Seasonal

Hi everyone,<BR><BR>I've been reading the threads for a while now and I thought it time to solicit people’s advice. I am planning a lower budget 7-10 week eastern European trip this summer. The purpose of this trip is to visit a part of the world that most likely will not be the same in 10-15 years. <BR><BR>My budget is on the lower end. I’m willing to spend money where prudent (ie a good guide, great restaurant, safe and clean hotel for a single female), but I prefer to travel “in the streets” to better immerse myself in the local culture. My worst vacation fear is traveling within a “big glass bubble” – seeing all the tourist sites but none of the country I came to visit. <BR><BR>I’m still in the early planning stages, but I hoped some of you knowledgeable gurus out there might validate or make suggestions on my overall itinerary before I start getting into the details: Specifically I’m getting tripped up in how I should travel between cities. Also, I’m scared I’ll miss a gem between my primary cities because it’s not in a book – but perhaps worth a ½ day stop. <BR><BR>Other factors I should mention:<BR>- My trip is one way, ie I’ll fly into “Krakow,” and fly out through “Bucharest.” At this point however, my cities aren’t finalized and I’m flexible to suggestions!<BR>- The other concern I’m battling is whether to visit Romania at all this trip. I’m primarily interested in the Brasov to Bucharest trail, but on my map it looks fairly out of the way. If it makes sense to cut the trip short (maybe to 8 weeks) and skip Romania this time, I’d appreciate hearing so.<BR><BR>Thanks. (Cities below)<BR><BR>Krakow <BR>Wroclaw<BR>Zakopane<BR>Levoca<BR>Bojnice (fairytale castle)<BR>Trencin<BR><BR>Kutna Hora<BR>Prague<BR>Ceske Budejovice<BR><BR>Vienna (pass-through city)<BR>Sopron<BR>Koszeg (famous Turkish siege?)<BR>Szombathely<BR>Keszthely (loczy cave, gaspan)<BR>Veszprem<BR>Budapest<BR>Visegrad (Danube bend, amazing views)<BR>Eger (Bedela Caves)<BR>Debrecen<BR>Dunaujvaros<BR>Pecs (churches, physical activities)<BR><BR>Moldavia (monastery tour)<BR>Sighisoara or Brasov (medieval town, small peasant villages)<BR>Sinaia

rex

In the Wroclaw, I am finding quite a few &quot;Penjonat&quot; offerings at dirt cheap prices, you might simply try a search on &quot;pensjonat Poland&quot; or &quot;pensjonat Polen&quot;. Many of the websites have no English; some do have German.<BR><BR>And there is a neat castle choice a bit southeast of Krakow (qhite a bit east of Zakopane, I think) - - search &quot;Niedzica&quot; - - again, many low cost lodging choices in this area.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>[email protected]<BR>

rex

Bringing you post back &quot;up to the top&quot; since it's your first post here ever(though perhaps you already know about clicking on your own name if you have been visiting here a while).<BR>

debbier

I am completely jealous of your trip and your itinerary-what wonderful places to visit. The best advice I can give you is to do more of your research on the lonely planets thorntree site rather than here at fodors. It has excellent advice for eastern Europe and also for lower budget travels. <BR>Traveling between cities will be by bus or train. You can do some research ahead of time on the www.raileurope.com site. It is the most thorough I know of to tell you what cities connect by train. You will probably be best to purchase your tickets when you arrive though, not ahead of time. The best way to meet people while traveling alone is to talk to people on the trains, where have you been? how did you get there? what was your favorite place? And not only do you meet people that way but you figure out where to go next.<BR>Dont forget to visit Cesky Krumlov beyond Ceske Budejovice. Lots of hostels and young people there and a very cute town. I want to go on this trip! Have a great time.

GSteed

Use a theme to determine details. What is your profession? Rotary or Kiwana? You can visit Colleges..many have dorms or hotels. University of Lodz, Standard single room..$25/night.plus VAT. I talked with an organist who visits organ sites. Busses safer. Use pen and paper at ticket counters. Money belt for passport, etc. Easily washed clothing. Minimum of luggage! Work on getting weight to minimum. With advent of hypermarkets throughout Central/Eastern Europe you can buy almost anything you may need here. Prepare mailing labels, mail souvenirs as you collect them. Surface mail..3 months. Visit country tourist websites.

Seasonal

Hi everyone,<BR><BR>Thanks for your very nice responses. I have done extensive &quot;short trip&quot; travels before but this is my first stint with this much free time all at once!<BR>Rex, I appreciate the keyword search clues. That will come in very handy.<BR>The lonley planet reccomendation was also a good reminder... It was one of those &quot;on my list to dos&quot;- I'm not sure I fully understand the difference between the readers on the fodors forum and there?<BR>Are there any cycling enthusiasts out there? I'm very interested in a cycling tour in EE however, I haven't been able to find many tour operators who offer anything that catches my fancy. I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts on this!<BR>Also, aside from Krakow, does anyone have any &quot;must do&quot; tours I should consider? <BR>Thanks again,<BR>Christina

Seasonal

Rex,<BR>You've peaked my curiosity. How did you know it was my first post? <BR>Thx,<BR>Christina

GSteed

Bicycle/Rovers..Poland..I met a group of cyclers at the Mariott in Warsaw. They were from Michigan. According to one of them, they were having no problems and enjoying all of it. Drivers seem more than accommodating to bicycles. Someone told me that if you hit a cycler in Germany you can go to jail!

rex

To Seasonal:<BR><BR>See how your own name is underlined? That means you can &quot;click on&quot; it. It brings up all the message threads, on which you have posted - - which in your case is just this one.<BR>

rex

One additional clarification - - I propose you search Niedzica HERE on this foru, and you will find posts like this one from me:<BR><BR>Author: Rex<BR>Date: 04/20/2000, 11:56 pm<BR><BR>Message: I'm not sure what website you're citing - - it looks like maybe www.poland.net/castles - - which in turn led me to www.HotelsPoland.com/index.shtml - - which has a listing of 20 or so availale properties. <BR><BR>If this is the kind of place you have in mind - - www.hotelspoland.com/castle_palace/niedzica <BR><BR>=================<BR><BR>On the other hand, the suggestion to search &quot;pensjonat&quot; is for Yahoo or google.<BR>

LeeshM

Travel Prague's back roads to really get a sense of the area. The city is split into sections - if you get up into Section 5 you'll see a completely different scene from the busy city streets.

KatCoz

I can only speak for Romania, and tell you that it is definitely worth it. Of the Bukovina monasteries, Voronet is the most impressive. You can stay in Gura Humorului (village 1 km away from the monastery) and walk to Voronet, and a long hike to Moldovita. You'd need some kind of transport to get to Suceavita - but i'm not so fond of that one. There are a few great little villas in Gura Humorului that rent rooms super cheap - I stayed at Vila Ramona, and the people there are great. Definitely take the train into Sighisoara, see Brasov and make your way to Bucharest. You don't need much time for Bucharest - your main purpose in Romania would be outside of the capital. But the Romanian countryside is definitely worth while. <BR>Other than that, the only other place you mentioned that I've been to is Hungary - Budapest and Pecs. And I loved Pecs. So, happy trails, and give yourself sufficient time for Romania - it's enchanting!

CharlieB

Seasonal - sounds like a wonderful trip. My only suggestion would be to consider Lublin and Zamosc in Poland. Lublin was the center of Jewish culture in Poland and has a magnificent Ryneck, though not as well restored as in other Polish cities and still a bit shabby. Zamosc is an easy day trip from Lublin and is a delightfull walled town. Have fun!

Gaia

You should have visited Eastern Europe 10 years ago, it has changed a lot already. I hope that they have learnt English otherwise it will not be easy. And it is not cheap anymore eather, if you cannot read the menus and ask people to recommend things for you (hotels etc.) As soon as you leave the big cities, you very much on your own. Enjoy.

julies

A couple of comments.<BR><BR>Lonely Planet is defiinitely a better resource for you. The Fodor's site is mainly peopled by more upscale travellers who seem to visit the standard Paris/ Italy type places.<BR><BR>Levoca didn't do a thing for us. However, I'll admit it was a Sunday afternoon and theings were pretty dead. The wine caves on the outskirts of Eger were really nothing too interesting. We took the local bus from budapest up to Visigrad and then the boat trip back down, and it was much cheaper and probably a whole lot more interesting than signing up on a tour or something to do the same thing.<BR><BR>Romania is probably the most interesting place we ever visited. An absolutely gorgeous country. However, we had a car and I really don't know how difficult public transportation between smaller places would be (difficult I think). If you want to visit Europe as it used to be, visit the Maramures area; it truly is like 60-70 years ago in many ways. We did a homestay and hired the owner as a guide. It was a highlight of our trip and I'm almost embarassed to tell you how cheap it was--$15 a person a day for room &amp; board, and then $20 a day for guide services (this would have been higher if we'd used the guide's car rather than our own). Sigishorsa (sp?) really didn't do much to impress us. The Brasov area was really much more interesting. We skipped Bucharest after reading mostly negative things about it.<BR><BR>as far as the Czech Republic, we found Trebon in the summer to be interesting and delightful. We rented bikes for the afternon to pedal around the area (a vacation area for Czechs). Telc was also an intersting smaller city. See if you can get your hands on an issue of Frommer's Budget Travel from a couple of years ago. They had a feature article on cheaper interesting small cities to visit in the Czech Republic.<BR><BR>You'll have a fun trip!

libuse

Just a thought on the Czech Republic; somewhere that certainly feels very untouristy, but very easy to get to, is Plzen/Pilsen. If you do want to get a feel for real life in these countries, as opposed to the &quot;glass bubble&quot; that you mentioned, I would recommend this city. Its not the prettiest in the CR, but probably one of the easiest places to get to where you can immerse yourself in the culture. Alternatively, when in Prague, walk out to the Smichov area.

GSteed

Plzen..good choice. I attended a rail meeting there. Hotel served beer at breakfast..if you emptied glass it was refilled..lunch the same. Found the monument to General Patten..Surprize! American flag flying. Banquet at brewery..nice tour. There was even a K-Mart. ATMs.