suggested itinerary 30 days Eastern Europe
 

Hi, I would appreciate any suggestions for a trip next May. I would like to see as many countries in Eastern Europe as I can within reason. Willing to go by trains, planes and automobiles.

Not many people are going to plan your trip for you.

Are you young, old, alone, couple, kids?
Do you like hot, cold, relaxing, on the go?
Museums, architecture, nature, extreme sports?
Budget, luxury, hostels, resorts, bus tour, independent travel?

Your request is too vague. If you just do some basic research, come up with some ideas and/or destinations or a sample itinerary and then float them here for opinions you will likely get much more discussion and help.

how much are you willing to pay.... us for role-playing a travel agent?

Yes, vague indeed. I will put Daytrip out there for transfers though. Depending on how many are in your party it can be fairly economical and it's door-to-door service. They mostly cover central Europe and are based in Prague...not sure how far East you are planning to go. www.onadaytrip.com

Your best place to start would be a Lonely Planet. They always include suggested itineraries for X days/weeks/months in the region covered. It's a very good way to get an idea of what's doable and what you might want to do, and then build a more detailed plan from there.

Totally busted for my ridiculous post. Here is my first stab at a itinerary. Subject to suggestions. I realize it's crazy busy but I want to see as much as I can and no moss grows under my shoes. Day 1 Krakow
Day 2 Krakow
Day 3 side trip to Aushcwitz
Day 4 Fly to Prague
Day 5 Prague
Day 6 Prague
Day 7 Prague side trip to KutnaHora
Day 8 Travel to Vienna ? use one day trip
Day 9 Vienna
Day 10 Train to Bratislava
Day 11 Train to Budapest
Day 12 Budapest
Day 12 Budapest
Day 13 Train to Ljubljana
Day 14 rent car drive to Lake Bled
Day 15 Lake Bled
Day 16 return car to Ljubljana
Day 17 train to Zagreb
Day 18 train or bus to Spilt
Day 19 Split
Day 20 bus to Dubrovnik
Day 21 Dubronik
Day 22 day trip to Montenegro stay in Dubrovnik
Day 23 day trip to Bosnia & Herzegovina stay in Dubrovnik
Day 24 Dubronik
Day 25 Ferry to Korcula spend night in Korcula
Day 26 Korcula
Day 27 Ferry to Dubrovnik
Day 28 Fly home

If I've counted correctly, 14 of the 25 days involve some sort of travel (and that's not even including travel at the start and finish). It's certainly possible, but you'll be exhausted, especially if you're constantly unpacking and repacking, and some of those journeys require the best part of a day.

Seeing 16 places in 25 days is far too much, and spending what amounts to a few hours in some of them really isn't doing them justice, other than being able to say you've been there, which isn't a good reason to travel in the first place. Decide what you really want to see and spend a bit more time immersing yourself in the culture, otherwise you may as well just look at pictures of all these places on the internet and save yourself the money.

So there's a lot more central than eastern in here...I was waiting to see Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, etc.

I agree that there's too much on the itinerary if you really want to see anything in any of your stops.

Here are my suggestions to avoid the constant travel and get more out of each stop. Take them or leave them :):

- Extra day in Krakow
- Add 2 or 3 days in Vienna. Melk is an excellent side trip from here.
- Consider Bratislava as a side trip from Vienna. It's not a very exciting city, but only a 1 hour train or bus from Vienna. Although the hotel would likely be cheaper in Bratislava if that matters.
- Add a day in Budapest
- Days 13-24 pack a lot in, and 13-18 are almost all travel, as most of day 20 would be. I think you can find the extra days for my points above by cutting out a couple stops here. Probably Zagreb and Split...not that they're not worth visiting, but they seem like a problem in your itinerary much more than places you want to explore and enjoy. Perhaps just fly straight to Dubrovnik?

Hope you find something helpful in all that.

points well taken
 

Day 1 Krakow
Day 2 Krakow
Day 3 side trip to Aushcwitz
Day 4 Krakow
Day 5 Fly to Prague
Day 6 Prague
Day 7 Prague
Day 8 Prague side trip to KutnaHora
Day 9 Travel to Vienna ? use one day trip
Day 10 Vienna
Day 11 Vienna
Day 12 Vienna
Day 13 Train to Bratislava spend night in Bratislava
Day 14 Train to Budapest
Day 15 Budapest
Day 16 Budapest
Day 17 Budapest
Day 18 fly to Dubrovnik
Day 19 Dubronik
Day 20 day trip to Montenegro stay in Dubrovnik
Day 21 day trip to Bosnia & Herzegovina stay in Dubrovnik
Day 22 Dubronik
Day 23 Dubronik

That looks pretty solid to me.

I would just go to Kutna Hora on the way to Vienna from Prague. That's what I did in the reverse direction using Daytrip.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions
 

Thanks, great idea.

That looks like a good itinerary. It cut down your travel days nicely.

I'd try to include a day trip to Plitvice national park, though. It's spectacular if you like the outdoors and don't mind hiking. I'm here now and spent 2 days hiking around the waterfalls. There are too many to count. The lakes are the bluest I've ever seen.

We normally do a month every other year but wont do that kind of nonstop traveling anymore. Although your revised is better. It's just not worth the hassle and the rushing around. Last year we got a month long Airbnb in Budapest and then used it as our base to travel to / from various locations for various time frames by train or plane. Left the big suitcase there and took the smaller ones. Completely removed all the stress and we still saw everything we wanted.

Good luck!

A day less in Budapest and Vienna.
Ad Plitvice Lakes and Split in your scheduale.
A day less in Dubrovnik.
Skip Montenegro. To much places in a small time.