19_Pamala

My daughter who lives in SF ...wants me to plan our holiday sometime in 1st week of October ...she can take off for 10-12 days ...so please help ... we would like to go to Croatia , Hungary & Germany .

Whathello

It runs in the family then.
Your daughter asks you. You ask us. I'll ask my daughter and revert back.

StCirq

Um... so get busy with guidebooks and the internet.

Gretchen

Get busy as St. Cirq says. Also decide how much money you can spend.
And as you wait longer to make air reservations, add to that amount.

isabel

Ten days is actually a very short trip all the way from SF, so three countries is a bad plan, especially three countries that are not close to each other. Even though Croatia and Hungary share a boarder, the places you are likely to want to go in those countries are not close. So before you do anything else figure out which one (max two) of those you want to go to and forget about the third. And which places within those countries. Then get the guidebooks, then come here with more specific questions and you'll get lots of help.

nytraveler

You really need to determine how much time you have. If you have only a total of 10 days (9.5 on the ground with the first being a 1/2 days that is jet lagged - and assuming you are not counting days you leave US or depart europe for the US - you really have time for only 2 cities - not 3. And forget 3 entire countries - you would need all the time in any of these countries to see much of anything.

Agree you need to do some research and decide:

1) how many days/nights you have, remembering that it takes 2 nights in a city to give you a full day there

2) what you r must see place is in each country

bilboburgler

Oct, 10 days (9 nights of which one will be ruined with jet lag) Germany, Hungary and Croatia

Any ideas about interests?

Too early for snow

Croatia can get a bit wet that time of year, why do you want to visit a summer destination in the Autumn, the hiking maybe?

Germany is a big place with a fair few cities any focus?

I think we need more input before we can help

Edward2005

What color is your car?

19_Pamala

Thank you all for your tips & advice ... Will do the needful then come back here .. Maybe we will drop Germany for the time being ... Just focus on Croatia & Hungary... I live in India my daughter is in SF ... My daughter is an outdoor person ...she loves nature & she is a trained scuba diver ... She would like a beach place if there's any as for me I am nature lover too ... Would'nt mind going for some simple hikes ...

bilboburgler

Croatian diving esp the islands is very good. Look at the islands that can be reached by hydrafoil from Split. Hvar for instance, but other islands will do, however you are late in the season so make sure the support services are there. hiking is good. Bol on Brac is nice but not sure about diving.

Hungary, the hiking is better north of the "great plain" (good forests, gentle slopes, local trains etc, while all the spas are in the north 1/3. I prefer the eastern half (and top 1/3) as just less developed.

German weather in October is getting cool.

19_Pamala

What would be the best cities or town to visit in Croatia ...maybe we spend 6 nights in Croatia & 4 nights in Hungary ... Dubrovnik ... 2nights ... Take day trip to Mostar or Kotor or Trebinje ... Split 2 nights .... Zagreb 1 night ... How does one travel bet ween cities ... Then from Zagreb maybe we go to Budapest ... Need suggestions on how to go about ...from SF .. Where should my daughter fly into & from India where should I fly into ..
In Hungary ...I would love some advice on how best to use our time ... Budapest surely ...

19_Pamala

Just spoke to my daughter ... October is OK with both of us ... 1st week of Oct ... Duration of our trip would be 12 to 15 days ... So we start with Croatia first ... She does not want to cram too many things .. She wants to stay put in a coastal town for maybe 4 nights... Where there is a beach ... & then maybe some day trips to some nearby place ... In Hungary ... Budapest for sure ... I wonder if 2 nights is ok ... I don't know any other interesting place in Hungary ... Any suggestions ... How many days should we think of in Hungary ... Then from there both of us would like to go to Berlin ... Will it be too crowded at that time of the year because of OktoberFest .. Is 3 nights in Berlin Ok ... I believe weather wise it's going to be alright at that time of the year ... & hopefully it will not be too crowded ...
I hope I am clear as to what we are looking for .. Now waiting for some suggestions & tips ... Thank you

bilboburgler

Oktobefest is really about Munich (and in September) so Berlin will be fine in October.

Hungary, for me the place is big on wine and spas. the spa line ( a geological line of spas) is along the E/W line passing through Budapest. Some spas are wonderful, others are just in a field. Well worth having a visit to several. There is a lovely cave one in Miscolk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te2qGY-3Clg and for towns to visit Eger is a nice university town while Tokaji is a fantastic wine town with great restaurants.

Use the train to get about to these.

nubbyrose

How did you decide on Berlin? To me it doesn't seem like it fits with your interests, it's far from your other locations and three days isn't enough.

19_Pamala

The cave spa sounds good & looks good too ... Thanks for the link bilboburgler ... So Miscolk & Tokaji in Hungary sounds good .. Maybe We will fly off from Berlin ... Both of us want to go nubby rose ...

okszi

Hi,
First of all October in Croatia is not necessarily a beach weather. Sometimes it is 25, sometimes hardly 15-17C. The water even in early October can get down to 19, max 20 C.
It is an awesome time for sightseeing and touring around, but definitely not beach holidays time, pretending you are not from Scandinavia or UK or any other Nordic country.

Diving? Well, being a certified diver myself, I can tell you the Adriatic is a F-A-A-A-R CRY from the Caribbean, Asia/Pacific or I DO NOT EVEN Mention the Red Sea. The underwater life is almost deserted. If you are not for shipwrecks, just forget it. Do not waste a single penny for that. If your daughter simply likes diving, as it is, then go for it. But otherwise it is a total waste of time and money.

Now my native Hungary:

If it is a spa, I wouldn't recommend the Miskolctapolca caves. Miskolc and the area is not even in the top 10 tourist towns in Hungary to say the least. For decades it was only famous for heavy industry.

Same thing for Tokaj. It can be deserted to say the least, especially during weak days. If it is not a special event, festival, whatever, the town is rather out off the beaten track. Most of my fellow Hungarians after visiting it, complain of the serious lack of infrastructure. If you are not a serious wine lover don't go there. Especially taking into consideration that to get there takes minimum 3 hours, sometimes 5-7, depending on the train schedule.

Go instead to Eger, and the nearby Egerszalok:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSI8lh6-tfg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dkfavXdSXQ

http://salirisresort.hu/en/egerszalok

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egerszalók

As far as I know, besides Egerszalok, these kind of geological formations (travertine terraces) exist only in Pamukkale, Turkey and the Yellowstone national park.

Of course the absolute NUMBER ONE is the HEVIZ Lake. The largest functioning natural thermal lake Spa in the world.

http://www.heviz.hu/en

In Budapest the Széchenyi Spa would be your best bet.

http://www.szechenyibath.hu

If you are in for red Wines, than the best region for those is definitely Villany. However takes some time to get there.

http://villanyiborvidek.hu/en/villany-wine-region

The nearby Pecs is one of the loveliest and not so tourist overrun towns in Hungary.

http://www.iranypecs.hu/en/info/attr...age/index.html

http://www.iranypecs.hu/en/info/attr...ric/index.html

http://www.iranypecs.hu/en/info/attr...ion/index.html

http://www.iranypecs.hu/en/info/attr...ecs/index.html

Hope it helped a bit

bilboburgler

I agree with okszi about the town of Miskolc, though there is a ruin of a castle there as well, I still think the spa is something special but there lots of other spas equally special for different reasons.

Tokaji is really something for the wine buff, though the small town is basically harmless.

Széchenyi is very much the best Budapest spa, a little odd (I ammuse dinner parties with my stories of social/technical errors I have made in the place, but the turbo-pool is good fun.

Ugin

Hi,
Yes, right, early October in Croatia may be warm may be pretty cool. As soon as you want to visit Hungary and Germany, i'd say Krk Island is good option to stay for 3-4 days on the sea. If you are lucky and its good weather than your daughter can dive there as well. I recommend Baska, which has the greatest beach in the North of Adriatic sea and a couple of pretty interesting dive site, especially The Tunnel - https://divebooker.com/tunnel-baz11210. They even have small gorgonians there But of course its far away from tropical underwater life.
What I'd recommend also is to consider Slovenia instead of Hurgary. It's more logistically convenient as Slovenia is right on your way from Croatia to Germany. And it's really great! I live now in Kranj for one year already and every week-end we travel to beautiful places in Slovenia - http://www.slovenia.info/.