You're 24, you'll be meeting fascinating people... Don't be surprised if your plans change enroute! Have a wonderful trip!

Hi:
I have traveled solo to all of the cities that you mentioned
except Ljubljana. I agree with NY traveler that London
could be a trip all unto itself as there is so much to do and
see. Krakow has been one of my most favorite cities so far.
I took the train from Prague to Krakow. I had only planned to stay there a few days but I was having such a good time
that I changed my itinerary. I met some young people at
a jazz festival and they showed me around for a day or two. One day Auschwitz & I spent a day going to the salt
mines. Krakow is very walkable, has some beautiful squares and is easy to get to from the
train station. (I am many times your age, so I need more down time in between. I tend to do my yearly trips by region & I travel by train, so I stay where towns are walkable). Krakow reminds me of Boston with
all of its young people & colleges. Most speak English and everyone really liked Americans and all were very helpful. It
is my favorite city in Eastern Europe. I really enjoyed Berlin Prague & Budapest. This past summer, I did Italy and spent
several days in Venice. If you haven't been, it is a must see but it is so crowded and lots of tourists...just my thoughts
I got my rail pass, which is flexible, from BETS, as recommended here on this forum. Have a great trip!

johanna - how was the train trip from Prague to Krakow? As I mentioned above, I would love to visit Krakow, everyone I know who has been there loved it. But it seems like such a long slow train ride from just about anywhere (except other places in Poland). I don't really have a strong interest in seeing other places in Poland so would try to combine it with some other cities/countries. Every trip I start out including it but end up dropping it in favor of other places that seem easier to combine. When you went to Krakow where else did you go?

I haven't done much research into what day trips I could do from the cities I'm thinking to visit other than Krakow (Auschwitz, Salt Mines) and Ljubljana (Lake Bled, Skocjan Caves) but are there any "must-see" places that would make good day trips and perhaps provide some contrast to the city? If so this also would make me think I need to focus on fewer places.

Oh definitely, especially London and Amsterdam (and Brugge). From London there are tons including Oxford and Cambridge - gorgeous world famous college towns with fabulous architecture and beautiful settings and Warwick (great castle, can be combined with Stratford-upon-Avon). I've also done Canterbury and Brighton as day trips. Then there are the even closer one which are more like half day trips - Windsor, Kew, Greenwich.

From Amsterdam there are several really beautiful and interesting towns, all easily accessible by train in around an hour (or less) including Haarlem, Delft, Leiden and Gouda.

From Brugge you can get to Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels by train in under an hour.

In addition to the day trips that you and isabel mention, you might want to consider Potsdam and/or Dresden from Berlin. And yes, I think it would be best to focus on fewer places if you plan on day trips.

Cesky Krumlov from Prague.

It sounds like you have a lot of great advice and so many amazing cities on your Itinerary. Venice is very unique and really wouldn't take much time to see 1-3 days max. I love Italy and France but if you have never been to Bavaria I would say it is a must see. Munich (great for night life and meeting people) and Saltzburg are favorites of mine as well as some of the smaller towns in between such as Zell am See (quiet but amazingly beautiful) I much prefer Bavaria to the NW areas of Germany.

What Isabel said about side trips. Ghent is very different from Bruges and worth a trip. The Hague and Delft from Amsterdam.

I would second many of the others and drop Krakow. I looked into getting to Krakow before we visited Prague several years ago and eventually ruled it out because of the hassle and expense of getting there.

If you do cut Krakow, I would probably take more time in some of the cities--London, Berlin. If not, then do go to Venice--one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I notice you are leaving out Vienna, which is one of our favorite cities. But you can't go everywhere, even in four weeks.

FWIW: Krakow is IMHO truly lovely and well worth seeing. When I visited, I took an overnight train from Krakow to Budapest. I found it quite comfortable, but then I really like trains and have had great experiences with overnight trains. I don't know if there's an overnight train from Prague to Krakow; you might want to check.

If you do visit Krakow with overnight trains at either end of your stay there, I would recommend that you spend at least 2 or 3 nights in Krakow (and there's easily enough to keep you busy for that time): Much as I enjoy overnight trains, my experience is that one doesn't always get a full night's sleep (because the train doesn't last quite long enough for you to get that much sleep or because of noises or whatever), so I always feel the need for a bit of catch-up sleep the next night or two.

Just a thought....

Hi Isabel: On that trip, I went from Prague by train to Krakow. I didn't think the train ride was bad at all. I took a day train (first class). On the train, a young couple wanted me to visit their town..everyone was so friendly. After
Krakow, I went to Warsaw by train. Then, I took the night
train from Warsaw to Vilnius. I had a compartment to myself. It was cold and sparse but I arrived in Vilnius in the
morning and the Old Town isn't too far from the train station. Please travel lightly as there aren't any escalators or lifts and you have to go down one side and up the other. I usually take a sandwich and bottled water with
me on the train. One day, I hired a driver to take me to
Riga (in Estonia). It was a nice day trip. If you call Byron,
at BETS 800 4412387, he will give you all the times and
can probably help you with times & high speed trains & where to go. If you stay in the Eastern European cities, you can visit Budapest, Berlin & Dresden. I use BETS every year to get my rail pass as I love train travel. No matter which
cities or countries you choose, you will have a wonderful
time!

Here's my current idea for a route:
London -> Bruges -> Amsterdam -> Berlin -> Prague -> Krakow -> Budapest -> Ljubljana>

With this much train travel and being under 26 the One-Month Global Eurail Youthpass is a no-brainer - in all those countries it gives you the right to hop on virtually any train anytime - just show up at station - check out these fab sites IMO for lots of great info on European trains - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com.

I'd get rid of Bruges. You are 24. It's not exactly a happening spot - unless you are big into lace doilies.

I'm a bit confused with the Eurail pass. It seems really expensive - a flexible 10 days in two months is $612 for youth and a 1 month pass is $812 (according to http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/eurail.htm).

On top of this, I hear there are extra fees for seat reservations or if I'm on a night train (which I will likely do at least one, maybe two). I hear wildly different prices in my research about point-to-point train tickets, but it seems like a lot can be had for around 30-50$... it just seems like a lot more money to buy a pass. If anybody has some wisdom on this, that would be great because I feel like I keep reading different opinions everywhere.

. I hear wildly different prices in my research about point-to-point train tickets, but it seems like a lot can be had for around 30-50$.>

That is if you want to go into the individual web sites of national railways and weeks if not months in advance book a non-changeable non-refundable often ticket and then not at $30 ever for any of your trips but more like $50-80 and you may not be able to get a discounted ticket, sold in limited numbers and which often sell out weeks in advance.

So the pass gives you total freedom on all your train trips once you get to Lille (jumping off point on Chunnel trains if going to Bruges) - all of the others you can just hop on- in those countries there are no extra fees (like there are in Italy, Spain and France) - that most trains with railpasses charge hefty surcharges is simply a fallacy that folks who know little about trains in general might repeat without knowing it is a fallacy when talking about most trains in Europe.

10 days for $512 means 61 euros a day for unlimited fully flexible travel - a true bargain when compared with regular full fare tickets - you yes could go and book weeks early discounted tickets for maybe a bit less but not very much and what do you lose in flexibility not to speak of often hours trying to book online - not always a snap.

But the tickets you buy at stations in Europe will be way more than $612 if you do ten longish train trips - you only have six trips but I often do day trips from bases so it depends on how many train trips you actually will do - just six as you note then that would be $100 or so per trip with the pass - still a great deal on most journeys for fully flexible tickets but you may be able to book some much cheaper online. Play around with the various web sites and see what is up then you will be able to make a more educated decision.

I always use a railpass more than I imagine and even with a 10-day pass you could use the other days besides your six long days say doing day trips from cities - but a lot of trips cannot be done for anything less than about $50 IME even with the discounted routes - at stations if you do not book you will pay much more.

Well, it looks like this is really happening! I'm probably going to buy a plane ticket this week... can't even believe it.

After more pondering, I'm now thinking of doing London->Bruges->Amsterdam->Berlin->Prague->Vienna->Budapest. I'd be cutting Krakow and Ljubljana and adding Vienna.

However, I hear so many amazing things about Krakow, I'm still not sure... I could still do Krakow instead of Vienna. Or I could fo from Prague to Krakow, cut Vienna and Budapest, and throw in some other place along the way. I found basically identical flights whether I leave from Budapest or Krakow, so that's not a concern...

Granted, I'm going to keep my plans flexible and might add or subtract places on the fly, but I do need to decide whether I'm flying out of Budapest or Krakow... any last thoughts before I pull the trigger? Thanks to everyone so much for all the advice and wisdom so far!

> However, I hear so many amazing things about Krakow, I'm still not sure... I could still do Krakow instead of Vienna. Or I could fo from Prague to Krakow, cut Vienna and Budapest, and throw in some other place along the way.

The good news is that you will see wonderful things whichever choices you make. Krakow and Vienna are very different places, so maybe one has more of interest to you than the other? Or you might want to consider your likelihood of visiting these areas again, in which case keeping Krakow might make most sense because its the one that is most difficult to reach from locations that tend to be high on priority lists for European travel. (In other words, you are more likely to find it convenient to visit Vienna on a future trip than Krakow.)

I'm not sure why you are considering cutting both Vienna and Budapest or "throwing" in some other place - maybe just a bit overwhelmed at this point in your planning? If so, I can surely understand - I've had moments like that! And if that is it, just take some deep breaths and maybe take a day off from planning.

If you really can't decide, flip a coin. If you look at the coin and say, "OK," go with it. If you look at the coin and say "I'm going to flip for 2 out of 3," you'll know you made your decision.

Krakow IME was good for 2-3 days max - one day for this lovely lovely city - Poland's Royal City with much much more of an old-world look than a war-decimated Warsaw that was IMO tackily rebuilt after WW2 - and one day for the trip over to Auschwitz and a half-day for the UNESCO World-Heritage Site the Wieliczka Salt Mines, just south of Krakow.

If doing trains there are overnight trains between Krakow and Prague and Budapest.

Would I take Krakow over Vienna - no way but Krakow is a delighgt - Vienna would work much more easily into the OP's itinerary however.

Consider hopping hydrofoils between Vienna and Budapest.

I really liked Krakow, I liked it better than Vienna, actually. I've been there a couple times, but once in Vienna was enough. However, it doesn't really fit into your current itinerary that well as it is out of the way unless you leave from there. And there is a place you could visit between Prague and Krakow going south by train (I've done that, in fact, Olomouc), but I've been to the CR and Poland 2-3 times each and so didn't need to hit another major city as someone who has never been there before has. Olomouc isn't really a major highlight of a trip. However, you could stay in Dresden between the two (I've done that, also), the only issue is then you are backtracking if you come from Berlin to Prague. But you could do that. I've visited Wroclaw, also, in-between Dresden and Krakow, that is a really nice city.

I think Vienna and Budapest are a bit more logical for your plan, if you are really interested in them. As you said, you aren't really that interested in Poland and could better fit Krakow into some other trip.

Okay... did some more thinking... given 28 days, here's what I think I'm going to do. This is just a general idea - not pre-booking much so I can add or subtract days if I love or hate a place.

London - 4 days
Brugge - 2 days
Amsterdam - 3 days
Berlin - 4 days
Prague - 3 days
Vienna - 3 days
Budapest - 3 days
Krakow - 3 days
= 25 days

That leaves 3 days worth of travel between places. Budapest to Krakow I'd take an overnight train. I could get a Eurail pass for 5 countries/6 days, that would cover Belgium/Amsterdam, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and allow a couple day trips. Would have to book a separate ticket London->Bruges and Budapest->Krakow anyway since it's not covered by a pass.

If for whatever reason I feel the need to cut out Vienna or Budapest due to time, I could do so and still end up at Krakow. I found flights that work great for me going into London and out of Krakow.

Does this seem doable?