an_asker

We are a family of four (includes two teenagers). As you might guess from the title, needless to say, this would be our first time in this part of Europe. Our current plan gets us into Sofia on Day 1 noon. We need to be in Budapest by end of Day 4 for the next step of our travel itinerary.

Originally, I had planned taking the train from Sofia to Serbia, then from Serbia to Budapest. Maybe day trains both times. Son and I are train fans; daughter and wife not so much! So, now second guessing myself.

Don't know if trains are the best way to go for the budget and/or sightseeing or not. That is one aspect. The other is safety - I read about issues with stuff being pilfered on the night trains. And finally, where (which of these three cities) would it make sense that we spend the most time without going too far from either the train station or the airport (depending on whichever we're to take next!)? Though my focus is nature, it is obvious that these cities behind the Iron Curtain have a lot of ancient, medieval AND modern history going for them ...

KLouis

You are aware, I hope, that Serbia is a country and not a city! As far as your sightseeing plans are concerned, you should be aware that in most (though not all) European cities the main train stations are in the centre while airports are often many miles away. I guess, you should do a lot more homework before planning/booking anything (e.g. train schedules, flights, etc.).

JBord

I would stick with trains, although I'm not familiar with those routes. If you find there are a lot of connections, it may be easier to fly. As KLouis wrote, train stations will put you closer to hotels and sights in most cases. However, in cities like Budapest, you'll want to stay near the Danube, not near the train station (at least most people want to). So become familiar with public transportation options in each city...in Budapest for example you can walk across the street to the subway to get to many hotels.

Otherwise, I'm confused by your timeline. Do you have 4 days in total to see Sofia, Budapest, and some city in Serbia, plus travel between them all? That doesn't seem possible to me. If I understand correctly, I think I would spend your first day and a half in Sofia, then fly or train to Budapest and spend another day and a half there. I think that's the best you can do with 4 days, since a good chunk of one day will be travel. There's a lot to do and see in each of those cities, most people would spend 3-4 days in each.

jphripjah

Trains in those particular countries are very slow and connections are not good. The flight would be 90 minutes if you can get a direct one.

EmailKid

Yup, trains can be a pain.

I recall waiting for OVER four hours in Budapest for an incoming train, IIRC from Serbia. NOT the same reliability as Western Europe @:-) IIRC this train continued on via Prague to Germany, so it would have affected reliability in Western Europe as well

TravelingNomads

We just got back from all over Bulgaria with our teens and had a great time. That being said, Sofia was my least favorite place to be out of every other city that we visited in Bulgaria. Plovdiv was our favorite out of the locations that we visited. Maybe take the day trip to see the Rila Monastery or visit a museum, but really, Sofia is quite different from many other cities throughout Bulgaria that we loved. I heard that the walking tour is good there, but we were on a stricter schedule and did walking tours in other cities vs Sofia. When we were researching it, we were told repeatedly to avoid the trains and instead opted to rent a car.

One piece of advice if you're going to be in that area is to call your cell phone provider if you are having cell issues. We had to change the default 3rd party provider on our phones to get them to work. Also, when driving through Sofia, be prepared for a rented GPS to be useless since there are so many one way streets and construction. Use Google maps instead, it's at least 75% more accurate. Our cellphone claimed we were going to be charged extra, but when we got home we noticed that our bill didn't increase.

JBord

I've noticed that with location services turned on, but data roaming off, I can use Google maps without extra charges. I'm still not sure I understand why, but it's worked in at least 8-10 countries so far in Europe, Asia, and Central America.

TravelingNomads

We use T-mobile and were told by one customer service agent that the alerts were are likely because that was their old process, but now texting & data is all covered. We were getting the data roaming alerts, but they didn't charge us, so no complaints. I'm pretty happy with T-mobile. I've just noticed that in a lot of countries you have to manually change the provider to be whomever is most common in that country.

Putnik

As somebody else mentioned, trains in this part of Europe are not as fast as those in Western Europe. According to the Serbian Railways web page, there is a train from Sofia to Belgrade that leaves Sofia at 09:40 and gets to Belgrade nine hours later at 18:37. There is a night train from Belgrade to Budapest, leaving Belgrade at 21:35 and getting to Budapest at 05:50. Keep in mind that Serbia is not part of the European union so you will have to go through border checks. Train ride from Sofia to Nis would be worth seeing as it goes through the Sicevo Gorge. Belgrade to Budapest would not be as fun as mostly goes through plains.
There is plenty to see in Belgrade for at least at couple days.

ExpatSomchai

WAZE is a good option in this part of the world for GPS.

:D!

In this part of the world, border checks have little to do with being in the EU, for the moment.

Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria are part of the EU, but they are not part of the Schengen area, so formal border checks are undertaken at all international borders southeast of Hungary and Slovenia; notably at EU internal borders of Slovenia/Croatia, Croatia/Hungary, Hungary/Romania, Romania/Bulgaria and Bulgaria/Greece.

In any case, border checks masquerading as "customs checks" take place on many trains between EU countries such as France and Germany.

WilcoRoger

I would avoid the trains through the Balkans. @Putnik's example itinerary takes 20 hours... just take a flight.

Putnik

I agree, but they are still good for sight seeing, especially because they are so slow.

WilcoRoger

Nothing wrong per se taking it slow through the Balkans, lots to see. OP however has very limited time and two unenthusiastic ladies (Mrs &Ms) in tow, so it might be better to do it another time.

adamgilcristt

I would recommend you Budapest city because it is the largest city of European Union and also a capital of Hungary. In Budapest, there are many places to visit such as Danube river, Hungarian Parliament and city sightseeing tour in Budapest, St Stephen's Basilica Organ Concert etc.