Hello,

We had a 6 week itinerary in mind for Croatia up through Slovenia, Austria to Czech Republic....but I've recently become fascinated by Romania and now want to see if there is a way to alter our plans to include it (we've got no more than 6 weeks).

We can fly into Bucharest and then head over to Croatia - then drop Czech Republic or something else as a trade off...but the trains from Romania anywhere else seem extremely lengthy. I have heard buses are faster - any idea how much faster? We would prefer going through Sofia/Bulgaria and up into Montenegro (we want to see Kotor and surrounds, then head into Dubrovnik). Any better suggestions?

The original plan: Kotor, up the coast from Dubrovnik to Istria, Slovenia to Salzburg to Cesky Krumlov and ending in Prague. We would of course love to see everything....but Romania seems very alluring right now (Brasov, Bran, Sighisoara, Maramures....)

We would love to hear some itinerary suggestions and any logistical help would be awesome.

Thanks,
Naxos

tt

tt

Naxos:

>>>but Romania seems very alluring right now (Brasov, Bran, Sighisoara, Maramures....)<<<

As an old, very old, Romany-phile, with many auto visits throughout Romania during the 80', 90's and as recent as Fall,2005, I must tell you that it is a big country, easy to drive around, but bus and train travel are not on a par with Western Europe. To vist the above locations, especially beautiful Maramuresh, logistics can get mighty sticky. No reason not to drive Romania, and then fly from Bucharest to Zagreb, Split or Dubrovnik...quick flight.

Do you NOT want to drive anywhere in Romania? I can suggest a doable itinerary for you if that's the case. I can also recommend a car/driver/guide with whom I've had a 2005 superior experience as I escorted 16 of my readership all around the country and included a foray into Bulgaria, too.

Keep in touch and I will be happy to help you plan. You're right..it is an intriguing place to visit..as yet unspoilt for the most part. Most of my prior travels into Romania, espcially during the grim Ceausescu days were for research purposes.

Stu Tower

**Just to preview your possible visit, here are some selected pix from various visits:

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Romania2005#

Write if you wish:

[email protected]
(L.A., California)

This sounds like a fun journey but do something like this: Romania (everywhere you want) then continue to Belgrade, down to Montenegro, Dubrovnik and up the coast to Zagreb and then Slovenia and Austria to Czech

Rather than starting in Bucharest, you might want to start in Hungary to visit Romania, as we did. See my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34659808

You could also include the eastern part of Slovakia with its Ruthenian chapels (they are marked on the Michelin map of the Czech Republic and Slovakia).

Thank you all for you comments!

tower - thank you for your feedback. I will definately post more as we pound out the details - we'd appreciate learning from your expertise. We would love to hear your public transport itinerary suggestions. We are tight budget backpackers this trip, so we were really hoping to stick to public transport but....I could be swayed if we find something reasonable - and automatic. I have previously tried and failed miserably at learning a stick-shift-lol!

One logistical point to consider is our time off is scheduled for August 27th to October 10th. We really want to be in Croatia when the weather (and water) is warm enough for swimming and beach time. I PROMISED my spouse we would have quality beach time this trip. I figure we need to start in Montenegro/Croatia (or south anyway)to accomplish this. The inconveniance is that we have found much cheaper flights into places such as Vienna and Frankfurt and horrible, expensive flights to Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Podgorica etc etc. (from Edmonton, Canada). I haven't found any really cheap flights from Bucharest to Zagre200E plus) nor any rock bottom flights from Zagreb to Dubrovnik for that matter. The convenience and price will have to be factored in to whether I can make this a convicing plan for my travel partner.

We had originally passed on Hungary in favor of Czech Republic but I'd agree Michael - it makes better sense to pair Romania with Hungary. So many places we have our heart set on seeing but they are all far apart.

Its a good dilemma but a dilemma nonetheless!

Cheers,

Naxos

Assuming the car rental company allows it, you could drive from Romania to Croatia across southern Hungary, dip down to Dubrovnik and then drive through Slovenia back to Hungary to return the car.

Have you looked at Germanwings for cheap flights after you get to Europe? I bought my Zagreb-Dubrovnik flight in Zagreb, but you might not want to wait that long. The alternative is the train to Split and then the ferry (www.jadrolinija.hr) to Dubrovnik - and Split is worth a look. Are you planning to visit Plitvice? That's worth a looong look.

We were in Prague and Budapest in Sept and Oct. We liked Budapest more than Prague.

Not sure about airfares now but last year the fares to Budapest were the cheapest we could find.

Bulgaria beaches on the Black Sea are supposed to be very nice and Romania is building more resorts etc on the Black Sea.

My friend has a travel agency in Bulgaria and she has said that train travel within Bulgaria is not as good as other countries.

Forgot to mention that we took a sleeper train from Budapest to Venice in Oct. It was an old train but it did go through Croatia and Slovenia.