2 Months around Europe and the Balkans. Need help with itinerary!
 

Hello all,

We am planning a trip to Europe next year in spring, between mid April to June. We are two female travellers in our late 20s who love nature, hiking, churches, old medieval towns and castles. We are not the partying type so we usually spend lesser days in the larger cities and more days visiting less crowded areas. Oh and we love to try the local cuisine. Our itinerary is not fixed yet so we are very open to suggestions. We have about 60 - 65 days to travel.

We'd be travelling via public transport the whole trip. For the first leg of our trip, we will be joined by our parents so we are unable to skip the larger cities such as London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague. After that, we would be on our own. Our main purpose for this trip is to see the Balkans and enjoy what it has to offer.

We have previously been to Vienna, Bratislava and most of Slovenia on another trip which is why it is not included in the itinerary this time around.

Our draft route in sequence:

London 4D3N (Fly in)

Amsterdam 3D2N

Berlin 5D4N

Prague 4D3N

Krakow 4D3N

Kosice (*Not sure if we should skip this. 3D2N maybe?)

Budapest 2D1N

Belgrade 3D2N

Prishtina 2D1N

Prizren 4D3N

Skopje 2D1N

Ohrid 4D3N

Tirana 2D1N

Kotor 5D4N

Dubrovnik 2D1N

Mostar 3D2N

Sarajevo 4D3N

Zadar 4D3N

Zagreb 3D2N

Munich 3D2N (Fly out)

Based on the above itinerary, are we spending too little/too many days in a particular place? Should we be skipping some of the above places if they are similar? We are also keen to go on day trips such as Plitvice National Park, Kravice falls, Jajce, Perast etc.

Thank you and we'll really appreciate any suggestions!

I’m not sure how you are counting your time, as you always list one more day than night, and in most cases, you won’t be able to get from one place to another during the night, so I would think you really have one more night than day in each location. I think we would be better positioned to comment if you clear that up. Also, can you clarify where the shift from immutable to flexible occurs?

Agree you need to think 2 nights = 1 day....not the other way round

As lots on trains and public transit check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

You may want to look at the Eurail Select Saverpass - can be very cheap as is now bought by countries at various prices-some such as many you are going thru really cheap - hard to figure out exactly but give it a look -covers only trains of course.

can hop overnight trains to save an all-day train trip or half-day in all flight -like Prague to Krakow and Krakow to Budapest- Budapest to Belgrade, etc.

Budapest only one full day?

Many would say add a day or two here- maybe do a day trip on the Danube somewhere.

I'd subtract one day from Berlin, Belgrade, Prague (and maybe Krakow) -- add them to Budapest.

Your entire list is unintelligible --

Start over w/ an accurate itinerary.

Either using the actual dates (which might clear things up for you) OR w/ the number of nights and days reversed to be more realistic.

I don't know your actual dates but this is just for an illustration:

London nights April 15, 16 , 17 - 3 nights/2.5 days

Amsterdam April 18, 19 - 1.5 days

Berlin April 20, 21, 22, 23 - 3.5 days

Prague April 24, 25, 26 - 2 days

Krakow April 27, 28, 29 - 2 days

. . . and so forth . . .