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2011 Trip around some of Eastern Europe - itinery advice?

2011 Trip around some of Eastern Europe - itinery advice?

Old Aug 8th, 2010, 04:03 PM
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2011 Trip around some of Eastern Europe - itinery advice?

Hi all,
My first post here (so please be gentle).

Having just returned from a whistlestop tour around some of the main tourist locations in Europe (Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Venice and Rome) over a 14 day period i have decided I want to have another trip next year, this time further East. Also I dont want to be rushed, so will be taking my time visiting each city.

I have decided that I definately want to spend time in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic (also possibly Austria). I would be wanting to hostel the whole trip on a budget and may have to split it up into two chunks depending on work commitments. (as I finish school in mid July, may have work in mid September which would likely last until mid May). In which case I would merely do a month before and a month after.

Anyway, the actual travel plans:

Poland - 31 Nights. On a single country interrail pass @ £75
Gdansk for 4 nights.
Torun for 4 nights.
Warsaw for 6 nights.
Lublin for 4 nights.
Krakow for 5 nights.
Wroclaw for 4 nights.
Poznan for 4 nights.

Germany - 40 nights. On a single country interrail pass @ £165
Berlin for 7 nights.
Lubeck for 4 nights.
Kiel for 4 nights.
Hamburg for 4 nights.
Bremen for 4 nights.
Dusseldorf for 4 nights.
Frankfurt for 4 nights.
Nuremberg for 4 nights.
Munich for 5 nights.

Czech Rebpublic - 36 nights. On a single country interrail pass @ £65

Cesky Krumlov for 5 nights.
Pilsen for 5 nights.
Telc for 5 nights.
Brno for 5 nights.
Olomouc for 5 nights.
Kutna Hora for 5 nights.
Prague for 6 nights.

Estimated total costs:
Flight out - £50
Poland - £550
Germany - £950
Czech Republic - £630
Flight back - £50
Food (supermarket and cheapo stuff) - £1070

Total - £3300

So, thats the plan (its also in location order as well, if you plot it on google maps it is quite a nice path). Im wondering if, anyone who has managed to read this far, could comment on the places im visiting and suggest changes to the number of days in each. I have used a base of 4 days per location and 5 in the Czech Republic.

Please feel free to criticise my estimated spending, my food looks especially high... £10 per day allocated.. though living may be too low.

The final thing was whether I should half the Czech locations and visit Austria at some point (so two and a bit weeks in both at a cost of about an extra £150). I do want to spend time in Czech Republic though, if only to go cycling.

Any other suggestions would be appreaciated. Doing this early (a year...) so that I can see whether I need to earn some more money.

THANKS a lot even if you only read the post, even moreso if you respond
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 04:37 PM
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You are my new hero.

I really can't add too much to your well thought out initial planning except for a couple of high level comments.

Spending the same amount of time in Munich as in Olomouc and some of your other Czech sites seems a little unbalanced based on "sights" to see and things to do. You don't say if you plan to use these larger locations as a base for day trips. If so, then this makes more sense.

Number 2 - all of these are larger towns and cities. What about finding some smaller places, with good rail connections and trying that on for some of your stays. If, however, you want the larger locations because of the variety of nightlife options, I defer.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 04:45 PM
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Certainly the Czech cities have questionable lengths (I only started looking at this yesterday evening). I am looking at perhaps travelling from Germany into Austria for a fortnight (perhaps 4 cities) and then going into the Czech republic - then I can decide how long to spend in each place.

The idea of going to see some nice small places in the Czech Republic would certainly appeal. (though I would like to go out in the evenings, it isn't a prime requirement and certainly would be necessary every night.) The main issue is that as I dont know the area, I dont know what nice towns there are to visit and where to stay (hostel wise). So any advice on this front would be good.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 04:49 PM
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certainly would 'NOT' be necessary every night.

(sorry, bad typo...)
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:02 PM
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Well, I can't help you with hostels, sorry. And my overall Poland and CR knowledge is not enough to help you much so I focus on the Germany portion.

Did you notice that you have 16 nights of your 40 in Germany in Schleswig-Holstein. That is 40% of your time in a very small geographic radius with a similar history. Maybe you can substitute Dresden and some place around the Harz Mountains (Quedlinburg, Hann Muenden, Goettingen (university!) for 2 of your Hanseatic League sites. Kiel and Bremen are probably the best choices. Lubeck is terrific and so is Hamburg.


Duesseldorf and Frankfurt are not at the top of most visitors lists either - Sorry Mainhatten Girl. Those might be where to consider a smaller place.

Oh, and it's good to hear that even as a student you cannot manage to party for 107 consecutive nights.

Gosh I am feeling old.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:09 PM
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I think this is fantastic = ) I don't know anything about the cities, but you might want to look at http://www.meininger-hotels.com/en/home/

They were cheap when I stayed in their Munich hotel in 2007.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:10 PM
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I am worried about your budget. Where is the budget to get into attractions? Another website I use to plan says a good price for inner city transportation and attractions is between 10-20 euros a day.

10 pounds for food a day seems pretty low. Hostels that low in price probably won't include breakfast so you'll be buying 3 meals a day plus drinks.

Most people will say 50 euros a day for housing, attractions, and food is the bare minimum to travel Europe (possibly Eastern Europe you could do 45 euros or so). This does not include transportation between cities.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:24 PM
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Dresden would be a good place to visit, I will have a look at the places around the Harz Mountains (web crawl ahead ) and see what is on offer.

Also on your suggestion about Frankfurt and Dusseldorf. Would you therefore recommend visiting say Koln/Bonn (both very close to each other) or perhaps Leipzig instead?

So having flipped things about abit the route could look like:
Dresden
Leipzig
Berlin
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:26 PM
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(then, having accidently tabbed then entered)
Lubeck
Hamburg
Hann Muenden (chosen randomly)
Koln
Nuremberg
Munich
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:27 PM
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>


Granted I don't stay in hostels but that sounds terribly low to me.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:35 PM
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Thanks sam86 for the comment and link. Munich looked a very beautiful city when I was there. Unfortunately I only had a day there. This time I want to explore more fully. The English Gardens warrant a day of sunbathing on their own!

Lindy27 - the cost breakdown doesnt anticipate massive transport costs in the cities, when I was in Munich and Frankfurt it cost only about 4 Euroes for a days metro pass. Im not sure whether this is higher elsewhere though.

Personally I think that the 50 Euro figure is very high...
Hostel cost of 15 Euroes.
Food cost of 10 Euroes (literally find a supermarket and buy a 70 cent bottle of water or two and some other stuff, fast food locations etc, I ate in Rome for not alot at all). Most Breakfasts are around 3 Euroes, or I buy a few rolls for 2 Euros. Sandwiches with a filler can be made cheaply. Evening meal would be whatever was cheap.
Transport of 5 Euro Per day, often will not use, am happy to walk for half hour or a bit more to get somewhere.
Entry costs to some places will apply, but in not many places.

I should also note that I am expecting to spend a bit more, and will have an excess to this budget, its more a basic living expense than anything else.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:40 PM
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Sounds like a fantastic trip. Just a few comments>

These places are all central europe (or western in the case of Germany) - eastern europe is russia, ukraine etc.

I can't begin to comment on your budget - but I assume you have done some checking online as to actual costs for all sorts of things. Your budget seems to me to be shatteringly tiny. Not compared to what mine would be - we're older and travel at a different price point. But my 19 year old step-daughter and some friends did 6 weeks last summer and spent several multiples of what you are proposing (I'm not counting hotels they did versus hostels - but basics like food, local transit, having a drink in the evening and entrance to sights - which are fairly well fixed unless you don;t mind going hungry).
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:41 PM
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Joannyc - Ok, as you say it is terribly low.....
In berlin (most expensive location).

Hostel - Aloha (15 Euro per day average for a bed in a 6 room dorm).
Transport - 7 day metro pass is apparently 28 Euroes and 20 cent. So about 4 Euro per day.
Food - 2x Bottle of water is 1 Euro 50 cent. 4 rolls and a filler is 5 Euroes. A slice of Pizza is 4 Euroes. So 10 Euroes 50 Cent.

That is 29 Euro per day...

Anything I have missed?
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 05:46 PM
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nytraveler, I originally started this regarding Poland, then it grew into the whole travel plan (I was going to just use a segment). As far as I was aware, Poland was classified as Eastern Europe?
Though I admit I did get a little carried away, its hard not to being in England, everywhere east of France is Eastern Europe for me

And my trip a few weeks ago come to 1000 pounds for a fortnight including EVERYTHING. This was staying half in Hotels. One place even had a few stars. Also we travelled on the waterboats in venice, visited the Hard Rock Cafe in Rome and ate out on about 4 occasions. Plus the interrail pass was 150 Quid. So yes, I think that the budget is pretty reasonable..
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 06:37 PM
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Do you ever plan on drinking? That will add costs.
I still don't understand the lack of entertainment costs, what do you plan on doing all day? Very few places in Europe are free, castles, museums, churches, all require entry fees. For instance, entrance into the Prague Castle is about 10 euro, Cathedral in Krakow is 2 euro. We spent a minimum of 5 euros on entry fees per day, on expensive days is was upwards of 20 euros.

If you have extra money in your account to pay for things if you go over on your bare minimum costs then that is fine. But if that budget will drain your bank account I would shorten your journey encase something comes up that you don't expect.

I would agree with that amount of time you are spending in the cities in the Czech Republic seems long. Especially with your budget renting bicycles, lounging in restaurants, or going out at night won't be possible to fill your time. Poland looks good to me. Germany I would question some of the cities you chose but with more research you will probably change a few of your choices.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 06:41 PM
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I did just notice that your last trip cost 1000 pounds for 14 days? That's 71 pounds a day.

The current budget is 31 pounds per day. That's a pretty big difference even with the countries being cheaper.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 06:56 PM
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I would definitely cut some time in the Czech Republic to add Austria. Unless you're planning to spend time hiking or biking, five days is really too long for Brno and Cesky Krumov (haven't been to the other places except Prague, which can justify six days, but tends to be very overcrowded).
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 06:58 PM
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This is on my ipod, so please excuse any spelling errors.

I should mention that although the price stated is an anticipated cost, it is merely the base living cost. I will have a further around £600 available to be spent visiting attractions and on other things. One of the reasons for the post is to see what the thoughts are on my budget. Ideally including tourism stuff it would come to about £4k. Though I would add that firstly I'm not a heavy drinker at all (I can count the number of drinks (alcoholic) I have had in the last six months on one hand.) secondly I could quite happily spend a day lying in.a park and talk with people in the hostels in the evenings. Finally on a day where I hire a bike I would seek to avoid all public transport fees that day.

Anyway, thanks for the posts so far. Where would you miss out/shorten time in the Czech republic? And does anyone have any recommendations for places to visit in austria?

Thanks,
(it's now 4am so I will check this again when I've got some shuteye)
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 07:05 PM
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Price wise it cost alot extra for somethings on this trip.
£150 interrail ticket would be half that for a month in Poland.
There were no nights that I self catered, all were fast food or eating out. Accommodation in hotels is a rip off, in one instance over 100euro for three nights. Plus it was alot of expensive cities (see above). I'll have another look through the budget later today and start to figure out a more detailed cost.
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Old Aug 8th, 2010, 07:09 PM
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Stop defending your budget Alex - your trip, not theirs.

Austria? Vienna and Salzburg are the naturals.

If you find you cut out Olomouc and aren't so far east, then maybe Linz and Salzburg, or just Salzburg and a smaller town in the Salzkammergut, or Bavaria - like Passau or Regensburg
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