Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Tour of Eastern Europe

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Tour of Eastern Europe

I have just started thinking about next summer.I quite like the thought of flying to Helsinki crossing to Tallinn,and then on by train to Riga ,Vilnius, possibly Poland Budapest, Lake Balaton, Prague and other sites in Czech Republic. Flight home from Prague. This is a combination of places I've visited before and want to return to (Helsinki, Tallinn,Poland and Prague) and the remainder which I've yet to visit. Factors influencing the choice are 1.Not sure who exactly who will be travelling.It will be at least myself my husband and our 16 year old daughter but maybe also my 20 year old daughter who may drop in and out of this at various locations depending on what other plans she has,and possibly some of my youngest daughter's female friends(none of whom have done a long do-it-yourself type holiday before.) 2.We are unlikely to be able to book anything yet (as my eldest daughter who is a student is fairly disorganised and has a knack for disorganising others.-Seems to be a Gemini trait!).This combination would mean that we can just get on with organising as and she turns her mind to things non-cerebral! 3. For the first time in many years we can go at the end of June and are not stuck with school holidays.We shall have 2 weeks but this is elastic. This holiday would probably involve a mixture of youth hostels and hotels.My initial thoughts are that we could book American type hotels in each location purely because of the cancellation policy so if when we arrived in a destination we found somewhere nicer or which we preferred more then that would be fine.If not or if we rolled in late then we have somewhere to stay. Any thoughts on this? Also, is there a train ticket which would give my husband and myself a cheaper journey than a straight one way journey between Riga and Prague(not that that is very straight). Many thanks

Near thet end you say: "Any thoughts on this?" The whole message of "I quite like the thought of flying ..." ... but "not sure who will be travelling" ... through the idea of reserving rooms that you may or may not use depending on your mood upon arrival suggests (1) you need to think through your ideas before rambling on, and (2) you should be considerate of lodging providers rather than planning to abuse reservation services.

At this stage I have just a few odd jottings to offer. I think your list long for two weeks, or even three. You are in Britain and unlike Americans can reach the Continent with ease, so you might like to save half your destinations for 2004. Probably Baltic countries and Poland one year, Hungary and the Czech Republic another year. I suggest you reluctantly cut out Helsinki: it would push up both your first air fare and your first hotel bill. Your fares drop sharply if you use no-frills flights. You probably know that BMI Baby, http://www.bmibaby.com, ++44 870 264 2229, fly from East Midlands (Derby-Nottingham) to Prague, Go, http://www.go-fly.com, ++44 845 60 54321, fly from Stansted to Prague, and Easyjet, http://www.easyjet.com, ++44 870 6 000 000, fly from Luton to Prague The Baltic countries and Poland are a little less accessible by no-frills. So you might like to fly to and from Berlin, then use sleepers in overnight trains to and from Warsaw. Air Berlin, http://www.airberlin.com ++44 870 738 8880, and Buzz, http://www.buzzaway.com, ++44 870 240 7070, fly between Stansted and Berlin. I expect you are using the Thomas Cook European Timetable to plan trains. The foreign exchange staff of any Cooks branch sell it for ten pounds: if you wait till 6 December I think you will buy the December issue, with the times that start in mid December. I am afraid no trains run between Tallinn and Riga, but the busses, table 1800, are not bad. As well as Vilnius you might take in Kaunas, an impressive city. In Poland some beautiful cities include Gdansk, Torun, central Poznan, Wroclaw, Jelenia Gora, and Krakow. Much of Warsaw is a bit rectangular and Soviet, but the old town has at last taken off as a civilised and relaxed place. Hungary has fine old towns the way spotted dick has currants. A quick list would include Sopron (with Nagycenk and Fertod St Michael), Gyor (not everybody's choice, but I think civilised), Budapest, Eger, Debrecen, Veszprem, Szombathely, Koszeg, Pecs, and Szeged. The southern shore of Lake Balaton takes on Ibiza qualities in high summer, but Keszthely is beautiful and interesting. In the Czech Republic Prague of course, but also (1) Teplice and the towns along the Ore mountains to Karlovy Vary, (2) Ceske Budejovice and the baroque and other castles, towns, monastery and carp lake, each 50 minutes away, (3) Brno and (4) to me Olomouc, hardly touched by tourists. Please think also of Slovakia, where Levoca is a great centre for bus visits to the Spiz towns, and Kosice is handsome, with good Ukrainian icons in the provincial museum. continued

continued With a daughter dropping in and out you need a kind neighbour, often at home, who will take and forward phone messages. Or perhaps you are all on mobiles or on Hotmail ? You could simplify your hotel life if you just use lonely Planet books, pay each hotel to phone ahead to the next, and avoid the tedium of American style places. Since you want to change your minds on arrival you will usually be arriving by morning, when it is not unfair to cancel a booking made only a couple of days earlier. But really in June, Prague apart, you can arrive at a hotel unbooked: as you say, this is before the families with children are around. If you like city-centre old 2 star hotels I can list you more than one favourite of mine on your route. I am afraid I know no bargain rail tickets, but normal fares are low. I think my berth and ticket from Warsaw to Vilnius was thirty pounds. The January issue of the Thomas Cook timetable will be worth a look: pages 35 to 40 will have specimen fares and rates per kilometre. I expect a rise of ten percent on the January 2002 fares. For one-way second-class day trips by express train that means Gdansk to Krakow 21 euros, Budapest to Pecs 9 euros, Olomouc to Prague 8 euros, and Bratislava to Kosice 12 euros. The map will show you how low these are. I am afraid international fares are higher per mile, so Berlin to Warsaw is 44 euros. Then you will want berths in 3-berth sleepers, at about 35 euros international, and 20 euros Polish national. If you choose to start with a cheap flight to Berlin and overnight to Warsaw I can sketch a cheap route with a Polish sleeper from the frontier at Kostryn. From Berlin to Tallinn and back you can choose trains to stop at some cities northbound and other cities southbound, relating in part to train times. The same is true if you take on the whole route in a single holiday, Berlin, Poland, Tallinn, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Prague, but as you know I think that is too rushed. In June you need not book berths more than a day or two ahead, and need not book seats at all. I expect Tryagain means well. Please write if I can help further, or as your ideas develop. Ben Haines

Dear Ben, I am awed by your grasp of the intricacies of travel in Eastern Europe. Would you please help me with the following problem? My grandmother lived in Czernowitz (once in Romania, then in Austria-Hungary, now in Ukraine). As best I have been able to determine "you can't get there from here" (here being anywhere). Any suggestions?

Ben I am extraordinarily grateful that you go out of your way to provide so much detailed information. I feel I can probably plan my whole trip from your reply.!