Imperial New Year - Vienna and Budapest

Celebrate the arrival of 2025 along the Danube river while visiting three Hapsburg imperial cities, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest.

Breakfast will be waiting for you when you arrive in Budapest on Friday morning, after which you will take a guided tour of the city before checking in to your four star hotel and your free day in Budapest on Saturday.  Sunday morning you will make a change of venue to Vienna, where you can immerse yourself in Austrian art, opera and culture or visit the lively Prater amusement park. On Monday you will have the opportunity to visit Bratislava, before ringing in the New Year in the timeless city center of the capital of the Austrian Empire.  

Spaces on the Imperial Weekend always sell out quickly. Reserve yours today with Kaiserslautern Outdoor Recreation!

Estimated Itinerary

26 December: Kaiserslautern to Budapest

After settling into your seat you will lean back and relax while your comfortable coach whisks you away to Budapest. Don’t forget the essentials for your overnight ride.  Blankets, pillows, power banks, snacks and drinks will all help make your journey to Budapest more enjoyable.

27 December: Budapest

Breakfast will be waiting for you when you arrive at your 4 star hotel, located on Vaci Utca, Budapest’s famous shopping street. Once you have stored your luggage and filled your stomach, you will take a guided tour of the capital of Hungary, once one of the Imperial Hapsburg capitals. From the overlook at Buda Castle you can look down and across the river into Pest’s lively downtown district and St. Istvan’s Cathedral.  Once you are familiarized with the city, your afternoon and evening are free to use any way you wish. 

28 December: Free day in Budapest

Today is your day to spend in Budapest however you wish.  In addition to its churches, castles and shopping, Budapest is a famous spa town and is recognized for its hot springs.  As a former communist capitol city, you can find the graveyard for close to 30 Soviet memorials and monuments at Memory Park.  Your tour manager can assist you with planning your evening activities*.  

29 December: Vienna

This morning you will arrive in Vienna, whos historic residents are remembered by the city’s name, the “City of Music”. Schubert, Straus, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms and many other musicians have made Vienna their home, as did the Hapsburg dynasty and Sigmund Freud. The Austrian Empire’s capital on the Danube has been the home of art, music and culture since the middle ages and continues to be ranked as one of the highest cities in the world for “Quality of Life”. After your tour of the city center, you can enjoy your evening however you wish. Your tour manager will be able to assist you in planning your evening or in purchasing tickets* to cultural or musical events.  

30 December: Free day in Vienna or Optional Excursion to Bratislava*

Vienna is home to many famous attractions, including the Prater Amusement Park, the Vienna Boys Choir, the Hofburg and the Spanish Riding School.  Explore the city on your free day or take the opportunity to visit Bratislava*.   The capitol of Slovakia is small for a European capitol, but its compact city center on the Danube river is an interesting place to visit for a day.  

31 December: New Years Eve - Free Day in Vienna

You can continue to visit Vienna’s cultural and historic locations during your free day today, but whatever you choose to do, don’t tire yourself out too much.  Vienna is an exciting place to be at midnight when the calendar changes to 2025.  You can plan your own celebrations, or coordinate a New Years Eve Dinner* with your tour manager before wandering on the New Years Trail through the city center where you will find numerous areas providing entertainment with show programs, waltzes, rock, pop, disco, blues, funk, soul, and DJ lines until the count down to midnight .

1 January: Schoenbrunnen Palace and return to Kaiserslautern

After breakfast, you will board your coach for the return to Kaiserslautern, but you have one more photo stop to make before you hit the road; Schoenbrunnen Palace.  Whether you admire the architecture from inside** or outside the palace and gardens are a beautiful end to your time in Vienna.  You will arrive in Kaiserslautern late this evening.

Price:

• Double Occupancy: $999 per person
• Single Occupancy: $1379
   
• Up to 2 Children under 12 with 2 paid adults in triple or two double rooms: $829 per child
• Infants under 4 sharing existing bedding with adult: $299
   
• Due to the use of multiple hotels over the course of the trip, each with their own room inventories and configurations, it is not possible to guarantee specific room types larger than double rooms to any individual traveler/group of travelers, or to guarantee whether groups including children will be assigned to connected rooms, family rooms, or neighboring rooms.  
• Room assignments for families will be determined individually by the hotels based on their specific capacity and available room types.  
• Neither Kaiserslautern Outdoor Recreation, nor the trip vendor guarantees that the room configuration requested by the customer will match the room configuration assigned by the hotel. 

Trip Includes:

• Round trip bus transportation
• 2 nights lodging at Mercure Budapest City Center**** or equivalent
• 3 nights lodging at Hotel Allegro Wien**** or equivalent
• Daily breakfast including on day of arrival
• Guided tour of Budapest
• Guided tour of Vienna
   
• Admission to Schoenbrunnen Palace not included

Optional Excursions (Paid cash directly to tour manager):

• River Cruise, Dinner and Music in Budapest: EUR 79 
• Guided Visit to Bratislava: EUR 49
• New Years Eve Dinner in Vienna: EUR 79 

What to Bring:

• Comfortable, weather appropriate shoes and clothing
• Credit/Debit Card or Euro and Hungarian Forents
• Powerbanks (ODR cannot guarantee availability of charging options on 3rd party contracted busses)
• Military ID and Passport

Departure: 6 p.m. from Kaiserslautern Outdoor Recreation, Pulaski Barracks, bldg. 2905

Return: Monday Night