Ayaan

My husband and I are traveling from US to Eastern Europe in June by car for three weeks. We would fly in and out from Frankfurt. What is the best way to navigate between Eastern European countries and cities? Should we get Garmin GPS or get local SIM card with data usage to connect with Google maps? Also, are there any bed & breakfast available or we should stick with hotels? (we are on a tight budget). We love urban life, countryside, historical architectures, castles and landscapes. To see Lake Bled in Slovakia is top on the list. This is the trip of a life time and we want to cover as much as we can in three weeks. All responses would be greatly appreciated.

Andrew

Of course there are B&Bs and cheaper lodgings than regular hotels - but you'll have to be much more specific in your itinerary beyond just listing countries if you want specific recommendations.

FYI, Lake Bled is in Slovenia unless there's another one in Slovakia...

thursdaysd

You can use http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/ to map out your route. This will also tell you how much you'll have to spend on tolls and gas/petrol/deisel (cost of gas may be a shock if you're used to the prices in the US). You may well find that a car is more expensive than plane/train if you want to cover a lot of ground, especially if you're starting from Frankfurt but really want to visit places a good bit further east. You haven't tagged Germany, why don't you start in Budapest?

(For cheap flights see whichbudget.com or skyscanner.net, for info on trains see seat61.com.)

Have you read any guidebooks yet? You will find plenty of options in the hostel/pension/guesthouse/B&B class if you take a look at books like Lonely Planet/Rough Guide/Moon. You might even take a look at "Europe Through the Back Door" for budget travel tips.

Parmenter

Yup, Lake Bled is in Slovenia.

Just an off beat consideration. As stated in a previous post, the cost of petrol is much much different than what you have experienced in America.
Consider taking the train from Frankfurt Airport to Munich where you can rent a car at the MUC airport or Munich City. This will allow a jet lag recovery.

Drive into lovely Bavaria with stops at places like Oberammergau and Garmisch. Cross through Austria and the Innsbruck, Salzsburg Valley and Lake Bled will be only a few hours drive from there.

If you do plan to visit Slovakia, The High Tatras are lovely and there is a little village called Zdiar that you will likely like. Don't forget your windshield vignetes for Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia. Good travels

Avoid the American habit of trying to see too much in too little time

Ayaan

Thank you for all of these great suggestions. We had traveled through Austria (Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna), Germany (Munich,Bavaria - Black Forest) etc. Had been to Belgium, France (Normandy, Loire Valley), Luxembourg, Greece, Spain, Italy,Ireland, Northern Ireland by car and love to drive and explore all hidden gems in European countries. Also, visited Prague and Budapest as well but stayed local. This time we want to see Eastern Europe by car. We do the homework before leaving home, but not sure about Eastern Europe having plenty of internet café, GPS, cell phone service, and good driving conditions. Although, as suggested to travel by train, but cant beat the luxury of traveling by car and stop and go whenever and where ever you want. Still looking for more ideas of places to see and dos' & don'ts. Thanks for correcting Lake Bled located in Slovenia.

kja

"Still looking for more ideas of places to see and dos' & don'ts.'

A good guide book or two should prove invaluable.

sparkchaser

From your other thread:

<i>What is the best way to navigate between Eastern European countries and cities? </i>

"Best" means different things to different people. Do you mean fastest? Cheapest? Less stressful?

Since you're flying into FRA, the "best" might be to just rent a car; however, there are a few important things to keep in mind if you do rent a car:

1. Be sure to tell the rental company in FRA that you plan on driving it into Eastern Europe. There are certain car classes that aren't designated for travel into Eastern Europe (BMW, Mercedes, etc.). If you let them know that you plan on going into Eastern Europe and you'll get an appropriate car.

2. Navigating in city centers/old towns will probably be a hair raising and stressful experience that you might want to avoid. parking in these areas can often be an issue so it's helpful to stay at places that have [free] parking available.

3. If you want to drive on the highways, some countries require that you purchase a vignette. These countries are:
* Czech Republic
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Austria
* Switzerland
* Hungary
* Bulgaria
* Romania
If you do not want to pay for a vignette, take the secondary roads. It will be slower but you will see things you might otherwise miss (like charming little villages). This is what I do.



<i>Should we get Garmin GPS or get local SIM card with data usage to connect with Google maps? </i>

Getting a dedicated navi is my preference. TomTom is the Navi of choice here, but whatever brand you go with, make sure the maps are up to date. If you already have a navi, you should be able to put the European maps on it.

I would avoid getting a local sim for using your phone's GPS because you will want a fast-ish connection with a good data limit, which translates to not inexpensive. Plus you will have to change sims when you cross borders. Not fun. Sure there a few workarounds but it's easier to just use a car GPS. Get a GPS with RDS-TMC and it will keep you up to date with traffic conditions.

It's possible that your rental car will come with a navigation system. If it does, make sure the menu is set to English before you drive away.

<i>Also, are there any bed & breakfast available or we should stick with hotels? </i>

There is the wonderful hotel/B&B hybrid called a guesthouse that might fit the bill for you. best to look at booking.com and see what kinds of lodging is available in your overnight stops. I use booking.com all the time and get some good rates.

BigRuss

Make sure you buy the necessary vignettes in each country you drive through.

http://www.dalnicni-znamky.com/en/

And yes, the petrol costs will be no less than double the US prices. Rent a diesel car. It will save you money on the price of petrol in some countries (Slovenia) and the car will be more fuel efficient than a comparable gasoline car.

mediocore

Maybe consider a one-way trip? Go south/east from Frankfurt by train to an area you are interested in exploring, rent a car there, drop it off elsewhere and fly back?

We went from Frankfurt to Istanbul (planes, trains, automobiles + ferries and buses) and flew back to Frankfurt in a two week stretch.

And good old fashioned maps from a travel book store worked great for us since one of us could navigate while the other drove.

We did find parking to be a hassle in many places and it was only May at the time, June may be much worse.

packed

We are also flying into FRA and going to Croatia and Italy. First we are going to the Dolomites, then Croatia, and back to Italy. After much research on flights, we couldn't find inexpensive, direct flights to the areas that we wanted and the times that we wanted, and are now going from FRA by train to Garmisch, Germany. We'll be picking up a car there and dropping it off about three weeks later in Italy. While the drop-off fee is steep, the price of the car (we need automatic) is so much less in Germany than renting in Italy.

goodhikers

Quick thoughts:

- GPS: Garmin 2577 (purchased from Garmin USA for $209) has both European and USA maps loaded in, i.e. can still use it after your trip with nothing extra to buy. Google maps work, but in some parts of Eastern Europe, cell coverage is spotty. I'd rely on a dedicated GPS for navigation.

- Maps: I really like Michelin maps for planning, particularly since they often mark green "scenic" routes. If you are driving, they can lead you to some pretty fantastic scenery. Freytag&Berndt maps have the best detail but are often too big for use in the car. Still, they've got everything on them. Both available from Amazon.

- Travel books: I have scores of hardcopy European travel books. You might consider ebook alternatives of the same to save space. I have all of Rick Steve's, Lonely Planet, Fodor's, etc. on my iPad. Not as much fun to browse as the "real books" but very easy to quickly find places to stay or restaurants using the search function and you have tons of data in one small device. Although this is a Fodor's site and I LOVE their guides, consider Rick Steve's guides for B&B and non-hotel accommodations. In Croatia, he has identified some great alternative locations.

- Phones. AT&T works throughout Eastern Europe, but its expensive (even with their bundled international plans). I would buy the cheapest plan for one phone only and use that for an emergency number, i.e. someone in the USA wanting to get in touch with you. I would have two cheap unblocked smart phones (iphone 3s & 4s come to mind), that have your travel apps installed but can be loaded with telephone chips from each country. On a recent trip, we used separate Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian chips with basic calling and internet plans without any problem(about $15 per week). We used the internet sparingly on the road but found we had enough data coverage to quickly look up restaurants or get a google maps fix if we needed it. Comes in handy when traveling and trying to get a accommodations arranged for the next few days. By the way, in some countries (not Bosnia), you can type "okmaps" into google and it will copy the map into your phone's memory for use when offline--including zoom AND NAVIGATION (non-GPS, cell tower only). This saves lots of data usage, particularly if you copy the map in a wi-fi environment. WiFi is available in many restaurants and bars, free of charge. Always ask--usually the waiter will have the password.

Driving. We love using a car in Eastern Europe. Roads are decent but narrower and often without shoulders. Drive conservatively and have lots of patience. Gas was running around $6 per gallon in Spring 2014, more in some places. Good estimate: double USA East Coast prices.

Lake Bled. It's just as gorgeous as the pictures show. If that's your dream, spend the nights there giving you a full day at the lake. Half a day to go by boat to the church, half a day to walk the trail around the lake to the castle, an evening to have a meal overlooking the lake.

Hope this helps.