ckram23

I'm planning a 12-14 day trip to eastern Europe this fall and need help with an itinerary. There are too many places I want to see and I'm having such a hard time narrowing down my list and would LOVE some help. The cities I'd love to fit in (I know it's not feasible to do in 12-14 days) would be Krakow, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Budapest, Bucharest, Cluj, Brasov, and Sibiu. I'll be traveling with my husband (we're 27 and 28) and we love food, beer, history, and architecture. We love walking and wondering through new places. I'm wondering how many days we should spend in each city, and which ones you consider can't miss cities.

nytraveler

First of all we need to know how many days/nights you actually have on the ground - not counting arriving the day you arrive and the day you leave. Then people can give an idea of how many places you can see. I wold limit to 3 cities - with the possibility of a day trip from one or two - or you will spend a VERY large part of you limited time just in transit from one place to another.

Have you even looked at the transit time between these various places?

I would make Krakow, Prague and Budapest the must sees - have really enjoyed visiting all of them (several times for P and B).

Andrew

I've been to the first four and not the others. I loved Prague and Krakow, was glad to have visited Budapest but didn't warm to it; found Cesky Krumlov a tad overrated (might be more fun in the summer). But - these are totally opinion questions; the next person to respond might have the opposite opinion. You'll have to weigh them.

Yes, 14 days (13 nights, plus arrival days?) is probably not enough time for all of those places, unless you plan to do a very rushed trip.

I always plan out practical itineraries and see how everything fits together before making a decision. I may throw out a place just because it's hard to fit in, even if it's a place I really wanted to go (maybe next trip?). Getting between Prague, Krakow, and Budapest by train can be tricky (Prague to Budapest is easy; Prague to/from Krakow is not too bad; Krakow to Budapest is hard, possibly best by night train, something I've never tried but doesn't entice me).

So - try it: where would you start and end? (If you rent a car, you'll be doing a one-way drop in a different country, potentially expensive; train + bus is recommended if possible.) How are the flights - doable or requiring crazy connections? Where would your start and endpoints be?

Try plotting all the cities on a Google map and see how they might best connect. You could fly into Krakow out of Budapest or vice versa and do the long train rides between Prague and Budapest and Prague and Krakow (train + bus might work better or that one). Four nights in each city is twelve nights; add 1-2 more nights for Cesky Krumlov (or day trip from Prague - a long day but doable I've heard, I spent a few nights there).

Or try to add say Bucharest or another city after Budapest if you think you could fly into/out of there, and take a few days from the other cities.

Use www.bahn.com to see train connections. Use Rome2Rio.com to find the best way to get between places otherwise.

Bedar

I'd forget Romania unless you have a reason other than tourism, family whatever.

bilboburgler

I've been to all your targets, this is how I would split my time if I went again

Krakow, 2 nights
Prague, 4 nights
Cesky Krumlov,0 nights
Budapest, 4 nights
Bucharest, 2 nights
Cluj, 1 night
Brasov, 1 night
Sibiu 1 night

Romania, reasons to visit, the painted monastries, the hiking, bike riding, countryside, horse riding, the wine, the skiing..... eh that's it ;-)

BigRuss

You're both in your 20s so do half of the itinerary because you'll be back.

Go Slavic or not: Take the Czech/Pole part or the Magyar/Romania part. That way you won't short either. These countries are in the same general region of Central Europe (only Romania could really be "Eastern" Europe) but are very different.

I also prefer both Prague and Budapest to Krakow, but Krakow has two day trips you can't substitute out of Budapest or Prague - Oswiecim (better known by its German name) and the Wieliczka Salt Mine. And if you're really interested in history you should see Nowa Huta, which far too many guidebooks ignore or gloss over. Check out Mike's Crazy Guides at crazyguides.com (no, I don't get an honorarium from the recommendation). You won't get much out of Krakow in 2 nights.

And the Szambelam shop is only in Krakow.

bwergs

I think picking three cities is the way to go -- you can always take a day trip or two to mix things up.

I absolutely loved Prague. I found it really charming and met some wonderful people. The beer scene there is incredible, and the food is delicious.

I found Budapest to be a surprisingly beautiful city. The food isn't as exciting, but the architecture is quite something. There's also a number of easily accessible small towns on the Danube you could take a day trip to (I took a day and went to Vacs and Szentendre and had quite a magical time).

I've heard Krakow is great and would love to go, but it is very out of the way via slow trains, so I wonder if it would be better to cut it out. Have you considered Berlin? It would be pretty easy to travel Berlin to Prague to Budapest by train. Berlin is a fascinating place right now with lots of new creative restaurants and shops and nightlife. I feel like it's having a "moment" right now and will be very different in 5 years. Plus, there's a wealth of history to explore. If you're interested in nightlife, it's also probably the best in the world.

Andrew

bwergs: <i>I've heard Krakow is great and would love to go, but it is very out of the way via slow trains.</i>

Not really that bad. One can either take a bus + train combo (about six hours total travel time) or an eight hour train ride. That's about the same as a train between Prague and Budapest.

Andrew

^^Between Prague and Krakow, I meant...

Whathello

Never been able to find Bucharest attractive.

kja

You are wise to realize that you can't see all these places in one trip!

You might want to approach it as your first of two trips to this area, and select the half that (a) includes the places that most appeal to you and (b) are closest to, or most easily reached from, each other so you keep your time in transit low relative to your time to actually see things. Just a thought.

APBaron

Bedar-Romania was my very favorite country most recent trip. So beautiful! Brasov, Sighisoara, Bukovina, driving all through the countryside from one region to another. Breathtaking! I plan to return there and explore some more.

minamax10

I second what APBaron wrote. on our recent trip (Sept 2015), Transylvania just blew me away. Didn't think there would be enough to fill our days, but in the end we just didn't have enough days to do fill! Amazing. And unlike Prague (which I loved) and other more popular destinations on your list, it's not crowded at all. You also get really good value for your money in Romania. The food was great. Simple but so delicious. And Romanian wine (which I hadn't heard of before the trip) was wonderful as well. So, my vote is for Transylvania (Bucharest wasn't our favourite part of the trip). Enjoy!