campfire

My husband and I are planning a trip to central/eastern Europe in September. We're flying from the US and we'll only have 10 days total.

I'm having trouble narrowing our itinerary, as I originally hoped we'd have 2 to 3 weeks for the trip.
Originally I envisioned going to Krakow, Budapest, and Ljubljana, depending on the train for transportation. As I do more research I'm discovering a few things:
1. the train takes a LONG time and I feel like it will cut into our short trip too much.
2. Slovenia sounds better and better the more I read--the idea of spending the whole time there sounds pretty good.
3. Slovenia is still relatively quiet, but may become more touristy as the years pass, so now might be the best time to go.
4. Croatia (not on our original itinerary) sounds better and better the more I read.

We are in our mid-30's and we've already been to Prague. We like strolling around cool towns/cities, outdoor cafes, great people-watching, some nice day hikes, and interesting cultural experiences.

If you had 9 - 10 days in this region, which areas would you choose? Why? Thanks!

lanejohann

croatia
my pick
its fresh despite the war
i was so astounded by the attitude of the poeple
i fully expected a sullen surly folk
but they are beautiful generous people..stunning girls too!

i think croatia is what i thought all of your europe to be
the hospitality
the simple sharing of things
the laughs you have with people
and yes
some will talk about the war
if they sense that you really want to understand something you cant really begin to even imagine
it's cheap (er) it's cheerful and it's clean...boy it sure was clean!

GSteed

Quit running around! Pick one country, one city and camp there. Take day journeys to parks and such. Meet your neighbors, make some friends. Any city or nearby small town will suffice. Most tourists never accomplish any of their goals...they spend too much time packing and unpacking and travelling.

lreynold1

Hi, campfier,

Since you haven't gotten too many responses, I'll jump in even though I've never been to Slovenia. But my daughter and her husband (late 20s) spent about 12 days there this June and after looking at their pictures, we're ready to go next year. You're absolutely right about the level of tourists, they saw very few. They are very outdoorsy types and if you want great hiking up from valleys into the mountains, there are many beautiful places. They stayed mainly in the well organized national system of "tourist farms" where they were often delighted to find organic food grown on site and served for dinner. There is an extensive website that lists all the farms, and many of these beautiful areas have no hotels, just farms available for lodging.

After the stay in Slovenia (by the way, they also really loved Ljubljana), they went to Croatia and couldn't believe the difference in the crowd levels and the "touristy feel" that just wasn't there in Slovenia.

LR

travel2live2

What have you decided?

I've been to Croatia a few times and am smitten with it. It is packed with charm, character, atmosphere, history, culture, great food, stupendous scenery, coast/water, wonderful parks and lovely hilltowns. If you want day hikes Plitvice Lakes is just fantastic. There are lots of lovely towns/villages to wander about.

Although I have not yet been to Slovenia I really want to go. I've read a lot about it and have researched it extensively for our next trip. I do not think you could make a wrong choice here.

SloJan2

So Slovenia and Croatia. Of the two, I prefer Slovenia but Croatia will be nice in Sept. due to fewer tourists. In Slovenia,I would visit Ljubljana, Logarska Dolina, Soca River Valley and the Goriska Brdo region. Then, drive over to the coast and wind your way down through Piran, Rovinj (lots of small towns that are quite nice here) and head south. Hike around Plivitce etc.

I think I might skip going to far South in Croatia due to time constraints.

Denise

Hi campfire:

Jumping in here late but here are my suggestions depending where you fly into direct. If its London you can fly RyanAir I believe straight into Ljubjiana, which is very pretty, I would stay five days in the region stop at Lake Bled then to Piran. After I would head to Croatia, Istria and stay in Rovinj with day trips to Pula and Porec. All of these are easily accessible by bus. You can fly out of Pula or Trieste with RyanAir. I loved both Ljubjiana and Rovinj - absolutely gorgeous.

CordeliaCH

Hi, if you are still looking for advice, I agree that you should, if possible, split your 10 days between Slovenia and Croatia. Ljubljana is a nice starting point and is a lovely city-- a smaller, quainter, Prague but with its own charms. Bled is nice for a day (or two if you want to do any hiking or spend time in the Alps) and you might enjoy working your way south visiting the caves and Lipica. Istria (Croatia) is not far from there. Rovinj is my favorite place on earth and is a nice springboard to the Istrian wine country, Porec and Pula, and the sweet medieval mountain towns. I've found traveling by car to be pretty easy. Also, we recently took the train from Rejeika, Croatia (may have misspelled that) to Ljubljana and it was an easy 2 hours or so. That may be a good way to get from one country to the other without having to worry about getting a car in one and dropping in in the other. If you have time, Plitvice Lakes is amazing but is about a 4 hour drive from Rovinj (2 from Zagreb). I would spend a minimum of 3-4 days in Slovenia (maybe base in Ljubljana and do day trips?) and a minimum of 3-4 in Istria (based in Rovinj). If you want to add in Plitvice you will likly want to stay near the park for at least one night. Of course, you could easily spend all 10 days in the same country. The beauty of going to Slovenia and/or Croatia is that you absolutely cannot go wrong.