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Destination: Prague and Budapest

Despite our most lyrical fantasies, traveling through Europe has an inescapable element of the predictable. Streams of familiar landmarks and famed artworks are broken by the seemingly endless searches for comfortable hotels, public restrooms, and espressos that cost less than $7. Over a century's worth of tourism industry experience lies behind the glossy brochures and prepackaged souvenirs, and the beaten paths are now beyond well-worn. As the legs tire and the senses numb, the cities themselves begin to take on the look and feel of museums -- handsome and well-organized monuments to events that happened long ago.

Then there are Prague and Budapest.

Travelers to these lively, enchanting capitals will be forgiven for wanting to throttle their brothers' friends for steering them toward Vienna or Brussels. Unlike much of Western Europe, Prague and Budapest can easily satiate the castle-and-church set while at the same time inviting adventurous spirits into a whimsical caf?-and-club party that seems to have been raging since 1878. All this, of course, at prices that still make Germans blush.

Prague and Budapest's intoxicating mixes of beautiful settings, dynamic times, and -- not least -- cheap and tasty local drink, have convinced thousands of visitors since 1989 to stay just one more week, which became one more month, which turned into years. Prague's over-documented expatriates tend toward goatees and tattoos, bookstores and rock bands, while Budapest's lower-profile expats are more likely to work for an ad agency and belong to a wine society. Both communities have produced useful little touches of home, such as vegetarian restaurants and decent newspapers. The two cities are competing, as they have for a thousand years, for the mantle of Capital of Central Europe, and the cosmopolitanism that goes with it. Since both capitals also compete directly for tourist dollars, locals have become accustomed to (and a bit cynical of) loud foreigners asking for directions or occupying the next barstool. Luckily for hospitality's sake, Czechs and Hungarians love to hunker down over beer and brandy shots with strangers, so if you go out for a polite night on the town you can easily wind up, 36 hours later, with a dozen new friends, a smoking habit, and skeleton keys to a downtown apartment.

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Excerpted from Prague and Budapest: Completely Updated, Where to Stay, Eat, and Explore, Smart Travel Tips from A to Z by Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc. Staff
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