mike morley

My wife and I are seasoned travelers, we'd like to tour eastern europe this summer. Any suggestions on a itenrary. Countries we would like to tour are: Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia, Slovena, Hungary, Slovakia,Poland, Czech Republic, Germany (Berlin) England, Ireland and home. Time is not a factor, any suggestion would be appreciated, thank you

Linda

Berlin is one of my favorite cities and needs at least 3-4 full days--so much history, culture, shopping, good food and nice people. In Poland, Krakow and Gdansk are nice--from Krakow side trips to Zakopane, Aushwitz/Birkenau, Salt Mines, city with Black Madonna (can't think of the name right offhand). Prague is a must and you can take daytrips to Kutna Hora, Karlovy Vary, Pilsen--also Cesky Krumlov. Slovakia is pretty closer to Poland but Bratislava is a day trip from Vienna. Budapest is great and well worth time. I think you might enjoy Croatia (Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik) better than some of Yugoslavia. Wish I could sneak in your luggage--sounds like a fun summer!

Art

Hi Mike, search under either Poland or Romania here at fodors. I visited Poland and Romania (primarily) last Sept. Poland has a wealth of places to visit. In Romania, I preferred the Transylvania area.<BR>Any other questions, feel free to email me.<BR><BR>Regards,<BR>Art<BR><BR>

Heather

Mike, unfortunately, I can't help with most of your wish list, but I did post some notes from my week in Slovenia this Summer [search for Piran or Lake Bled]. I've also been to Budapest, England and Ireland, but others here have offered an exhaustive amount of wonderful posts on those locations.<BR><BR>Let me know if I can add anything to my post on Slovenia. It was a fascinating week that went all too quickly and I hope to go back for a longer amount of time someday.<BR><BR>p.s. A great place for travel notes on Slovenia is found at http://thetravelzine.com

William Szabo Verzoc

Mike,<BR><BR>Hungary is beautiful. I was just there in Aug of 2001 for three weeks. I couldn't get enough. Although there are many places to see in the country, your best bet would be to thoroughly explore Budapest and perhaps take a tour to the Danuble Bend north of the city. There are many quaint towns like Szentendre(an artists village) and Visegrad were you can see a fortress. <BR><BR>Budapest will take you at least a week to fully enjoy it. You'll definately want to see the Castle District. It's filled with lovely cobblestone streets and plenty of historic architecture and other sights. Plan on spending the entire day just in the Cast District to see the Fisherman's Bastion, Matyas Church, the Royal Palace and the historic Taban district bordering the Danube.<BR><BR>You'll need at least a couple of days to fully explore Central Pest and the wonderful sights to be seen there. There's St. Stephen's basillica, the Gothic Parliament building, various museums, the Opera House, Heroes Square and the shopping district of Vaci Utca. You could spend the entire day on Vaci Utca alone! <BR><BR>If you're interested, there are several fine museums, like the History Museum and the Fine Art Museum just to name a couple. <BR><BR>Taking a trip on your last day in Budapest to the relaxing Margitsziget (Margaret's Island) in the north of the city might be in order. The island is filled with nothing but parks and thermal baths. You may even take in a concert at the open-air hall located there. <BR><BR>You didn't mention if you were going by car but I wouldn't suggest it. You may come along a sight of interest and not be able to find a place to park. <BR><BR>I don't want to take any more board space, but if you need any more info on hotels or such feel free to e-mail me.

julie

In the past few years we have been to Czech Republic, Krakow, Hungary and Romania. Without a doubt, Romania was our favorite. People there were interested to meet us and were not just interested in taking advantage of us as tourists. We should have worn shirts that were emblazoned with "We are Americans." Romania is also an incredibly beautiful country although they do have a major problem with litter everywhere. Be forewarned however, if you plan on travelling to Romania you have to be flexible, willing to go with the flow, not plan on going for a culinary experience, and willing to lower your expectations as far as tourist facilities. But, if you can do that you will hve a marvelous experience. We spent 8 days in the ocuntry and wished we had had more. We rented a car in Budapest and drove into Romania. If you rent a car, there are only a few firms in Hungary that will let you take a car into Romania. It is much cheaper to rent in Hungary than it would have been to rent in Romania. Also, we had heard nothing positive about Bucharest so we skipped it entirely. We visited the Transylvania area, the Bucovina area and the most remote of all the Maramures area where we had a three day homestay with a local family. It was the highlight of our visit. Some parts of Romania are like visiting pre-WWII Europe; there is no mechanization at all. In our entire trip we only saw other Americans 2 times. Once when we ended up staying at the most expensive hotel in Sibiu (our room cost $37) because our other option was full, and when we met the Peace Corps volunteers who were stationed in the Maramures area. By the way, if you do visit Romania there are many ATM's and we never had a problem finding a place to withdraw cash. However, when you get ready to leave, make sure that you do not withdraw more Romanian lei than you can use up because you will not be able to exchange it back. We learned the hard way. If you are interested in visiting Romania e-mail me. Also, there are a few marvelous Romanians who regularly answer posts on Lonely Planet's Eastern Europe board.

Pierre

My vote is for Romania and Hungary too. Romania is really beautiful and people are great. Email me if you want any specifics

Ben Haines

<BR>You can do most of your travelling asleep in a sleeper. Fares and sleepers are cheap in central Europe. The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas Cook European Timetable. Some trains to interest you are these.<BR><BR>Istanbul 2035, Bucharest 1727. For this you'll need to buy packed meals and drink before you board in Istanbul<BR><BR>Bucharest 2030, Belgrade 0849<BR><BR>Belgrade 2145, Ljubljana 0730<BR><BR>Ljubljana 0725, take packed meals, Budapest 1603. I'm afraid there's no convenient night train between these cities.<BR><BR>Hungary to Slovakia and Slovakia to Poland by day train with restaurant car<BR><BR>Warsaw 2135 or Krakow 2220, Prague 0731<BR><BR>Czech Republic to Berlin by day train with restaurant car<BR><BR>Berlin Zoo station 2139, change at Brussels South 0609 to 0701, London 0850 <BR><BR>Please write if I can help further. Welcome back to Europe.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>