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Europe trip


StefanAVFC

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I'll probably post in each individual thread for each place I'm going but I've planned an 18 day trip across Central Europe.

Warsaw -> Vilnius -> Kaunas -> Krakow -> Prague -> Bratislava -> Vienna -> Prague -> Dresden -> Berlin -> Home

Any tips for solo backpacking? I've already got most of the transport booked up (cheap as anything) and found most of the hostels.

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I went solo backpacking in SE Asia last year...most people would tell you to have a free itinerary to move on from one place or stay longer as you feel. I didn't do that due to a tight schedule, as you won't be either if you have transport and accommodation booked,  but it worked brilliantly for me. I'd put this down to good research into the places I wanted to go, what to do there and a bit of luck I suppose.

Hostels are obviously the best places to meet fellow travellers so no problems there. I actually chose to stay in private rooms as I'm a terrible sleeper, but I still had absolutely no problem meeting other people. Quite often on the buses/trains/whatever between places. Failing that, hit the bars and get talking to people.

I live in Krakow so if I'm here we can go for a beer if you'd like. Failing that I am already writing a list of recommendations for someone else right now so I can send that.

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I see you've already booked your transport but that's a helluva lot of places to travel to in 18 days! You'll be wrecked by the end of it!

Edited by Milfner
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1 hour ago, fightoffyour said:

I went solo backpacking in SE Asia last year...most people would tell you to have a free itinerary to move on from one place or stay longer as you feel. I didn't do that due to a tight schedule, as you won't be either if you have transport and accommodation booked,  but it worked brilliantly for me. I'd put this down to good research into the places I wanted to go, what to do there and a bit of luck I suppose.

Hostels are obviously the best places to meet fellow travellers so no problems there. I actually chose to stay in private rooms as I'm a terrible sleeper, but I still had absolutely no problem meeting other people. Quite often on the buses/trains/whatever between places. Failing that, hit the bars and get talking to people.

I live in Krakow so if I'm here we can go for a beer if you'd like. Failing that I am already writing a list of recommendations for someone else right now so I can send that.

I'm in Lodz! I'm not actually going to Krakow, it's just a stop to get the bus to Prague. What are you doing in Krakow?

42 minutes ago, Milfner said:

I see you've already booked your transport but that's a helluva lot of places to travel to in 18 days! You'll wrecked by the end of it!

Yeah my mate said this, but I wanted to cram in as much as I could! I remember (I think) you were in Bratislava right?

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9 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

I'm in Lodz! I'm not actually going to Krakow, it's just a stop to get the bus to Prague. What are you doing in Krakow?

Living with the gf, whilst still (for now) working remotely for my job in the UK.

Are you taking the LEO Express bus that connects with a train to get to Prague? That's a pretty easy and comfortable journey from Krakow.

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23 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

I'm in Lodz! I'm not actually going to Krakow, it's just a stop to get the bus to Prague. What are you doing in Krakow?

Yeah my mate said this, but I wanted to cram in as much as I could! I remember (I think) you were in Bratislava right?

Nah, we bypassed Bratislava on the way to Prague. Prague's good though, probably best you've got more time there than elsewhere!

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5 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

Any tips for solo backpacking?

leave the guitar at home and under no circumstnaces grow a ponytail

 

Warsaw -> Vilnius -> Kaunas -> Krakow -> Prague -> Bratislava -> Vienna -> Prague -> Dresden -> Berlin -> Home

interesting route though  , I've been to all of them apart from Dresden and all had their moments ,  apart from Bratislava which the best thing would have been for Bomber Harris to have sent his bombers there instead of Dresden and done the world a favour  ... 

you've probably got things to see in mind already  , but if you've any specific interests then put them on here as you might miss out on some good stuff   , i.e the nuclear bunker in Prague

 

 

Edited by tonyh29
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1 hour ago, Milfner said:

I see you've already booked your transport but that's a helluva lot of places to travel to in 18 days! You'll wrecked by the end of it!

I was just thinking that's about 12 days and he could have squeezed a bit more in  :)

 

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Dresden is a pretty drab city and while nice to see once I wouldnt recommend to others personally. Not that much to see

as for Bratislava you can do that in a few hours. nice city but tiny

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On 08/05/2018 at 11:04, StefanAVFC said:

I'll probably post in each individual thread for each place I'm going but I've planned an 18 day trip across Central Europe.

Warsaw -> Vilnius -> Kaunas -> Krakow -> Prague -> Bratislava -> Vienna -> Prague -> Dresden -> Berlin -> Home

Any tips for solo backpacking? I've already got most of the transport booked up (cheap as anything) and found most of the hostels.

When are you going?

Can't be much help, sorry, as been to none of them, but I'm looking to do a road trip to half those places (the Prague to Dresden bit) and a few others further south (Budapest, Ljubljana, Salzburg, Munich) in September, so will have to keep an eye on this.

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35 minutes ago, tomsky_11 said:

When are you going?

Can't be much help, sorry, as been to none of them, but I'm looking to do a road trip to half those places (the Prague to Dresden bit) and a few others further south (Budapest, Ljubljana, Salzburg, Munich) in September, so will have to keep an eye on this.

I'd skip Salzburg unless you are a huge sound of music fan :) , though you can use it as base camp for Eagles Nest 

 

Ljubljana  is a long way for not a lot (imo)

 

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1 hour ago, tonyh29 said:

I'd skip Salzburg unless you are a huge sound of music fan :) , though you can use it as base camp for Eagles Nest 

 

Ljubljana  is a long way for not a lot (imo)

 

Salzburg, I've been before so not too fussed, but other half is keen to go. Eagle's Nest is a good shout though.

Ljubljana seems to get a lot of hype. Not worth it then? Is definitely the biggest stretch on our provisional route, but had heard good things and figured the drive north would be good.

Anywhere else you'd recommend between Budapest and Munich? Vienna? Graz?

 

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7 minutes ago, tomsky_11 said:

Salzburg, I've been before so not too fussed, but other half is keen to go. Eagle's Nest is a good shout though.

Ljubljana seems to get a lot of hype. Not worth it then? Is definitely the biggest stretch on our provisional route, but had heard good things and figured the drive north would be good.

Anywhere else you'd recommend between Budapest and Munich? Vienna? Graz?

 

Ljubljana is pleasant enough , just not a lot there , once you've done the castle thingy and walked around the old town you'll be scratching around for things to do   .... (similar story with Vilnius on Steph's list really ) you could go slightly further out to Lake Bled if some R&R is your thing

 

when we did it ,from Munich we went to  Berchtesgaden  (Eagles nest)  then  Neuschwanstein castle  , i suppose you could follow the argument that NC is a long way out just to look at a castle , but the tours inside are good and the surrounding area is very picturesque

Vienna , I'm a fan of ,  there is a lot to see there  ..

Graz I've flown into when I've visited relatives in Koszeg , I don't recall there being a lot there tbh , but then again I was only really passing through ( seem to recall it wasn't motorist friendly)

 

like everything , it's kinda subjective really and depends what you like and what you want to do , you'll see plenty of nice scenery and stuff as you drive around , you won't hate Ljubljana  at the end of the day and if it's on route then yeah why  not go see it 

 

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On 08/05/2018 at 15:43, StefanAVFC said:

I'm in Lodz! I'm not actually going to Krakow, it's just a stop to get the bus to Prague. What are you doing in Krakow?

Yeah my mate said this, but I wanted to cram in as much as I could! I remember (I think) you were in Bratislava right?

You've missed out Krakow is actually awesome. I'd highly recommend you do a stop there. Brilliant city

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I've always fancied a Warsaw - Prague - Vienna - Budapest - Bratislava trip. 

I did Helsinki - Tallinn - Riga - Vilnius once (over 8 days) and it was awesome. Good memories of that trip. That was 10 years ago this year. Where does time go :(

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57 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

You've missed out Krakow is actually awesome. I'd highly recommend you do a stop there. Brilliant city

Yep definitely not enough love for Krakow in this thread...

48 minutes ago, Xela said:

I've always fancied a Warsaw - Prague - Vienna - Budapest - Bratislava trip. 

I did Helsinki - Tallinn - Riga - Vilnius once (over 8 days) and it was awesome. Good memories of that trip. That was 10 years ago this year. Where does time go :(

As an honourary Krakowian I am obliged to tell you that Warsaw is a shithole and Krakow is much better. This is completely true though. There is a nice bit of old town Warsaw left but the rest of it is either a dump and/or skyscrapers. Also, as you'll have seen from Stefan's itinerary, you may have to get to Krakow in order to travel to Prague.

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1 hour ago, Xela said:

I've always fancied a Warsaw - Prague - Vienna - Budapest - Bratislava trip. 

I did Helsinki - Tallinn - Riga - Vilnius once (over 8 days) and it was awesome. Good memories of that trip. That was 10 years ago this year. Where does time go :(

Your trip plan sounds good. Done riga prague, Budapest and doing Bratislava and Vienna on March.

They three I have been too are great riga was fun not veey bog but nice place. Budapest is awesome I love it there. Prague was very clean place bit out of them all is say was my least favourite

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1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

You've missed out Krakow is actually awesome. I'd highly recommend you do a stop there. Brilliant city

I've been to Krakow probably 5/6 times :P Don't need to do it again.

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I can tell you after some extensive research in to it, if you havent already booked it, german train ticket prices are head scratchingly weird, try and get the super fast ice train, whoever said salzburg to munich, theres a price for that, or you can get a bayern ticket which is cheaper and travel anywhere in bavaria, including salzburg to munich, most states have something similar (called lander tickets) they also have a ticket called something a schönes wochenende (have a nice weekend) where for i think €44 you get unlimited train travel anywhere in the country and then up to 4 max additional passengers pay €6 each for another ticket, so 5 of you unlimited trains anywhere on the weekend is €68, comparatively normal tickets cologne to frankfurt on a saturday were around €120 per person 

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11 hours ago, villa4europe said:

I can tell you after some extensive research in to it, if you havent already booked it, german train ticket prices are head scratchingly weird, try and get the super fast ice train, whoever said salzburg to munich, theres a price for that, or you can get a bayern ticket which is cheaper and travel anywhere in bavaria, including salzburg to munich, most states have something similar (called lander tickets) they also have a ticket called something a schönes wochenende (have a nice weekend) where for i think €44 you get unlimited train travel anywhere in the country and then up to 4 max additional passengers pay €6 each for another ticket, so 5 of you unlimited trains anywhere on the weekend is €68, comparatively normal tickets cologne to frankfurt on a saturday were around €120 per person 

I've booked buses. Dresden to Berlin was 5euros

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