manoj_gupta

Hi everyone,

I am making a trip of eastern/central europe starting 21st August. I arrive at Budapest early in the morning on 21 August (via Zurich) and I leave from Berlin on 8 September afternoon. I am looking for a route/itinerary to make out the best of this trip. Most of my travel would be on Bus/Train.
How much does it cost generally, and what is preferable between bus or train? I am a male, 24 years old and would be traveling alone.

While I have compiled a sample itinerary but I am open to all types of suggestions. Also, I can only travel in Schengen area so I can't travel to Romania/Bulgaria etc.

This is the itinerary I have come up with

21-22 August - Budapest
23-25 August - Vienna
26 August - Brno
27-29 August - Krakow
30-31 August - Wroclaw
1-3 September - Prague
4-5 September - Karlovy Vary
6-8 September - Berlin

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...,19.226074&z=6


I am skipping Bratislava (but maybe I'll spend a few hours there if its worth it). Is my itinerary a doable one? Should i add or delete some places (or increase/decrease the stay period). Any price saving tip should be certainly welcome.

Thanks for the help

fatfrog

I haven't been to many of the places on your itinerary, so I can't comment. I would say that if you're planning on spending only 1 day in a place, given transit time to and from... might consider dropping Brno and spending an extra day somewhere else.

I have taken a bus only once in Eastern or Western Europe, and it was in Croatia where there were no buses. Otherwise, the train is fairly economical and much more comfortable. Have you looked into getting a multi-country pass? It may make sense for you, but do the numbers. Remember that in most countries, being under 26 gets you a youth fare on the train.

I would also say that if you're hostelling, I would be flexible about when I was going, where. It's generally advisable to book train tickets in advance if you have a specific time you absolutely must leave (i.e., I wouldn't show up at the train station at the time of a trip and expect to be able to leave), but you're probably ok given your short-ish legs and you'll be able to find accommodation once you arrive without pre-booking. I would suggest that you be somewhat flexible. Maybe you show up in Budapest and want to spend an extra day. Maybe you get to Vienna and want to leave right away. I've found that on these sorts of trips, it doesn't pay to get too committed to an itinerary, especially if you're traveling alone.

Anyway, I know that wasn't helpful. More constructive advice might be: rank order the cities in your mind -- what must you absolutely see, what can you drop. Then, as you go, change your itinerary based on how much time you have to visit the places in rank order.

Have fun!!

Cha-cha-cha

It depends of course on what you want, but if you want to examine the cultural attractions in any depth and get any sort of feel for the cities, you're trying to do far too much. You only have a day or two in most places, once you factor in all the travel arrangements (getting to and from hotels, unpacking, etc) which typically take up most of an arrival and a departure day.

If I were doing this trip I'd fly into Budapest and travel by train to Vienna, Prague, and Berlin. That would give you say three to five days for each city, by no means too much to exhaust their attractions, especially when you count in the numerous side trips you can take from each of them.

I've found that for a first trip to these cities the DK Eyewitness Guides are particularly useful. They also publish a Top Ten series of capsule guides to I think all of them, which can be useful as a quick overview of what most people want to see on a short trip. Rough Guides are also useful, especially for younger people.

You can get a Eurail pass which covers three adjacent countries -- I think Hungary is one of them, I know Austria and Germany are -- which can be a bargain especially if you plan to use the train to make side trips. There's also a boat you can take on the Danube from Budapest to Vienna, but I've never used it myself.

szg

I will depart on the 21st August.

YLU FF

While I largely agree with Cha-Cha-Cha, I personally would keep Krakow on your list. Beautiful city that some people call the "New Prague". Incredibly friendly people and still reasonably cheap, although prices are climbing fast. Also access to Auschwitz if that sort of history interests you. The only downside is it is not the easiest place to get to by train (trains from Berlin/Prague are long, old, slow and have the reputation of not always being safe, particularly at night).

I went to Berlin immediately after Krakow and must say I appreciated it even more because of the intertwined history between the two cities/countries.

Berlin

manoj_gupta

I agree that my trip is a little tight for all these places to visit. I cannot however skip Brno & Karlovy Vary as I have to visit some friends there.
So, I would skip Wroclaw and rather go to Prague from Krakow.

Is it possible to go to Krakow from Brno & Prague from Krakow on night trains, I believe there is one such train. should I do an advance reservation to book a bed or it is ok to get there an hour before the train leave to book it?

Any idea how much will the trains cost and are they safe to travel at night?

Aviatrix

Europe-wide train schedules can be found at www.bahn.de.

Subject to availability you should be able to book a bed any time until departure - BUT I wouldn't risk it, the train may be fully booked.

YVR Cockroach

Given your username and your inferred ethnic background as such, you may want to check the places you're visiting, and the localities within, for skinhead and other neo-Nazi activity. An unfortunate concern and reality.

manoj_gupta

And how do I find & avoid places with activities? While I appreciate your concern, I believe that following standard safety practices while traveling *Anywhere* should be ok.
I am an Indian and it would be very surprising for me that someone would target me because I am an Indian. Or do you mean that law and order situation at many places on my itinerary is not good.

MacDaddie

There is no worry about skinheads. Just use common sense.

I would drop Wraclow and Krakow. Be aware that it will take a decent amount of time from Brno to get to Krakow via train.

You have to decide if cities are the only places you want to see. If your the hiking type then I'd spend a few days in Slovakia seeing some of the smaller towns, castles and hiking. Then I'd hit Brno and then Prague (they are only a few hours by train).

If you keep your original cities go from Brno to Prague. Going from Brno to Poland and then back is a waste of at least 1/2 day.

Enjoy your trip.

Alsacienne

Sorry Cockroach, I think you are being unnecessarily concerned for Manoj's safety. Poland has seen Indian visitors before, as have the other countries he listed.

He also sounds very sensible in his take on situations, and I think that statistically his chances of running into trouble are very slim indeed.

I think visitors to any foreign country should make themselves streetwise, and watch out for any scams ......... usually involving money!!!

Have a great trip Manoj.