Please help me solidify itinerary - Slovenia, Vienna, Budapest
 

I'm headed to central/eastern Europe for 3 weeks in late July-early August. So excited! I'd like to get comments and suggestions on my tentative itinerary. I'm traveling with my husband, we're in our 30s and enjoy the outdoors, architecture, history, art/culture in moderate doses, and unusual or unique places/experiences. We'll be camping and/or staying at tourist farms for this trip, so no hotel recommendations are needed. A one-time splurge at a great restaurant is possible, since the rest of the time we'll be cooking or otherwise eating on a budget.

Arrive LJU Wed Jul 22 @ noon
2 nights Ljubljana, rent car
Drive to Triglav, visit Idrija and Kobarid en route
2 nights Lepena (near Bovec) - rafting trip, hiking, etc.
2 nights Bohinj - hiking, day trips to Bled, beekeeping museum
Drive to Ptuj OR Logarska Dolina, visit Kropa & Skofja Loka en route
1 night stay in Pjuf or Logarska Dolina (tourist farm?)
Drop off car in Maribor Wed Jul 29, train to Vienna
~6 nights Vienna - including day trip to Melk Abbey
Train to Budapest Tues Aug 4
~7 nights Hungary - Budapest and possible overnight to Danube bend area
Leave BUD Tues Aug 11 @ 9:10 am

My main questions at this point have to do with allocation of time - should I decrease time in Hungary or Vienna to have a bit longer in Slovenia? We had been thinking of spending a day or 2 seeing the Karst region, for example, or could add a day to one or more of our stops.
Also, I'd love to hear feedback from anyone who has rafted the Soca River and can recommend a company, or give opinions on tourist farms in any of the places I mentioned staying.

I have not been to Slovenia but I spent 4 nights in Vienna and seven in Budapest last summer. I think 6 in Vienna is good to include the day trip to Melk. I didn't get to that in the four days as there was so much to see and do in Vienna. I did pretty much cover most of the main sites including Schonnbrun but I just didn't have time for Melk. Seven in Budapest was good. I did a day trip to Szentendre. I like to spend a lot of time taking photos and just wandering around so I often "need" more time in a place than the average person to feel I have seen what I want to. With six and seven days I think you'll have a relaxing experience but not be bored.

How do plan to do camping or tourist farms for the cities? I feel you get a better experience if you stay in a city. If you need a place in Budapest I can recommend a fabulous B&B - very economical, good location and run by two American guys who are wonderful. It's www.budabab.com/index.htm

If you are interested I have photos of Vienna and Budapest (separate galleries) at www.pbase.com/annforcier

I just came back from a 11-day trip to Vienna and Budapest (6 nights in Vienna and 5 nights in Budapest). Since you mentioned you like art/culture and architecture, perhaps you'd be interested in reading my "Art Nouveau" trip report (with photos):

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...pring-2009.cfm

I've been to Slovenia, Vienna and Budapest, and although I liked Budapest enough to go back, if you're outdoorsy types I might drop one night from Budapest and add it to Slovenia. My TR for my second visit to Vienna and Budapest is here: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-venice.cfm?81 and my photos are here: http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/419378.

Szentendre is cute but was overrun with tour groups when I visited. You might consider Godollo as well. You could also consider the Semmering pass as a day trip from Vienna - I didn't do it, but the scenery looked good from the train to Graz.

Thanks for the feedback! You sound like us - definitely like to take our time and keep busy at the same time. You have some lovely photos as well.

I'll definitely check out the B&B you linked, but I will say that we've tent camped outside of Rome and Venice and not felt like we were missing out by being outside of the center city. It's nice sometimes to have a quiet, comfortable retreat to go back to after a long day of city sightseeing, and you have the ability to make dinner and do laundry, and sites run about 20 Euros/night. (3 weeks in Europe on a teacher's salary means every $ counts!) If anyone else is interested in hearing more about our camping experiences, let me know - I've found that while these forums have a wealth of knowledge and opinions on most aspects of European travel, it's pretty hard to find any info for a budget-oriented traveler.

FYI - The campsite we'll probably use in Budapest is in town and near a tram line (Haller Camping), so I think that will work fine for us.

yk - I've read your recent trip report. Thanks for all the info, it gets me even more excited to go when I read of others' experiences.

thursdayd - I was wondering about that... I kind of wish I didn't already have tickets, and I could rearrange the order of our destinations to have a nice "break" in the country between the two bigger cities, but it is what it is. I'm going to talk this over with my husband, and we'll have to decide about the proportion of city vs. country time.

I know what you mean about needing to make every penny count. My travel philosophy is that the less I spend the more days I get to be there. But that Buda B&B is really cheap (not as cheap as camping obviously, but compared to a hotel, or even most B&Bs it's a steal. It includes breakfast and they'd let you cook your dinner as well I'm sure. They definitely let you keep food in the fridge. They only have two rooms and they fill up fast. I will say staying there made my visit so much more enjoyable than it could have been. Ryan and Ron are wonderful hosts.

Isabel - I did check, and only the smaller room is available our dates. I'm not sure about sleeping on a fold-out sofa... too bad!

Anyone else have thoughts on time allocation? I'm also interested if anyone has a recommendation for inexpensive lodging in Vienna - in that case, the campsite we're looking at is not as convenient (40 minutes from Westbahnhof by bus), so other options might be attractive.

for some inexpensive places in Vienna

Wombats - 2 places close to the Westbahnhof and public transportation making it easy for sightseeing.
www.wombats.at

pension Kraml- walking distance to many things clean and comfortable-

www.pensionkraml.at

Hi ChrissyJ - what's your budget? Wombats is highly recommended (it's a hostel), and is located about 2 blocks from the apartment I rented in Vienna, so I can vouch for the fact that it's a super convenient location for sightseeing using public transport.

However, if you're staying for 6 nights in Vienna, you should consider renting an apartment, which will help curb your budget significantly by cooking your own meals (esp since dining out in Vienna is fairly expensive).

The 2 recommended apt rental website are
http://www.apartment.at/index.php3/eng
http://www.netland.at/wien/

The apartment we rented in Vienna is way too big for you (3BR/2BA), but the same owner has a second apartment for rent, which I believe is a studio, and is located closer to town. Here's the website and it is Apt B (the studio apt). I don't know if that fits your budget, but I can tell you that the owner is SUPER nice and accommodating, and perhaps she may be willing to give you a discount. You can tell her that you're referred by me ("the group of 5 who stayed at the MariahilferStrasse Apt the last week of April").
http://www.hahnsvienna.com/holiday-r...in-vienna.html

I got excited about the idea of an apartment, but it is outside our budget after all... it looks from the link above that the 2 person room is 95 euros per night, probably 3-4x more than I'd like to spend even with a kitchen. Wombats is a possibility, but the website gives the impression of being very youth oriented... is it a loud, party type place?

What is your budget? Even at Wombat's, you'll be paying €21 per person for a dorm room (sleeps 4-6) or €29 per person for a double room. So we're talking about a minimum of €42/night for the dorm room; or €58 for a private double. When you say €95/night is 3-4x your budget, I honestly don't think your budget is realistic for Vienna, unless you are willing to stay far out. But then if that's the case, you might as well stay in the camp site.

Did you check the other 2 apt rental links I gave you? There are some cheaper options I think.

bookmarking

Some camping places in Budapest:

http://www.hallercamping.hu/ but the main site is:

http://www.camping.hu/

Enjoy.

yk, I think you're right... I'd love to find somewhere around 30-40 euros per night, but that probably just means staying outside the city center anyway. No problem, I had planned on camping anyway! I will check out the other apartment sites, though.

Do not short yourself in Budapest. I just returned from 3 nights Vienna - 3 nights Prague, 4 nights in Budapest. Though I did not get to see everything in these cities, I was quite happy. 1 extra night in Vienna, and 2 more in Budapest would have been much better for us. We considered going to Eger or the Danube bend, but decided against it once we arrived in Budapest, as it was clear we needed all of our time to explore the magnificent city of Budapest, which was the highlight of our trip.