Eastern Europe Itinerary 1 Month July '12
 

Hello All,

I'm a first time 33 year old solo male looking to backpack for a month in July and August. I'm looking to see and experience the cities as well as the countryside, the nightlife (not into the club scene), the food, and of course the beaches. Finding reasonably priced flights that coordinate with a sensible travel itinerary has been a struggle, but this is what I've come up with:

Kakrow- 3 Days
High Tatras- 2 Days
Budapest- 3 Days
Belgrade- 3 Days
Sarajevo- 2 Days
Mostar- 1 Day
Kotor- 3 Days
Dubrovnik- 3 Days
Split- 3 Days
Ilovik- 2 Days (A friend will be on this Croatian island between Pula and Zadaro in his family's home, and it seems like a nice chill FREE place to hang for a few days)
Slovenia- 3 Days
Venice- 2 Days

This is 30 days. I plan on flying to Kakrow 7/9 and out of Venice to NY on 8/9.

1. Is this schedule too tight? Should I skip some of these places or spend less in some, or am I looking good? Open to all suggestions here.

2. Excluding airfare, is $3K USD going to work here?

3. I also flirted with visiting all of the listed spots except Venice. For this itinerary I would do Krakow-HighTatras-Budapest-SLOVENIA-Croatian Coast-Kotor-Mostar-Sarajevo-Belgrade... flying out of Belgrade. This I believe would free up a few days and the flights would be ever so slightly cheaper.

Thoughts and suggestions on all would be much appreciated. Thanks so much!

I don't think I can offer very solid advice since so much depends on your preferences and interests and travel pace. I can tell you how much time I spent in some of these wonderful places, with the preface that I pack a lot in to my trips. Too, I was already an experienced traveler when I visited the places on your list, and so had learned a LOT about how to travel in a way that suited me. And I wasn't looking for either nightlife or beaches. With that in mind, I spent:

Kakrow- 2 Days - Given changes since I was there, I'd give it at least 3 days now.
High Tatras- 2 Days - I haven't been there yet.
Budapest- 3 Days - I had 3.5 very long, full (wonderful) days
Belgrade- 3 Days - I haven't been there yet.
Sarajevo- 2 Days - I had 1.5 and would have liked more
Mostar- 1 Day - 1 day worked for me.
Kotor- 3 Days - I visited Perast and Kotor as a long day-trip from Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik- 3 Days - That's what I had in Dubrovnik, including the day trip to Perast & Kotor; the time worked for my purposes.
Split- 3 Days - I spent 1 day in Split (wish I'd had 2) and another 1/2 day or so in Trogir
Ilovik- - I haven't been there yet - sounds like a great option for you
Slovenia- 3 Days - I had 4 days and wish I had more
Venice- 2 Days - I had about 3.5 days and wish I had had more.

Again, it really depends on your interests and tastes.

You're idea of skipping Venice for this trip and re-routing has a lot of merits. Venice is wonderful, but you are trying to pack a lot in.

Hope that helps!

BTW, it looks like you flagged your post for Croatia only. You might contact the Forum's editor and ask to add flags for the other countries you are thinking of visiting. That might get you more responses.

Definitely helpful...Thanks! Yes Venice is out...will probably turn that into some more island hopping in Croatia...didn't mention that above...but from Split and Dubrovnik I plan on doing some of that.

Thanks again...and any other suggestions within the region is much appreciated!