A Month in Central Europe - What do you think of this itinerary?
 

Good morning everyone! I'm planning to spend a month in Central Europe starting a couple of days before Christmas. It's going to be our first time vacationing in this part of the continent - so we're really excited! I tried to put in as many different places as possible but still have an ample amount of time to see everything. I'm primarily interested in strolling through old towns and visiting castles and churches. I love hiking through scenic trails and landscapes. I've tried to incorporate these interests into my itinerary. Please tell me if I have missed a major site in the areas I'm visiting or have not allocated my time properly.

6 Days Vienna (with Day trip to Salzburg)
3 Days Budapest
4 Days Prague (with Day trip to Cesky Krumlov)
3 Days Belgrade
3 Days Dubrovnik
3 Days Split (with Day Trip to Plitvice)
1 Day Pula
2 Days Venice (I know this is a bit on the short side, but I have visited Venice before and I just think that there's much more to see)
3 Days Munich (with Day Trip to Fussen)
3 Days Heidelberg (with Day Trip to Triberg)
Depart from Vienna

I'm open to suggestions and advice regarding the feasibility and timeline of this trip. Thanks in advance.

What are you going to do with three days in Dubrovnik in the winter? The old city is small - you could see it in a day easily, probably less. My understanding is that the city is pretty dead in the winter. When I stayed there, my Croatian-born B&B owner said he closes every fall and heads to Miami for the winter!

No visit to Ljubljana? If you love strolling though old towns, this should be near the top of your list if you are in the area. It's a lovely town with beautiful architecture. I'd love to see it with a dusting of snow.

Only a day trip to Salzburg? With short days, I wonder how much time you'll really have to see the place. There may be culturally less to do in Salzburg than in Vienna, but I thought Salzburg was a lovely town, more appealing for an "old town stroll" than Vienna.

I also think you may be pushing things with a long day trip from Split to Plitvice, unless you get up and going very early. I don't know what the park is like in the winter - at least there won't be as many tourists! - but again I'd worry about the short days, and it's several hours each way from Split to Plitvice by car.

Count your days again. Where are the travel days? Even when it only takes a couple of hours to get from A to B by train or whatever transportation mode you are using, you lose most of a day making the move. Pack up; have breakfast; check-out; go to the station and wait for the train; take the train; find your next bed; go for a meal. All that is time not spent IN a place.

So when you write 3 days in X it is in fact 2 full days and maybe a bit of the third. It is not 3 days though. Adding day trips from these places clearly means that day is also not spent in the place. So if you have 3 days in X and a day trip included that means you will actually only have 1 day and maybe a bit in X.

A simple rule of thumb to use when planning like this is the 'Rule of 3s' which says, never spend less than 3 full days/4 nights in a place unless it is just an overnight stop between A and B.

It isn't an absolute and you can add on a day for a day trip but it gives you a rule of thumb to use for planning. Note it says 'less than', it is a minimum. Most people would agree that somewhere like say Rome needs more than 3 days. Also note the 3/4, that allows for a travel day between places.

Using that rule to begin with, it would tell you that with 31 days available you should look at no more than 8 places. A better mix would be around 6 places plus a couple of day trips.

Think in terms of percentages. The 3/4 rule if followed still results in 25% of your time being spent moving between places. Your list results in 10 moves. That's 10 days out of 31 or 33% of your total time. Do you think that is best use of your time.

The usual saying is 'we want to see/do as much as possible'. But the word 'much' is not synonymous with the word 'many'. In fact the way to see/do as much as possible is to spend the maximum amount of time IN places, not in BETWEEN places.

In travel, less is more. Move less, see/do more.

You've not said how you will be travelling between the various cities/towns, but assuming that you are planning to go by train or car you will be losing a fair amount of time on each transfer. Even with flights you'll lose half a day. At that time of year you can expect snow everywhere except on the Adriatic coast. And far fewer flights to resorts such as Dubrovnik. I think Dubrovnik is beautiful, but Andrew is right about 3 days being too long - particularly in winter, with many of the shops etc. closed. I'd add on extra time in Munich, where there is plenty to see and do, and reduce the time spent on the Adriatic coast.

I know a month sounds like a long time, but this seems too much, especially in the winter when days are short.

Assuming you listed your destinations in proper order, Vienna - Budapest - Prague - Belgrade has a lot of backtracking. How are you traveling between point A and B? Do you rent a car? Train? Definitely research that aspect of your trip...

Croatia is a nice weather destination (although I saw pictures of Plitvice lakes in the winter, and they were gorgeous - we visited in September), but for December I would stay in Austria, Germany, Czech Rep area. There is a lot to see/do there, lots of towns to stroll, castles and churches. Add Ljubljana as Andrew suggested, and you will have a wonderful trip.

Spend more than a day trip in Salzburg, the Alps are beautiful when covered in snow. Have a great trip!

You've already gotten some great advice. I'd like to underscore the warnings about the amount of time you will lose to travel and the extra limits associated with short daylight hours. Here's a site that will tell you sunset and sunrise times for just about anyplace:

http://www.timeanddate.com/

If you take our advice and cut back, I'll agree with the suggestion to defer your visit to Croatia. As others note, places like Dubrovnik are very quiet during winter, and it would take a lot of traveling time to get there.

You'll see some wonderful things!