Comments > 3 Weeks to Eastern Europe

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are truly excited for our upcoming trip to Central/Eastern EU.
We have came up with a draft itinerary, but felt that it's a little rush considering we only spend an average of 2 nights per city.

Period: Mid May to early June
No. of days: 22
Transport: Train (sleeper and normal)
Interest: Architectural buildings and scenic views

Hope you guys give us some comments/suggestions on which city to priorities and which to give it a miss.

(Arrival: Krakow)
- Krakow, Poland (3 nights)
- Budapest, Hungary (2 nights)
- Bratislava, Slovakia (1 night)
- Vienna, Austria (3 nights)
- Salzburg, Austria (1 nights)
- Hallstatt, Austria (1 night)
- Ljubljana, Slovenia (3 nights)
- Zagreb, Croatia (2 nights)
- Zadar, Croatia (2 nights)
- Split, Croatia (2 nights)
- Dubrovnik, Croatia (2 nights)
(Depart: Dubrovnik)

*Not going prague as I heard it's too commercialize with lots of tourist?
**Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (not sure whether should we visit)

Thank you in advance.
Cheers.

Its a nice and quite typical route,but your timeframe is too tight for me...too much distance in 3 weeks,too much time in transit,not enough time in each place.

You have 11 sleeping stops.I'd have no more than 7 maximum...better 5 or 6...in that amount of time.

What to drop?It is a long distance.I'd personally cut it down.Don't forget you will also need time to get between places,not just time in them.

You could drop the Croatia part completely.You could drop the Austria and Slovenia part.Or you could drop the first part.

Your interests listed are too general to give more personal advice than that.Based on MY interests,I'd probably drop the middle part.Something like Krakow-Budapest-Zagreb-(Plitvice)-Zadar-Split-Dubrovnik is a good mix of cities,smaller towns,the sea,the mountains nearby.You could do a couple of day trips from some of them if you have time.

Its doable in 22 days,gives you enough time to get to know the places a little and not spend more than half of your trip sitting on buses and trains.

Yep far too rushed you won't see anything. Prague is no more touristy than most of the places you are going too. Not that you have time to go there. I would look at dropping 3 to 4 places anywhere that you have given 1 night to is not worth visiting.

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Thanks lucapal.
Our initial plan is to cover Austria, Poland, Croatia and Hungary. But after researching online, we found more places/cities worth visiting.

Do you think it's worth spending some days in Austria (i.e. vienna, hallstat) and drop split and dubrovnik?

If those appeal to you more,why not?

Personally if you are going to drop those two,then I'd also drop Zadar and Zagreb.

If you want to go to the sea you could go in southern Slovenia or far north west of Croatia.

That would save you a lot of travel time and distance.

I agree that you should drop any place where you plan to spend only one night. That means travelling in, sleeping, and then travelling out again the next day. And two nights in a city means you will have only one full day there.

All of the places on you list deserve more than one afternoon. I think you should plan an itinerary with three or four nights in each destination (so two or three full days in each). By cutting back on the number of destinations you will also save travel costs.

You've dedicated 8 nights to Croatia so clearly it's a front-runner. If it were me I'd leave out Austria, especially the dogleg to Salzburg and Hallstatt. That would give you an extra 5 nights to distribute amongst the other locations.

Many thanks everyone for the feedback.

Probably we will stay in Vienna longer (maybe 5 days) and as a base to do a day trip to Salzburg or Bratislava. <Hopefully it helps.
And the reason I'm interested in Hallstatt is because of the 'postcard' scenic view (that's what my friend told me).
I will surely rework the itinerary (3-4 nights per city).

It's doable, but I think you should definitely drop a section. Rather than going through Salzburg, Vienna, and Hallstatt, you should consider basing yourself in one place for a longer time and doing a few long day-trips. It's far more relaxing to return to the same hotel in the evening instead of packing up all your stuff and moving on to a new town.

I have never been to Hallstatt but Vienna would be my choice to skip. I lived in Prague when I visited it so I had pretty high standards, but it seemed to be just like many central European cities but more expensive. Ljubljana is a good place to be a base for day trips. You can take trips to the sea and to the mountains in a day, comfortably.

Vienna would be my choice to skip

In what ways did Vienna disappoint you, @maenad? Yes, it's more expensive than Prague but it is also much bigger with vastly more to offer. You should be able to fill a week in Vienna quite easily and still wish you had more time there.

@HanWeiAw -- there are postcard views in most of the places on your list, the only difference is that Hallstatt has mountains. Perhaps save the mountain views for a day trip from Ljubljana.

I suggest that you keep Dubrovnik because it is unlike any of the other places in your itinerary. Assuming you rework the destinations prior to Ljubljana, perhaps trim the remainder of your itinerary to Ljubljana - Split - Dubrovnik. In the sunmer (I'm not sure about May) there is a direct train from Ljubljana to Split, and from Split you will have to take a bus or ferry to Dubrovnik. With a couple of days in Split, you could make a side trip to Trogir or to one of the Croatian islands off the coast. The outer island of Vis is a pretty good destination from Split.

Howdy,
I think with planning your itinerary, it is important to allocate time depending on how fast paced you'd like things to be. I went backpacking and was out of my lodgings from about 9/10am each day to about 6-9pm (depending how exhausted we were) and was spending 2-4 days in each city I visited, which for me was adequate.

As for the cities I have visited:
- 2 nights in Budapest is ok if you have the days fully freed up to go and explore Budapest. If you cut things out such as the Thermal Baths and stick solely to Budapest, I think 2 nights is ok. Budapest is spread out, but certain things are grouped together (i.e. Fisherman's Bastion and Buda Castle are near one another).
- Vienna is a wonderful (and expensive) city that is spread out, so 4 nights would be a bit more ideal. In the city centre you'll find lovely attractions such as the Hofburg, the Spanish Riding School, Mozarthaus etc, but even the city is quite expansive. If you're visiting Schonbrunn Palace (highly recommended) that alone could take you a day to see the Palace and its surrounds.
- If you are thinking of visiting Krakow but are limited on time, why not do it as part of a later trip so you can visit Warsaw too? Krakow you'd definitely need 3 nights, but if you really want to experience Poland, I highly recommend visiting Warsaw at some point too.

Happy travelling :)

Vienna would be my choice to skip

In what ways did Vienna disappoint you, @maenad? Yes, it's more expensive than Prague but it is also much bigger with vastly more to offer. You should be able to fill a week in Vienna quite easily and still wish you had more time there.

@HanWeiAw -- there are postcard views in most of the places on your list, the only difference is that Hallstatt has mountains. Perhaps save the mountain views for a day trip from Ljubljana.

I suggest that you keep Dubrovnik because it is unlike any of the other places in your itinerary. Assuming you rework the destinations prior to Ljubljana, perhaps trim the remainder of your itinerary to Ljubljana - Split - Dubrovnik. In the sunmer (I'm not sure about May) there is a direct train from Ljubljana to Split, and from Split you will have to take a bus or ferry to Dubrovnik. With a couple of days in Split, you could make a side trip to Trogir or to one of the Croatian islands off the coast. The outer island of Vis is a pretty good destination from Split.

Thanks @emmeff for the recommendation.
Yes intend to do day trip to hallstatt from Ljubljana.
And probably will be paying a visit to Plitvice Lakes National Park @ Zagreb too (can't bear to miss that). Likely going to skip Zadar instead.

Howdy,
I think with planning your itinerary, it is important to allocate time depending on how fast paced you'd like things to be. I went backpacking and was out of my lodgings from about 9/10am each day to about 6-9pm (depending how exhausted we were) and was spending 2-4 days in each city I visited, which for me was adequate.

As for the cities I have visited:
- 2 nights in Budapest is ok if you have the days fully freed up to go and explore Budapest. If you cut things out such as the Thermal Baths and stick solely to Budapest, I think 2 nights is ok. Budapest is spread out, but certain things are grouped together (i.e. Fisherman's Bastion and Buda Castle are near one another).
- Vienna is a wonderful (and expensive) city that is spread out, so 4 nights would be a bit more ideal. In the city centre you'll find lovely attractions such as the Hofburg, the Spanish Riding School, Mozarthaus etc, but even the city is quite expansive. If you're visiting Schonbrunn Palace (highly recommended) that alone could take you a day to see the Palace and its surrounds.
- If you are thinking of visiting Krakow but are limited on time, why not do it as part of a later trip so you can visit Warsaw too? Krakow you'd definitely need 3 nights, but if you really want to experience Poland, I highly recommend visiting Warsaw at some point too.

Happy travelling :)

Thanks @victoriainwanderland for the comments and recommendation.

We will revise the itinerary and spend maybe 3 nights in Krakow. I'm afraid we have no time to Warsaw :(
For Krakow we are shortlisting the following places: (I know it's way too many, we will reduce the number of places)
-Auschwitz concentration camp
-Krakow Old Town walking trail
-Wawel Castle
-Main Market Square
-St. Mary’s Basilica:
-St. Adalbert’s Church
-St. Francis of Assisi Church and Bishop’s Palace
-Kanonicza Street
-St. Stanislaus Church at Skalka
-Tytano

If you have the time, I’d highly recommend going to see the Wielizcka Salt Mines too, they are incredible! You get to go down into the mines themselves as part of a guided tour.
I personally did Auschwitz and the Salt Mines as part of a one day tour (8am-6pm) with Krakow Shuttle.

If you have the time, I’d highly recommend going to see the Wielizcka Salt Mines too, they are incredible! You get to go down into the mines themselves as part of a guided tour.
I personally did Auschwitz and the Salt Mines as part of a one day tour (8am-6pm) with Krakow Shuttle.

Thank you so much for the recommendation!

For Krakow we are shortlisting the following places: (I know it's way too many, we will reduce the number of places)

It's not too many, you can easily see all in 3 days. The Corpus Christi church is the most spectacular and that's not on your list. The old town and Kazimierz are not huge, you can do both walking tours in a day.

For the stuff you want to see in Krakow, you could actually see it all in just one day - the city is quite compact. Definitely two days is recommended, though, and the trip out of the city is a must.

I didn't like Vienna because it seemed to be too pristine and prettied-up for tourists. The tourist numbers and the high prices were overwhelming when I was there and I felt like I'd come to a theme park. Each to his own, of course.

Remember that if you are planning to take night trains - which are excellent - they are far more likely to be full on Friday and Sunday nights. (That is, if they fit with working hours - people often go to another city for the weekend.) Most of them need to be booked in advance in summer anyhow but you'll have better luck finding a place mid-week if you want to change tickets.

For Krakow we are shortlisting the following places: (I know it's way too many, we will reduce the number of places)

It's not too many, you can easily see all in 3 days. The Corpus Christi church is the most spectacular and that's not on your list. The old town and Kazimierz are not huge, you can do both walking tours in a day.

Thanks @friendly_checkingirl , will include this to the list too :)

For the stuff you want to see in Krakow, you could actually see it all in just one day - the city is quite compact. Definitely two days is recommended, though, and the trip out of the city is a must.

I didn't like Vienna because it seemed to be too pristine and prettied-up for tourists. The tourist numbers and the high prices were overwhelming when I was there and I felt like I'd come to a theme park. Each to his own, of course.

Remember that if you are planning to take night trains - which are excellent - they are far more likely to be full on Friday and Sunday nights. (That is, if they fit with working hours - people often go to another city for the weekend.) Most of them need to be booked in advance in summer anyhow but you'll have better luck finding a place mid-week if you want to change tickets.

Thanks @maenad for the advice on the sleeper train, will take note and likely travel during mid-week.

Regarding Vienna, we are thinking of setting a base for a day trip to Bratislava and Salzburg/hallstatt. I will check out the price for accommodation and if it's too costly, we may change our plan.
We are planning for all these places though: :D. Hopefully 3 days is enough.

-Belvedere Palace
-Schönbrunn Palace
-Vienna Old Town
-Mozarthaus Vienna
-The Glitzy Krapfenwald Pool
-MuseumsQuartier
-UNO-City
-View From the 57 Lounge And Restaurant
-The Sacher Cafe
-Ringstrasse
-Café Central located at Herrengasse 14 in the first district of Vienna
-Spanish Riding School

This will be the final itinerary for my 3 weeks trip to EU:

Day 1 - 4: Krakow (4nights - Sleeper train to Budapest)
Day 5 - 7: Budapest (3 nights)
Day 8 - 10: Vienna (3 nights)
Day 11 - 13: Salzberg (with day trip to hallstatt) (3 nights)
Day 14 - 15: Ljubljana (2 nights)
Day 16: Plitvice Lakes (1 night)
Day 17 - 19: Split (3 nights)
Day 20 - 22: Dubrovnik (3 nights)
Day 23: Depart from Dubrovnik

Ljubljana is a little tight, but unfortunately we are unable to change the date as we have already confirmed the accommodation. :(

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