! We enjoyed the Wax Museum (the Grévin wax museum rather than Madam Tussauds) - you can put on hats and wigs and have your picture with the figures. Great fun even if you don’t know all the names. It was interesting to visit the Jewish Quarter too. Food wise, we enjoyed Ů Pinkasů, Ů Medviku and Ů tři zlatých Lvu. Good solid Czech food and beer, and they speak English. Beer ice cream at Ů Medviku was fab! Also try a very friendly central bar/restaurant called the Fat Cat, really nice servers.

Oh - for cheap eats there is lots of street food in Prague: we liked the stalls on Náměstí Republiky. And there’s a Billa supermarket right behind, as well as the huge Palladium shopping centre nearby.

Vienna - take the 38 tram from Schottentor to Grinzing (end stop) and have a meal in a Heurige. To feed DS1 take him to Salm Brau and order one of these. Vienna=my favourite city.

Prague - stick to the old part of the city over the river. Petrin Hill is lovely, and the castle/cathedral is just gorgeous, as are the cobbled streets leading up to it. There are lots of lovely little cafes dotted around too. The main/newer part of the city is just brash and vulgar.... we went for the christmas markets and didn't like it at all. We found a little gem of a cafe called Cafe Alfredo in a quiet backstreet that is worth looking for.

The Sisi Museum at the Hofburg in Vienna is gloriously bonkers. And the Schönbrunn is fantastic as others have said.

I really enjoyed Buda castle in Budapest - made up of quite a few parts. And Margitszigert was lovely for a wander and for the baths. Agree on the park of Soviet monuments - really amazing.

Budapest, go to the Statue Park outside the city, really fascinating, and we also visited the House Of Terror (I think it was recently opened when we went. It's harrowing, but worth a visit and a great education. Also, there is a hot spring bath in the city - take your own towels.

Vienna, check out the Vienna Pass website. The Natural History museum is good, as is the palace mentioned above, and the parks. The cathedral is pretty spectacular also. Oh, and the music museum.... You know what, 3 days won't cut it. You'll go back!!!

Right, as promised here’s my report back. We’ve been slightly limited by one of the DC getting sore toes but still covered plenty of ground.

Budapest - found it a bit run down if I’m honest. Enjoyed wandering round the Fishermens Bastion and castle area, and an afternoon on Margaret Island and the Palatinus baths was good - the boys enjoyed the water slides and wave pool in particular (as did their Mum). The House of Terror was ... um ... interesting - got the general gist of it but as they’d run out of audio guides it was hard to get all the symbolism. DH liked the tank . Didn’t get out to the statue park due to lack of time (ditto we didn’t get out to the Hungaroring either).

Vienna - fabulous. Loved just walking through the city, the parks, the Natural History Museum, Hofburg palace, the Third Man Ferris wheel at Prater Park. Had Sacher torte at the Cafe Sacher (not as gooey as I would have liked). Schönbrunn palace gardens were fab too, nice cafe in the Glorietta. The Museum District great for a stroll and we sneaked off to a good pub called the Brickmakers. Will definitely come back.

Prague - learned not to take a taxi from the train station to the hotel! The castle area is spectacular, caught the tail end of the changing of the guard. Astronomical clock was being renovated so missed seeing that in its full glory. A trip to the top of the Dancing House was good - amazing view from the cafe at the top (we quietly ignored the ‘every person must buy a drink to use the terrace’ rule).

We took trains between each city - cheap and easy, DH very happy with the “happy hour” prices on board too. Did wonder at the time if we should have taken the boat from Budapest to Vienna but later found out it’s a hydrofoil that pretty much shakes the fillings from your teeth, so maybe just as well we didn’t.

Was pleasantly surprised at the prices in Vienna - was expecting it to be expensive but it was UK prices or cheaper despite the crap exchange rates. The Vienna U(nderground) was excellent - cheap and easy to use. Kids go free in the school holidays too.

Can you tell Vienna was my favourite?