vijay4454

Hello

This would be my first post ever on a travel forum. I am a PhD student studying near Chicago, USA. I am very excited about all the useful suggestions I might get from you. I am currently planning my second backpacking trip to Europe. On my first trip, I visited Spain, Portugal and Italy during the Christmas/New Year period in 2012/13 for 2 weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I am someone who loves meeting new people, learning about their lives and visiting historic places. I tend to avoid crowds as much as I can. That's one reason I like to travel in the winter. I know it will be cold but nowhere near as Cold as it gets in Wisconsin/Chicago. Now, I want to do another 2-week trip to Europe.

My plan is to visit 4 Central/Eastern European cities & Istanbul, spending about 2-3 days in each city. Here's the plan:

Jan 1-2, 2016 -> Fly into Vienna from Chicago. Arrive evening of Jan 2(Saturday). Spend next 2 days in Vienna

Jan 5 -> Take a 6 hour day train to Ljubljana. Spend next 2 days in Ljubljana/Lake Bled

Jan 8 -> Take a 8 hour day train to Budapest. Spend next 2 days in Budapest.

Jan 10-11 -> Take an overnight train to Krakow. Spend 3 days there, one of them in Auschwitz (really looking forward to Auschwitz)

Jan 14 -> Take a day train to Warsaw, immediately followed by a flight to Istanbul the same day

Jan 17 -> Take a flight back to Chicago to Istanbul on Sunday afternoon

The reason I plan to start my trip on Jan 1 is the cost of flight tickets. Ideally, I would start the trip on Dec 18 and end on Jan 3. But that seems like high season going by the air fares. If I start on Jan 1, I am getting a 850$ itinerary for CHI-VIE, WAW-IST, IST-CHI.

Do you think there are any holes in my plan? Am I spending too little time somewhere I should be spending more time in? I do want to visit 5 cities at least. On my last 2-week trip, I travelled to 7 cities. It was too much, so I want to stick to 5 this time.

Do you think I am covering enough diversity of central/Eastern Europe in this trip?

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Vijay

kja

IMO, you are trying to do too much with the time you have. And you are planning as though all cities are equal -- they aren't! For many people (depending on their interests), 2 nights might make sense Ljubljana; those same people might thing 5 nights in Istanbul too little.

I strongly recommend that you consult a good guidebook or two (always a worthy investment, IME, but you can also check your local library), note the things that you most want to see and experience, check their opening hours (and confirm those hours on line if possible), and mark them on a calendar. Block out your time for transportation, checking into / out of hotels, meals, etc. Then see where you stand.

Good luck!

fourfortravel

I would say the short answer to, "Do you think there are any holes in my plan?" is "yes." But I do give you credit for recognizing that you may be cold.

It seems like you're spending a lot of time traveling all in the name of "saving money." Entire days spent on trains (3 days?), especially at the time of year with short daylight may save you money, but at what sightseeing cost?

What, in particular, is drawing you to the cities you have chosen? Ljubljana and Bled are small and pleasant enough, but I wouldn't spend 14 hours traveling to and from, especially in winter. (6 January is a religious holiday across parts of Europe that may hinder sightseeing due to closings.) The post-holiday days in Vienna are dead; everyone is partied out from the merrymaking and almost all of the markets are closed. You'll not suffer with crowds in either of these places.

bilboburgler

I think it makes a good bit of sense, you understand how the train trips will eat into your time so I think you are prepared. I guess you know there may be a little snow and your plans might get knocked in Slovenia if there is a dump, most other places will have less chance of getting hit by the weather, still I've been stuck in Austria for 24 hours, though Vienna is normally ok.

Bled in the snow for a day can be fantastic. Ljubljana only needs a day.

Budapest do get out in the spas, no matter what the outside temp.

Finally, take boots

vijay4454

Thanks everyone for your comments!

I have chosen the cities for a specific reason. Budapest, because my parents spent 5 years there in their youth. Krakow, because I want to visit Auschwitz and also because I love cobbled, old towns. Vienna, because it's one of the grandest cities in Europe because of it being the seat of kings/Queens. Ljubljana, because I have heard a lot about it and Lake Bled and it's perhaps the closest I will get to Eastern Europe. Istanbul, because I have heard I have heard a lot about its bazaars, the color, the blue mosque, the experience of east-meets-west, etc.

But you are right. I am spending the entire daylight of about 3 days in traveling. I don't mind it so much as it's not completely wasted time. One of my objectives on this holiday is to catch up on some reading. The train travel is perfect for that.

If there was one place I would skip, perhaps that would be Vienna. I am not sure.

vijay4454

Thanks for your comment about spending 14 hours on travel to Ljubljana @fourfortravel.

Hmm, perhaps I should visit a different place instead of Ljubljana. My objective is to fly into Vienna, travel south to Ljubljana, then north to Budapest, then to to Krakow, and take a flight to Istanbul from Warsaw. I wonder how could replan this trip so I could save some time and visit a different interesting place instead of Ljubljana.

bilboburgler

I don't think ljubljana or Bled is very "Eastern Europe". Bled is fantastically beautiful lake surrounded by mountains and low height hotels. Ljubljana centre is very "Western Europe" with even the prostitutes only hanging out at certain bridges and bars (unlike the old days). You would need to get into Croatia or even Albania to get more of a Eastern shape. Zagreb has that certain mix of peeling paint and sparking trams though far less pollution since they closed down many of the factories. Maybe somewhere in Western Romania might satisfy the need but even here they may be gone soon. We have a running thread on Turkey and I'd spend more time there.

GinnyJo

vijay - Based on your reasons for selecting these destinations and on having visited several of them in the last few years, including Ljubljana/Lake Bled, I would save that one for another trip. It is rather out of the way of your basic itinerary, and is does not meet your “Eastern Europe” goal.

I’d look into starting your trip in Prague with cobbles and history everywhere, then train to Vienna, etc. Alternately, you could start in Vienna as planned, and add a day to do Bratislava as a day trip, getting that in as one of your cities. You could also then add a day to Budapest and Istanbul. I would not skip Vienna given your goals and the relative ease of combining it with Budapest.

fourfortravel

GinnyJo has a good point. Given your expressed interests, then Krakow-Prague-Vienna-Budapest is a natural combination. Adding Krakow can be a transportation challenge, but doable for someone who is keen on long train travel. From Budapest catch a flight to Istanbul. With this itinerary you are at least moving in one general direction, and the time (and money) spent on train fare could be redirected toward a more meaningful holiday.

Save Ljubljana and Bled for warmer weather, when you can combine them with Zagreb, Sarajevo, and Belgrade for a Central European/Balkan experience.

kja

As fourfortravel (following on GinnyJo) notes, Krakow-Prague-Vienna-Budapest works -- if, IMO, at a rapid pace. I'll add that if you have any interest in Warsaw, you'll probably never be closer, and since you seem to be having some doubts about Vienna, you could also make it Warsaw - Krakow - Budapest - Prague. Perfect, IMO, for a 2-week visit! But again, it really depends on what YOU want to see and experience.

My experiences of Ljubljana and Zagreb were apparently different than bilboburgler's: I wish I'd had more than 1.5 days in charming Ljubljana, a small city in which I saw no prostitutes or other signs of vice. (I'm sure it's there, but not as blatantly as some other places I have visited.) I found Zagreb to be a delightfully relaxed and pleasant city, with its share of urban improvement efforts underway, but nothing any more shabby than anywhere else.

So, FWIW, I like the idea of deferring all parts of what was once Yugoslavia until you have more time. I would also defer Istanbul -- it is a magnificent city, and well worth seeing, but there are enough other parts of Turkey that are well worth seeing and could be combined with Istanbul on a later trip (e.g., Cappadocia, Ephesus, the Turquoise Coast). JMO!