Hi. We are a couple in our mid/late 20's planning a 2 week holiday in Europe in mid July. As of now our itinerary is :

Vienna : 4 nights
Dubrovnik : 3 nights
Hvar : 3 nights
Budapest or Ljubljana : 3 nights

I am confused between Budapest and Ljubljana. I have already been to Budapest previously and love the city but my wife has never been there. Ive heard great things about Ljubljana. Any suggestions on which place is better? Is 3 days too much for Ljubljana? We like outdoor cafes, restaurants, walking in the old town squares and sightseeing during the day and checking out the nightlife at night. We are not much into museums. The reason we are doing 4 nights in Vienna is because we are planning a day trip to Bratislava. Any recommendations??

Well, Ljubljana is very cute, but it is much, much smaller than Budapest. But if you do a day trip to Lake Bled, and another to visit the caves you could spend three days there (hmm, are you talking three days or three nights?).

Check this: http://www.portdubrovnik.hr/girica1.php - for the most-crowded days in Dubrovnik.

Three days is way too much for Ljubljana. I would classify it as a large town rather than a "city." One day is enough. You could combine your time in Ljubljana with a day trip to Lake Bled and that area if you have a car but you seem to be focused on cities rather than countryside.

Budapest has lots more sightseeing and things to do and is much larger.

I also think 2 days (3 nights) is more than enough for Dubrovnik. One day here is enough.

I don't think three days in Ljubljana is too long at all. I was there for a week in July 2012 and I certainly never got bored. Especially since you aren't into museums. There is a huge, gorgeous park to explore and picnic in (Tivoli Park), a TON of riverside cafes and bars that are packed to the gills every night (they were in July 2012, at least), a fantastic restaurant in a castle courtyard (Gostilna Na Gradu, no entry fee needed to eat there)... great food market, excellent wine (better than Hungary IMO), and very friendly and easy to talk to locals.

Budapest is wonderful as you know but I wouldn't discount Ljubljana as a great place to relax and enjoy your vacation for three days. When I was there the Euro Cup football final happened and we went and watched it in a pub - SO MUCH FUN. Really, a highlight of my traveling career. And you might be there for part of the World Cup, right?

Check out this piece in the NY Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/tr...enia.html?_r=0

It does seem like you are moving some pretty great distances between locations. I hope every travel day is an extra day in between the actual "days in town."

Budapest is a big capital (of a former kingdom) since centuries, with famous museums, palaces, a big cathedral, a fortress, thermal spas and many daytrip possiblities (Danube cruise to Estergom, etc.).

Ljubljana has nothing of all that. That doesn't mean that it is not a nice place; it's just different. But I would never stay there longer than a full day, rather less.

As thursdaysd points out, 3 days is perfect if you want to see charming Ljubljana, Lake Bled, and some of the other sights in the area -- caves, the Vintgar Gorge, Lake Bohinj....

And as others are noting, 3 nights should work for Dubrovnik if that means 2 days -- a day for Dubrovnik itself, a day for Kotor or for a very leisurely visit to Lokrum or maybe a day in some of the other islands near Dubrovnik. Three days there could be too much if you aren't planning on day trips.

Three days in Hvar would have have been two too many for me -- to each his/her own!

Enjoy!

Thank you for the replies. I think we will do 2 nights and 2 days in Ljubljana which includes a day trip to Lake Bled. Has anyone been to Krakow? How would you rate it as compared to Budapest or Ljubljana? Some of you have mentioned 2 days is enough in Dubrovnik. Is 3 days and 3 nights too much for Dubrovnik? Please keep in mind we intend to make a day trip to Kotor. We are open to suggestions. Thank you

@rialtogrl. Thank you for ur suggestions. The itinerary has been made keeping the flight and train timings in consideration so that least time is wasted on travelling and we dont need to keep spare days just for the going from one city to the other. Our itinerary is as follows :

11th July- Arriving into Vienna at 8.30 am
15th July - Taking the 9.45 am flight to Ljubljana.Arriving into Ljubljana at 10.45 am
17th July - Taking the 11.40 am flight to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik at 12.45 pm
20th July- Hvar at 1 pm.

Any other recommendations or suggestions are welcomed.

I think you just have the minimum amount of time in all those places. I had four days in Vienna with the intention of a day trip to Bratislava and never got around to it. We had four nights on our Dubrovnik trip but did do two day trips, one to Kotor and one to Mostar, and I had three nights in Ljubljana with a day trip to Lake Bled. I actually could have used another day in each of those - and I don't think I did any museums in any of them .

If you like wandering cobblestone streets and seeing old town squares you will love Ljubljana. Budapest is a great city but doesn't have the charm Ljubljana has.

<< Has anyone been to Krakow? How would you rate it as compared to Budapest or Ljubljana? >>

I've been to Krakow twice and love it. It's one of my favorite cities. It has a beautiful central square with people and buskers late into the evening, lots of interesting sightseeing, and very friendly people. It's a smallish city so you can walk most places. The one problem with Krakow is that the trains take so long to get there and to any place else other than Warsaw. 4 to 5 days in Krakow would be an appropriate amount of time.

"Budapest .... doesn't have the charm that Ljubljana has".

Disagree. The city has a whole may not be charming, but parts of it certainly are. It also has some excellent Art Nouveau architecture. Come to that, not all of Ljubljana is charming.

The train ride from Vienna to Ljubljana is very scenic (via Bled, BTW):
Vienna dp 8.03 - Ljubljana ar 14.08

If you take the plane, you will have to leave Vienna city center around 8am too and will arrive at Ljubljana city center around 11.30 and will then probably go to a restaurant for lunch.

If you arrive by train, you may already have had luch in the dining car.

Thank you for all the replies. Budapest is off the list. It comes down to Krakow and Ljubljana. If u had to pick one which would it be?

??? Both are charming. Ljubljana is very near your other planned destinations. Krakow is not.

@kja Agreed. Ljubljana is near Croatia but it has no direct flights to either Dubrovnik or Split and if there are any they are very expensive. Krakow flies to Dubrovnik and Split once a week on Eurolot with inexpensive fares. Im planning a 3 day trip to Krakow which includes a day trip to Auschwitz which leaves me with 2 full days in Krakow. Is that too less?

Should be good! Don't miss the Lady with an Ermine.

Hello,

At least it's not a "Budapest vs Prague" as we always see for me it's definitely Budapest, why? because you'll get to visit a very different part of Europe and a lot more exciting places than Ljubljana, if you're staying there for few days I can redirect you to a good apartment rentals agency, with less than 50€ you'll get a room you dream of.

Good luck.

Thank you for all the replies. After much research we have narrowed down on the following

Amsterdam - 4 days
Krakow - 3 days(including salt mines & Auswitch)
Hvar - 3 days
Dubrovnik - 3 days (including a day trip to Kotor)

The reason we are doing 4 days in Amsterdam is because we want to make day trips to towns around the city which i hear are beautiful. Has anyone been to any? If i had to choose from Utrecht, Haarlem, Leiden & Delft which would you recommend. I think il have time to fit in 2 of them. I could be wrong. Any suggestions welcomed.

I have been to Haarlam.. very easy to get to and quaint. We rented bikes and biked out to the sea. But with so little time in Amsterdam, personally, I wouldn't try to squeeze in any day trips.

Are these the times you actually have in each city or do the number of days you list include travel time? For example, do you have 4 full days in Amsterdam and then a travel day and then 3 full days in Krakow, etc. OR, once you count travel (assume 1/2 day each time you change cities), do you have 3 or 3.5 days in Amsterdam and 2 or 2.5 days in Krakow, etc.

Either way, I think you are skimping on Amsterdam and Krakow. You will need to be selective even if what you list is really full days; you will need to make some very difficult decisions about what to see and what to skip if you haven't taken travel time into account.

Re: Hvar -- have you made sure that the ferries will meet your needs?