Arrive in Prague and transfer from Václav Havel Airport to your hotel. Gothic towers, Baroque domes and red roofs gather around the Vltava, giving the Czech capital an appropriately atmospheric beginning. This is the Bohemia from which Bedřich Smetana drew much of his creative identity, at a time when music became one way of expressing what it meant to be Czech.

Follow the streets towards Old Town Square and Charles Bridge, or cross into Malá Strana beneath Prague Castle. The first impressions come easily here: a tower appearing between rooftops, a courtyard behind an archway, the Vltava glimpsed at the end of a lane. Smetana can wait for tomorrow. Prague deserves the first evening to itself.

Prague opens out today, from Wenceslas Square to the heights of Prague Castle. Walk through the castle grounds, with St. Vitus Cathedral and the Old Royal Palace forming part of the great complex above the city, before returning to the water for a cruise along the Vltava River. The river carries you beneath the familiar span of Charles Bridge and towards Prague’s clustered skyline before the journey comes ashore around Old Town Square, close to the Astronomical Clock and Týn Church. Smetana knew this river well enough to make it the most famous passage of Má vlast, following its course through Bohemia and into Prague.

Stay around the Old Town once the formal sightseeing is over, or wander back towards the Vltava as the light begins to change. By then, Smetana’s subject needs very little introduction. The river is simply there, moving through the city exactly as it has for centuries.

Travel beyond Prague for a full day in Český Krumlov, where the Vltava curls tightly around a remarkably preserved South Bohemian town. Castle walls rise above red-tiled roofs, narrow streets follow the river bend, and the countryside feels much closer than it did in the capital. Smetana had no need to make every corner of Bohemia literal in his music. The landscape, folklore and national consciousness were material enough.

Return to Prague for one last evening among the streets that opened this journey. Josefov, the Old Town and the neighbourhood around Národní all offer different ways to linger without collecting another monument. By morning, Smetana stays behind in Bohemia. The train heads for Mozart.

Leave Prague by train and continue to Vienna, where the character of the journey shifts almost immediately. Medieval irregularity gives way to broad boulevards, formal façades and the architectural confidence of the Habsburg capital. Vienna became Mozart’s great creative home, a city of theatres, salons and courtly patronage where his music found both freedom and an audience.

Begin around Stephansplatz and allow the Innere Stadt to unfold from there. Vienna’s coffeehouses offer a different sort of institution, built around the perfectly reasonable assumption that one cup of coffee can justify occupying a table for quite some time. For a musician accustomed to performing before demanding audiences, Mozart might have appreciated the pause.

Begin with a wider look at Vienna, moving through the boulevards, grand façades and civic landmarks that grew around the Habsburg capital. Then continue to Schönbrunn Palace, where ceremonial rooms and formal gardens carry the story into the world of the imperial court. Mozart knew that world early. In 1762, at just six years old, he performed before Empress Maria Theresa at Schönbrunn.

Later, Vienna can loosen its collar. Walk through the old centre, settle into a coffeehouse, or choose a concert if something catches your interest. Mozart had already found his audience here; for the evening, the city can find yours.

Travel by train from Vienna to Budapest, carrying some of the old Habsburg world across the border while entering a culture determinedly its own. Hungarian appears on signs, Buda rises in hills beyond the Danube, and Pest spreads out in boulevards and monumental façades on the opposite bank. Franz Liszt was born in the Kingdom of Hungary and spent much of his life elsewhere in Europe, yet Hungary remained central to his identity.

Walk down towards the Danube for the first view across the two halves of the capital. Budapest has little interest in understatement after sunset. Bridges begin to glow, Buda Castle rises above the water and Parliament commands the Pest bank with a degree of confidence Liszt, one of Europe’s great showmen, might have understood perfectly.

Explore Budapest across Buda and Pest before taking to the Danube River for a cruise through the heart of the capital. The city was only formally united in 1873, and the river still makes that duality visible: Buda rises in hills and castle walls, while Pest stretches outward in boulevards, domes and grand civic architecture. Liszt’s connection with Hungary ran just as deeply; in later life, he helped establish the music academy in Budapest that would eventually bear his name.

The Danube gives Budapest its most dramatic perspective. Parliament commands the Pest bank, the Buda hills climb opposite, and the bridges draw the two sides together one after another. By the time the lights begin reflecting on the water, Liszt’s Budapest has found its own tempo, confident, theatrical and unmistakably Hungarian.

Budapest slows beautifully at the Széchenyi Thermal Bath, where warm mineral water fills pools framed by a grand early-twentieth-century complex beside City Park. Steam drifts above the outdoor baths, conversations stretch longer than expected, and the city’s long bathing tradition feels less like heritage than something Budapest simply continues to enjoy.

Step back into City Park afterwards, or follow Andrássy Avenue towards the centre as the afternoon gathers pace again. Liszt has carried us through the more dramatic passages of Budapest; this one asks for less. Warm water, an unhurried walk, and a final evening in the Hungarian capital are enough.