We are planning a trip to Europe in August '05. We will fly to Frankfurt and want to visit either Budapest or Ljubljana + Piran prior to heading to a 7-day sailing trip which departs from Trogir, Croatia. We could spend approximately 3-4 days in either Budapest or Ljubljana+Piran. Which would you recommend?

Hmmm.. I haven't been to Ljuljana since the 70s and my only recollection is seeing a dead dog whose head had been covered with a plastic bag to keep the flies off. Revolting. Obviously much has changed since then and it is certainly a great destination for lovers of architecture. But I adore Budapest -- been there twice this year. My only reservation is the temperature -- terribly hot and humid, as contacts there certainly mentioned this summer. Ljubljana might be no better, though....

Hi,
I have lived in both. In fact, I am still living in Ljubljana. I would skip Budapest but only because you are heading on to Croatia. Slovenia makes more sense.

Ljubljana is a beautiful little city with about 200,000. The main architect of Ljubljana is the same as Prague; Jose Plecnik, so the cities are similar in feel. August is lovely here and can be hot, but not unbearable. We are closer to the mountains so you can always escape if the situation is dire. I would skip Piran (nice, but only for a day or so) and do Ljubljana, Bled and Bohinj. This would be a nice contrast to the coasts of Croatia. If you would like another coastal city, I would recommend Rovinj.

Budapest is a nice city, though not one of my favorites. I think that it is a better Spring or Autumn destination. It is a much larger city and has a fascinating history. IMHO, the country itself is not nearly as beautiful as Slovenia however.
Cheers,
Jan

I too would suggest Ljubljana, but maybe combine it with Lake Bled-- simply beautiful. Maybe two nights in each. Ljubljana is very nice but small and four days could be overkill. I'd think you'll see too much like Piran to make that a destination this trip.

Thanks to the 3 replies so far. Much appreciated!

We did several days in Slovenia in 2000. We wanted to do Budapest but it was out of the way so we are doing that this year.

When we stayed in Ljublana we did two day trips, one to Ptuj and one to Skofja Loka. We started the trip in Piran and also went to Bled/Triglav. You can see all the photos here. http://groups.msn.com/bernsteinalbum. Click vacations on the left then Italy/Slovenia.

~gnr~

Thanks to all replies -- I think we're going to try to stretch our trip to be able to see both Budapest and Ljubljana.

Noussa, I'm interested in your sailing trip out of Trogir. How large a boat? how many passengers? with crew? would you share cost info please. Happy to send my e-mail address if you'd rather reply individually since this is kind of off-topic. thanks.

No! Please respond here. I would also be interested in knowing!
Cheers,
Jan

The Slovenian countryside is much prettier than Hungary's. But Budapest is definitely more of a cosmopolitan/big city than Ljubljana, which feels very much like a town rather than a metropolis.

Sorry it took me so long to reply to your questions about sailing in Croatia. We have actually done this once before, in July 2001. On that trip we chartered a boat via SunSail. We went with one other couple and did NOT have a crew. We sailed round trip 7 days total out of their base in Rognizica (sp?). It was perhaps the BEST vacation of my life. Great sailing conditions, wonderful ports, wonderful people, wonderful food. I can't say enough about it. For our trip in 2005 we are going with a group from our yacht club and chartering thru the Moorings. We'll depart from Trogir and go one-way to Dubrovnik (7 days). We are again going with one other couple on a 43.3 boat (no crew). For information on costs, etc. I would go to each charter company's website, as costs vary according to boat size, etc. But, the bottom line is the I recommend this highly! Any further questions, just let me know.