Austria & Prague or Dubrovnik?
 

I'm planning next year's trip, or at least trying to decide on where to go. I was all set for Austria and then I thought I could add Prague to it.

Then I read more about Dubrovnik from so many Fodorites and now I'm thinking about Croatia.

I'm totally confused....don't know which one would be best. I never understood people who asked on this board where they should go, but I totally understand! :)

As a background, most likely I'll be travelling alone, in the first couple of weeks of October. I love photography, and like some museum, but my main thing that I like to do is just walk around the cities enjoying the architecture and the ambiance of the city.

Help! What would you suggest? And if I did go to Dubrovnik, how easy is it to get around the country, would going to Split be a good idea as well....

Any suggestions I'll be happy to read to help me figure out my next adventure!

Thanks in advance.

Hello Lyb, Your first impulse is still valid. Fly into Munich and home from Prague and include Salzburg and Vienna in the middle. Croatia is too hard to travel on your own and Prague is special. Good luck !

Lyb,

First let me say that you can't go wrong with either choice. I did Austria/Czech Republic in March '03 and Croatia in March '05.

Don't worry about traveling alone. In Croatia, we met an Englishman who was there by himself and he was having no problems :)

I would suggest that you read trip reports from people who have been to these places and see what strikes your fancy. Clicking on my name will pull up my trip reports from these places...but I'm not trying to plug anything :) There are a zillion reports on these places.

You might also check out Virtual Tourist. They give really good reports (with pictures) of places.

Ultimately, like I said, you can't go wrong with either place. That being said, if I were to travel solo and wanted to "soak up" the local atmosphere, I would pick Croatia if I wanted a quieter vacation and Austria/Czech Republic otherwise.

Kevin

I just got back from Dubrovnik traveling solo. Although it can be magical--especially in the mornings, late afternoons and evenings when many of the tourists leave, it's quite small As the previous poster suggested, getting around Croatia is more difficult than other parts of Europe. Even though it seems that everyone's going to Croatia, there are still relatively few Fordorites on this board--say compared with France.

Prague and Vienna are wonderful. I tend to enjoy the same things you mentioned and think you'd like these cities a lot. When I did them solo, I also did Budapest and Kracow. These are all great places to photograph, absorb the ambience and just hang out. And logistics are much easier than in Croatia. I'm lukewarm to Salzburg and think it's vastly overrated, but others here will disagree. But if you're into cities, you might consider adding Budapest and even Kracow.

I'd stick with your original plan

In 2005 we did Prague, Krakow, Budapest & Vienna in 17 days.It was a different type of trip- big cities, museums, opera, Holocaust & Communism memorials. The reason we decided on Slovenia & Croatia this year was because my husband wanted to extend our trip last year to include the Julian Alps just south of Austria but time was limited. So in planning for our recent 2006 trip, we discovered that Slovenia is a jewel of a country with Croatia so conveniently next door.The large difference is the scenery that is so spectacular that we're having difficulty deciding on where to go in 2007.

thank you everybody for your ideas...I've bought some guide books, and finding out that there's not many about Dubrovnik. Maybe I should keep croatia for a time when a friend can come with me...

Such difficult decisions....where, oh, where to go on vacation? :)

I went to Croatia 3 years ago solo. I didn't have any problems at all and had a magical time. I took a bus from Trieste to Rovinj where I spent a few days (with day trips around Istria by bus). Then I took a bus to Reijka and an overnight ferry to Dubrovnik. The ferry stops at Split, Hvar and Korcula. If you want to get off for a few days you can do that. In Dubrovnik I took a couple of Atlas excursions so got to take a wine tasting tour and visited Montenegro.

From Dubrovnik I flew to Zagreb and then took a train to Slovenia (Ljubljana and Bled). I took the train back to Venice where I met a friend and continued my trip in Italy.

My feeling is that Croatia is changing faster almost any place else. I'd rather see it sooner than later, when it will be decidedly more touristy.

When I read the above post I wanted to jump in again. Catbert has a really good point - see Croatia now before it changes.

Prague has already changed. Was Austria ever unchanged? :)

Croatia is really magical...but I think it is very different from Austria/Czech Rep.

You can find lots of trip reports on both places. See which appeals to you more.

Kevin

Lyb, If you're still considering Croatia, take a look at Virtual Tourist. There are quite a few Croatian members and they are more than helpful with planning a trip to their country. A couple of them might even offer to take you on a walking tour of their hometowns.