I'm putting together a central Europe itinerary for the first two weeks of September 2015 (a ways off for sure, but with award flight availability these days it's book 330 days out or bust). I've got most of the big stuff locked in. Starting off with BA F/J IAD-BUD and 4 nights in Budapest to begin the trip. Then at the end, we'll do 3 or 4 nights in Krakow, a hop to Berlin on AB and then 2 full days in Berlin before an AB J flight back to the US.

At this point I'm trying to figure out the middle part of the trip, between BUD and KRK. I've got 4 or 5 full days to play with and, given that it's dead in between my origin and destination, the logical choice is Slovakia. Originally, I'd figured we'd follow the river up and do Bratislava. But then I thought that perhaps this trip was getting a bit city-heavy, and that we'd really like to see some of the countryside and maybe some places where things were a bit slower, like the old way. Then I saw some pictures of the Tatras and central Slovakia. Wow, sign me up, I thought.

However, trying to figure out the logistics, I keep hitting dead ends. Trains that may or may not exist, nightmarish cross-border rental car drop fees, and bus connections that involve standing on a border and praying that a bus shows up.

So, here's the open-ended question - if I wanted to start off in BUD and end up in KRK, and see the Slovak countryside and mountains in the intermediate 4-5 days, what would be the best way to go about it in 2014/2015?

With the distance being only 450km or so, I am only half joking when I am saying that I am giving serious thought to doing it by bicycle. 100km/day in the saddle is fine. Of course, we'd run into drop fees there too!!

Any and all suggestions are welcome!