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Central/Eastern European vacation

post #1 of 23
2/21/10 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 
Managed to convince a buddy of mine that we should plan a Central/Eastern European vacation (to his credit, very little convincing was necessary). Would just be the two of us, both 30 years old, probably for about two weeks sometime around a year from now.

My initial thought was Prague/Vienna/Budapest (maybe with a day in Bratislava on the way to Vienna), though I'm very much open to other options as well - maybe areas that would be a bit less touristy.

I'd like to see a variety of cities, but don't want to cram too much in and feel rushed.

Also interested in thoughts on the best time of year to take such a trip.
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post #2 of 23
2/21/10 at 7:10pm
Prague, Vienna and Budapest are definitely your best bets. Especially Prague is awesome. Also consider Istanbul, Warsaw, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Croatian riviera might be also good during the summer. You should avoid Russia in the winter by all costs unless you want to freeze to death.
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post #3 of 23
2/21/10 at 7:42pm
Spring arrives early in Europe, if you don't like it too hot end of May is good. You may want to consider cheap flights out of London with Easyjet or Ryaniar. Blatic states are pretty too - Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius. If you go there in June you will see "white nights" it is daylight until midnight or even 1-2am.
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post #4 of 23
2/21/10 at 8:16pm
Three cities in 2 weeks is my limit. Any less time and I'm running too much. My wife and I did the same trip you're planning, in the same amount of time and it was great. Of the three, Prague was our favorite, but Budapest is also fantastic. Vienna felt far more cosmopolitain (not that the others are villages or anything) so, while we enjoyed it, the other cities were more fun.

Our trip was end of March/ early April and it was great sweater weather.

BTW, you'd need a visa for Russia, and if you spend less than 2 weeks with Moscow and St. Petersburg, you're crazy.
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post #5 of 23
2/21/10 at 8:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by makker View Post
The Croatian riviera might be also good during the summer. You should avoid Russia in the winter by all costs unless you want to freeze to death.
I went to the Croatian Riviera in August 1999 and was blown away by how gorgeous it was and how great the people were (it was also about 15º warmer than I imagined it would be). Dubrovnik was definitely the highlight. There were a few tourists there but not nearly as many as somewhere like Florence or Rome or even Salzberg or Prague. It is supposedly the oldest/largest completely walled city left in the world and you can walk all the way around the old city on the walls and get a bird's eye view of everything. There are also many many little islands all up and down the Dalmatian coast that have great fishing villages and any of these islands make for a great day-trip. Further north, I visited the towns of Rijeka and Split. Both were much more cosmopolitan than Dubrovnik and much more western than I expected, but it was a very pleasant surprise. During subsequent trips to Europe, I often heard folks say that the most beautiful girls in the world come from Croatia and the most beautiful girls in Croatia come from Split. I cannot say that I disagree with that... the women were absolutely gorgeous! Just consider that an added bonus to your trip!
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post #6 of 23
2/21/10 at 8:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by makker View Post
Prague, Vienna and Budapest are definitely your best bets. Especially Prague is awesome. Also consider Istanbul, Warsaw, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The Croatian riviera might be also good during the summer. You should avoid Russia in the winter by all costs unless you want to freeze to death.

Had a lot of interest in Dubrovnik as well. The appeal of the first three is that they're so close to each other, and I didn't want to get too ambitious in terms of number of cities.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ADesign View Post
Spring arrives early in Europe, if you don't like it too hot end of May is good.
You may want to consider cheap flights out of London with Easyjet or Ryaniar.
Blatic states are pretty too - Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius. If you go there in June you will see "white nights"
it is daylight until midnight or even 1-2am.

Definitely would prefer it not be too warm; in fact I'm giving some consideration to going over New Years. Good/Bad idea? (I suppose this depends where I end up going).

Quote:
Originally Posted by allreds View Post

BTW, you'd need a visa for Russia, and if you spend less than 2 weeks with Moscow and St. Petersburg, you're crazy.

Good to know you guys enjoyed yourself. Initial research seems to indicate that this is a pretty common itinerary.

Yeah, benefits of Prague/Vienna/Budapest include that visas won't be necessary and that we should be ok speaking English (as I understand it). Would love to visit Moscow/St. Petersburg, but I think that's a separate trip.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michigan Planner View Post

During subsequent trips to Europe, I often heard folks say that the most beautiful girls in the world come from Croatia and the most beautiful girls in Croatia come from Split. I cannot say that I disagree with that... the women were absolutely gorgeous! Just consider that an added bonus to your trip!

You're making it harder and harder to avoid Croatia! Any areas toward the northwest (closer to Budapest) that are worth visiting? Should Zagreb be under consideration?

Overall, is there any other group of 3-4 cities in the area that are in fairly close proximity to each other and can compete with Prague/Vienna/Budapest?
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post #7 of 23
2/21/10 at 9:18pm
I did go to Zagreb, but I was only there for a couple of days (I was in Dubrovnik for a week and Split and Rijeka for about two weeks each). It was a much larger city than I imagined and parts were extremly modern. I don't know much of its history but it seemed as if the population probably exploded in the 1950s or 1960s and the architecture reflected that. There are some nice historical sites in the city and the area, but there is not as much concentration of them as in Dubrovnik or Prgaue or Salzberg. I can understand your trepidition about going to the Dalmation Coast too as I imagine it's difficult to drive to Dubrovnik from northern Croatia since it's pretty well separated - everywhere I went was either by boat or helicoptor, so I didn't have to worry about crossing from Croatia into Bosnia and Herzegovina and back into Dalmatia to get to Dubrovnik. Bratislava is rroughly halfway between Prague and Budapest and is a hidden gem in Eastern Europe. Prague gets all of the tourist attention but Bratislava is just as old, about half the population, and infinitely less expensive to visit which can be an incentive.
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post #8 of 23
2/22/10 at 10:31am
the plan is pretty good - vienna/prague/budapest. I like Brataslava, too. and you really are looking at short train trips between the cities. I would suggest that you go by train between at least one pair of cities. also, adding munich really isn't a stretch.

Lubliana is very nice, as is sofia.
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post #9 of 23
2/22/10 at 12:04pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, Bratislava is right on the way, so no reason not to stop for a day or two.

Quote:
Originally Posted by globetrotter View Post
the plan is pretty good - vienna/prague/budapest. I like Brataslava, too. and you really are looking at short train trips between the cities. I would suggest that you go by train between at least one pair of cities. also, adding munich really isn't a stretch.

Lubliana is very nice, as is sofia.

Thanks globetrotter, was hoping you'd weigh in. I was actually planning on doing all inter-city commuting via train, unless there's some reason not to?
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post #10 of 23
2/22/10 at 1:11pm
I have done this exact trip in globe's order. It was great. However, if I were to do it again, I would reverse the order. Budapest is a great town with plenty of lively nightlife and you're going to want to take full advantage if you're traveling with a male buddy. But at the end of the trip it is a little bit more difficult to get up for, and unlike the other two cities, it has a bit less going for it in terms of big, easy to get into tourism attractions. Vienna is very laid back, with more low-key activities and I think you will find yourself more in search of a mellower experience by the end of your trip.
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post #11 of 23
2/22/10 at 5:08pm
Thread Starter 
^Makes perfect sense, thanks. I'll do that should we choose these three cities.

My buddy is talking about asking his cousin if he wants to come along, which I'm very strongly opposed to. It's nothing against the cousin, who I've known for a long time - he's a great guy and I consider him a friend. My feeling is that having a 3rd person is going to make things complicated in terms of hotel accommodations/decision making/etc. Thoughts? Am I being unreasonable?
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post #12 of 23
2/22/10 at 5:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dcg View Post
^Makes perfect sense, thanks. I'll do that should we choose these three cities.

My buddy is talking about asking his cousin if he wants to come along, which I'm very strongly opposed to. It's nothing against the cousin, who I've known for a long time - he's a great guy and I consider him a friend. My feeling is that having a 3rd person is going to make things complicated in terms of hotel accommodations/decision making/etc. Thoughts? Am I being unreasonable?

yeah, its a lot easier traveling with two that three in terms of a lot of things, sharing rooms, tables, etc.


if you have any specific quesitons that I can help with, let me know - but you have a lot of good advice above.
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post #13 of 23
2/22/10 at 6:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by globetrotter View Post
yeah, its a lot easier traveling with two that three in terms of a lot of things, sharing rooms, tables, etc.


if you have any specific quesitons that I can help with, let me know - but you have a lot of good advice above.

I'm sure I'll have many more questions once I get further along in the planning stages, but if you've got any specific examples of why traveling with two would be a lot easier (either in general, or to these areas in particular), I'd love to hear them - never done a trip like this before. Once my buddy gets his mind set on something it can be hard to change.

He'd be my first choice, but if he's set on bringing an extra person along I'll look into finding a different traveling companion.
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post #14 of 23
2/22/10 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dcg View Post
I'm sure I'll have many more questions once I get further along in the planning stages, but if you've got any specific examples of why traveling with two would be a lot easier (either in general, or to these areas in particular), I'd love to hear them - never done a trip like this before. Once my buddy gets his mind set on something it can be hard to change.

He'd be my first choice, but if he's set on bringing an extra person along I'll look into finding a different traveling companion.

honestly, I don't know if I would fight with a friend over it. if the cousin is nice enough, and your friend is set on the idea, I don't think that I would fight over it.

my feeling is that every body has their own way of doing things, so two people compremising is ok. if you have to comprimise 3 ways, it is tougher, and then you have the problem of 3 people means that if everyone disagrees you get into trying to convince somebody to go your way and then you have a majoirty.

the other thing is this - railroad sleepers - two beds. resteraunt tables - 2 or 4 tops, 3 means possibly waiting longer for a table. sharing a hotel room, two beds. bottle of wine, two people.
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post #15 of 23
2/22/10 at 6:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by globetrotter View Post
honestly, I don't know if I would fight with a friend over it. if the cousin is nice enough, and your friend is set on the idea, I don't think that I would fight over it.

my feeling is that every body has their own way of doing things, so two people compremising is ok. if you have to comprimise 3 ways, it is tougher, and then you have the problem of 3 people means that if everyone disagrees you get into trying to convince somebody to go your way and then you have a majoirty.

the other thing is this - railroad sleepers - two beds. resteraunt tables - 2 or 4 tops, 3 means possibly waiting longer for a table. sharing a hotel room, two beds. bottle of wine, one person.

I was with you.... until the end. Fixed it though.
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