Journey
Scandinavia to Central Europe
Copenhagen to Budapest, all by rail
21 days · 7 stops · 5 countries · 1,293 km in a straight line
A north-south line down the middle of the continent, from a harbour you can swim in to a capital built on hot springs. It crosses the old inner-German border, the old iron curtain, and three empires' worth of architecture, without ever needing a flight or a car. The stretch from Berlin to Budapest is the densest run of great cities in Europe.
The route, in order
Every hop is a straight-line distance between two coordinates. This atlas holds no road and no rail geometry, so that number is a floor on the leg and never the leg — Chamonix to Zermatt is 69 km here and about 170 on the ground, round a mountain range. It is here for the scale of the thing, not for planning a day.
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1 Days 1–3 3 nights
Copenhagen Denmark
Design, harbour swimming and smørrebrød. The northern end of the line.
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2 Days 4–5 2 nights
↳ 289 km from Copenhagen in a straight line
Hamburg Germany
Across the bridges into Germany's port city, and the Elbphilharmonie's free plaza.
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3 Days 6–9 4 nights
↳ 255 km from Hamburg in a straight line
Berlin Germany
Three hours south. The twentieth century, in the city that carried most of it.
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4 Days 10–11 2 nights
↳ 165 km from Berlin in a straight line
Dresden Germany
Baroque rebuilt from rubble, on a river bend, with sandstone towers upstream.
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5 Days 12–14 3 nights
↳ 117 km from Dresden in a straight line
Prague Czechia
Over the mountains into Bohemia: gothic, baroque, cubist, and the beer that explains the rest.
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6 Days 15–17 3 nights
↳ 253 km from Prague in a straight line
Vienna Austria
South to the imperial capital. Standing tickets at the opera, coffee house afternoons.
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7 Days 18–20 3 nights
↳ 214 km from Vienna in a straight line
Budapest Hungary
The last leg down the Danube, ending in a thermal bath in the snow if you time it right.
The record
- Length
- 21 days
- From / to
- Copenhagen → Budapest
- Countries
- Denmark → Germany → Czechia → Austria → Hungary
- Straight-line distance
- 1,293 km, stop to stop
- Difficulty
- easy
- Transport
- rail
- Accommodation
- hotel
- Budget shape
- moderate
- Curated by
- EuropeDoor editorial
- Estimated cost
- about €2,720 per person
- Months that work
- May, June, September, October
Experiences along the way
Swim in the harbour
Free, supervised in summer, and the result of thirty years of cleaning up a working port.
Smørrebrød in the correct order
Herring first, then fish, then meat, then cheese, with aquavit between — a lunch that takes three hours and is meant to.
The 62 ferry, not the tour boat
A public transport ferry down the Elbe past the container terminals; same view, a fraction of the price.
The Wall, where it stood
Bernauer Straße preserves the death strip, the tunnels and the names — an hour that does what no film manages.
Cycle the runways at Tempelhof
Two 2,000-metre runways, open to anyone, kept deliberately empty by referendum.
A pub with a tapster, not a menu
The good places pour continuously and mark your tab in pencil; you say when to stop, and the pour type is a real choice.
Vyšehrad and the river bend
The city's first castle, a cemetery of composers, and the whole of Prague from the ramparts without a crowd.
Standing room at the Staatsoper
A few euros, queued for on the night, in one of the great opera houses. Bring a scarf to tie to the rail and hold your place.
A heuriger on the city edge
Wine taverns in Vienna's own vineyards, open only when the grower has wine to sell — a pine branch over the door means open.
An outdoor thermal bath in winter
38°C water, snow on the stone, and old men playing chess on floating boards. Go early; go on a weekday.
What you will be eating
- Denmark — Smørrebrød: open sandwiches taken seriously, with rules about order
- Germany — Bread: 3,000 registered varieties, and the bakery is the first thing to find
- Czechia — Roast pork, dumplings and cabbage — vepřo knedlo zelo, the national plate
- Austria — Wiener Schnitzel, veal and beaten thin, with potato salad
- Hungary — Paprika, in everything, and not interchangeable with chilli
What to pack
- An umbrella you do not mind losing
- Comfortable shoes; these are walking cities
- One smart layer for an opera house or a concert hall
What this estimate covers
About €2,720 per person: 20 nights at the moderate daily band for each country on the route, plus a distance-based transport figure between stops, plus 12%. It excludes getting to the start and home from the end, and it is planning arithmetic from published bands rather than a quote. How these numbers are made →