Thanks kja!

Dunno. I can certainly understand the desire to see as much as you can if you aren't sure you will ever get a chance to return.

haha! yeah, I'm trying not to rush, I don't Have to see everything, yet I would like to 'see as much as I can' within a reasonable amount of time. I know it's bit contradictory, I will have to try to balance it all.

I would take Croatia off the trip. I live in Budapest and it is hard for me to get to/from Dubrovnik. Chances are, we would have to go back to Vienna to fly.... Zagreb is a great city (imho) but it is about 6.5 hours from Budapest by train.

I would not add the Tatra mountains... That opens up an entire can of worms (not exactly easy to get to, move around in, etc)... Plus, the Tatras did little for me. Of course, I only visited the Tatras from Slovakia. I have never visited from Poland.

The OP is correct in thinking that the Tatras might be questionable in her period of travel. Otherwise I can recommend the Tatras as very appealing from the Polish side of the border.

Yes, I'm considering taking Croatia off the trip too...and maybe travel to just Croatia alone another time. Or, maybe just visit Zagreb and Plitvice in Croatia and forget about Split and Dubrovnik?

I would probably take all of Croatia off.... And if you want to see another city, add Bratislava.... You could stop on the way from Budapest to Prague.

Are you traveling by train?

What I propose won't be cheap. I've just checked flight costs from Prague to Dubrovnik. Oi, oi.

Full disclosure: of your countries I've only traveled in Austria, I'm just winging this to see how it could be done.


Prague - 2, then fly to Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik - 3 nights/ subtotal 5
Split (by bus, apparently) - 2/7
Plitvice (by bus or, according to an Internet post, sometimes there's a taxi van that does it faster for only marginally more cost) - 2/9
Zagreb (bus)- 1/10
Ljubljana, (Slovenia)- 2/12
Salzburg (about 5 hours by train via Villach)-3/15
Melk (1 night if you must)- 1/16
Vienna - 4/20
Prague - 4/24
maybe detour to Cesky for a night or two, or skip it

This eliminates Obertraun, Budapest

10 stops in 24 nights, busy but not impossible. What I don't know about is the ease of those bus connections in Croatia.

Personally, I would leave off the Croatian coast for early November. I would plan a trip around Prague, Vienna, Budapest.

Not sure exactly what you are trying to see. If you want to add a loop, you could go Vienna to Ljubljana ( a wonderful little city), to Zagreb to Budapest. All this can be done by train.

So maybe... Prague, Vienna, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague.

I have done all these train legs. They are all quite doable.

Others will know more about this than I do, but I believe you can do Melk as a day trip from Vienna. So give yourself more days in Vienna, and allow for one of those days to be a trip to Melk. You could also do a day trip to Bratislava from Vienna.

You can surely do Bratislava or Melk as day trips from Vienna (or - as I generally do - you can do Vienna as a day trip from Bratislava).

The only reason I might recommend an overnight in Bratislava is - Bratislava is beautiful and peaceful at night - and it easily breaks up a long train ride.

If you are a classical music fan, Bratislava's Reduta Hall is not to be missed.

In general, I would minimze the hopping around (not actually recommending you add Lubljana and Zagreb - it just is easier to do this than some of what you are considering if you want variety).

Thank you Sue_xx_yy and central Europe. My very first initial plan was to do Ljubljana and Bratislava. But after a while I took it out and came out with the itinerary above. Right now, I am seriously considering taking out Croatia or maybe just going to Zagreb only. We have been stuck the past week or so deciding on Croatia..yesterday we discussed about maybe having a more relaxed trip like what so many of you have recommended would be better.

I love Zagreb, Misponge (and we really love Ljubljana)... Keep in mind, Zagreb is a 6 hour train ride (or maybe a bit longer) from Budapest. If you are able to rent a car, it could be much faster.

Much as I loved Croatia, I think leaving it for another trip makes a great deal of sense.