Hydrofoil on the Danube from Budapest to Vienna

Boats on the Danube

It used to take three days by "fast coach" to get from Budapest to Vienna, the two capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Now it's just three hours by train or two by car. But we chose a hydrofoil that skipped past forests and castles and through two locks and deposited us in Vienna in six hours.

We met five rather large, rather loud but plainly happy middle-aged women from Minnesota traveling together on the boat. Among them they had a half-dozen bags of snacks and books and music and they turned the boat ride into a party.