5 weeks in Europe

[blkgsr]

Taking my parental leave in mid April for the 5 weeks and going to Europe.

We've booked flights into Munich and home from Frankfurt on points and direct flights.

Plan is Munich to Prague then maybe into Poland for Auschwitz, then if so down through Solavkia otherwise from Prague to Vienna then down to Budapest.

That's the overview, there will of course be stops and detours along the way.

Then thinking of ending in Greece for about a week before flying home. Won't be hot but it's an idea.

Any tips?

[CivicBlues]

Yeah, don't take selfies in Auschwitz.

Berlin is awesome, so much to see and do and so many parties if that's your thing. Prague is great, it's a storybook town but super touristy. Been twice, once as a backpacker and once as couple. Budapest more rough around the edges, great if you love Communist/Cold War history and is cheaper than the rest. Vienna I didn't love, it felt kinda stuffy and expensive - I need to revisit. Bratislava I actually kinda liked because it was small and managable and was a quick escape from Vienna. Had excellent schnitzel there for a fraction of the price in Austria.

Food: Eat all the Pork and try all the sauerkraut. Drink copious amounts of unfiltered Beer.

Greece will be hot in May, maybe not for them but def for us. Hit up Santorini and Naxos. My recos. for a couple of islands enough to while away a week in. Santorini will be crowded as fuck but there's no place else on earth like it.

[Hondaracer]

You’ve got a lot of time in 5 weeks.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to Prague, at the time we were there I felt it was a bit stifling as it’s constantly busy, it feels very touristy, etc. however for some reason it always sticks in the back of my mind as a place to go back to. Lots of good food, the best beer I’ve ever had (Pilsner urquel) go hit up Lokal, it’s a beer hall type place chain, great food great beer, you get your mugs of beer marked on a stamp card because people just sit there all day long lol.

Never been to Poland but Poland is very big and from auswhitz you’re kind of on an island in terms of the rest of your plan, your almost a full days travel back down to Vienna etc.

In 2018 my wife and I did Budapest - Vienna - Bratislava - Prague - Dresden - Berlin Amsterdam over 4 weeks.

Budapest was probably my favorite city of the bunch, you MUST go to the thermal baths, especially the szinechy or whatever the main one is, it’s so cool. Drinking beers next to the baths was an all time memory in my travels.

Slovakia is hella boring although we only went to Bratislava for the day, there isn’t much outside of it to see as far as I know, I would t commit more than a day if you’re going there. You can take a hydrofoil from downtown Vienna right to downtown Bratislava and the boat operators typically offer a cheap tour to see 90% of the town on a little train car through the streets, that and the UFO bridge are your main sites lol

I love Germany as a whole and always feel “at home” in Germany, it’s one of the most western feeling countries in Europe I’d say. If you’re going Munich - Berlin I highly suggest spending a night or two in Wurzberg, it’s an amazing old town with a castle surrounded by grape wines, big wine culture there. You can also have the nightly glass of wine on the old bridge with locals and tourists alike and watch the sunset, such a cool experience.

I’ve got a fair bit of experience from those places, some like Munich and Berlin I’ve been to multiple times so any questions I can try to provide input

Edit* I echo CB’s sentiment over Vienna, however, even if you have a passing interest in art you NEED to go see the Klimt exhibits at a few different museums (all close by). His most famous peice “the kiss” nothing to some of his other pieces which are some of the most insane paintings I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve been to 4-5 of the “top” museums in the world

[pastarocket]

I highly recommend taking a river boat tour in Budapest along the Danube River at night.

When I went to Hungary, Austria, Czech republic, Greece, Italy, and Croatia in 2014, one of the highlights of the three weeks in Europe was a Danube river boat ride at night in Budapest.

River boat ride included a buffet dinner and your choice of one alcoholic drink. Champagne or beer. My wifey and I went in late September, early October 2014 for holidays there.

The Danube river boat ride includes a spectacular view of the Hungarian Parliament building. The building is lit up with floodlights at night. You can see doves flying above the building. The Parliament building looked like something in a Disney movie.

As with all holidays in Europe, my advice is to always carry some Euro coins with you in case you need to go to the washroom.

Turnstiles are in front of some train stations in countries like Hungary, Czech republic, etc. Two Euros to get past the turnstile.

Some of the locals in Prague tried to save a few Euros by following right behind me one time to get past the turnstile and not pay to go to the washroom.

The funny part is that those turnstiles give you 1-2 seconds of time to get past them before going to the washrooms at the train station.

The dude behind me was too slow hahaa. Once i paid my 2 Euros and went past the turnstile, the bar went up for him immediately.

I was thinking "what the fuck, personal space bro!" I thought that the dude was a pick pocket. Petty crime is common in Europe.

Wear a money belt.

Beer in Prague is great. Pilsner Urquel.

As for Vienna, wifey and I enjoyed a tour of the Habsburg emperor palace Schonbrunn, and the winter palace Hofburg.

Security is very tight inside Hofburg if you plan to attend the Lipizzaner stallions show and Vienna Boys choir. No pictures or video is allowed when people watch the horse show. The boys choir sings during parts of the horse show.
Understandable. The stallions can get scared easily from flash photography and cause injuries to the horse riders.

-just felt a little uneasy with the security guards staying at people like a hawk to make sure they don't grab their phones out to take pictures during the horse show inside Hofburg palace.

Overall, the Lipizzaner stallion show and Vienna boys choir performance is very good.

In terms of food choice, I also recommend staying away from "imported" food.

Local food such as burgers from a Czech restaurant are cheap. Two bucks for a burger in Prague back in 2014.

-had a craving for fast food in Prague. I went to Burger King for breakfast before the tour bus left our hotel one morning haha.

-ordered a chicken burger, small fries, and a Sprite. The price came to 12 Euros. Although that Burger King accepts Euros, they gave me back change in the local currency (Koruna). Ripped off twice at Burger King haha.

If you like the outdoors, there are great places to hike in Croatia.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia is full of beautiful lakes and waterfalls. Gorgeous park. -about a two hour easy hike along the park trails.

[bcrdukes]

Prices in Prague have gone up quite a bit. And yes, try the beer and watch out for the jerks who give you change in their local currency when you pay in Euros.

I quite enjoyed Vienna but had a local play tour guide for me through a colleague. But I do agree it feels stuffy/expensive.

[Hondaracer]

Plitvice hellaaaaa ain’t worth it imo. Croatia has so much more to offer and it’s such a weird spot to get to away from everything else.

IMO anyone who’s ever been into the interior or back country here or around Whistler etc. is not missing out by by-passing Plitvice. I almost regret spending 2-3 days there even when we were in Europe for 4 months lol.. it just was fairly underwhelming.

[CivicBlues]

Damn, I actually skipped Plitvice when we were in Croatia in 2018 because I came down with a cold and didn't wanna sit on a bus all day. Stayed a few extra days in Split instead. Still regret it today, but I guess it wasn't a huge miss then? Insta photos make it look so colourful.

[Hondaracer]

It was OK but it’s legit in the middle of nowhere, I think it was 5 hours from split?

I think part of my disappointment too was that I thought Plitvice was Krka, which has the huge cascading waterfalls you could swim in (dunno if you still can I have a feeling they stopped that) the Krka ones look much cooler than anything that was in Pltvice.

Coming from Canada and spending a lot of time outdoors it was a very nice national park and a gem for Croatia absolutely. But if I had limited time there’s no way I’d go there, I think it’s also like 3 hours or more to Zagreb from there. A lot of people there and visiting the park seemed to come there without a car which would be a total nightmare imo. Everything is quite separated in terms of park entrances and restaurants/stores, you cannot get around there period if you don’t have transport

[pastarocket]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Damn, I actually skipped Plitvice when we were in Croatia in 2018 because I came down with a cold and didn't wanna sit on a bus all day. Stayed a few extra days in Split instead. Still regret it today, but I guess it wasn't a huge miss then? Insta photos make it look so colourful.

Yup, the calcium deposits in the lake beds make the water look grey, and green, in some pictures.

Sixteen lakes linked by waterfalls. The park is beautiful.

I find the landscapes of Europe a sight to behold. Something different from the touristy attractions of visiting historical sites such as Palace of Versailles in Paris for example.

[CivicBlues]

Hmm yeah after seeing the crystal blue waters of lakes in NZ and in places like Garibaldi/Yoho/Jasper/Banff that might not be worth the hassle. But still, would have been nice at the time to break up all the cities we were visiting.

I suspect a lot of it would depend on lighting conditions/seasons. I've seen photos of it in the winter that were not impressive at all. But then you'll have to deal with the crowds in the summer.

[blkgsr]

sweet thanks for the comments guys.

currently no plan to hit Berlin.

I'll pass along the info to my travel planner (wife)

[68style]

I did a 6 week trip in Europe back in 2015... same time you were travelling... I don't know if i was just unlucky that time, but I had absolutely the worst allergy experience of my life... I think I spent like 1/3rd of the time with snot dripping down my face and sneezing uncontrollably, the pollen count everywhere that time of year is UNREAL. I have allergies here to a certain extent, but it was fuckin crazy there.

[TOS'd]

I too was in Europe for 6 weeks back in 2015

[Hondaracer]

If you’re interested in specific spots I can dig through some photos and look up the airbnbs we stayed in

We stayed in an amazing place in Budapest super modern and cool but it doesn’t look like the host owns it anymore

Edit* forgot some basic tips we’ve kinda gone through over numerous trips now:

- if you’re into good coffee, look at the reviews with pictures and find a place that does latte art, any place that the baristas can do latte art generally will have better quality coffee, more experienced baristas.

- unless you’re set on a specific restaurant, always do the walk past and go back if you can’t find anything better, especially in touristy areas. So many terribly disappointing meals due to being hungry and sitting down at the most convenient place possible, but walking past the first place and looking at 2-3 in the surrounding area almost always yields better results.

- not sure if this is your first or 4th time in Europe but imo, ESPECIALLY for longer trips, don’t skimp on accommodation. Personally I’ve never been one to have that mentality of “I oNLy uSE tHe rOoM fEr sLeEPiNG” anyways but on longer trips imo it’s essential to have a nice space to go back to rather than some dump you don’t want to be in. Generally it’s the difference of $100 a night to $140-$150 a night which is 100000x worth it imo. You don’t remember the extra money you spent but you’ll remember the shitty place you hated

[blkgsr]

definitely not a coffee drinker, wife is but not into the artsy side of it.

we're pretty good a researching restaurants but can still offer challenges so we'll keep that in mind

we've done extensive (2x 8+ month) backpack trips and know all too well what shitty accommodation is like. we have our daughter now so we'll be ensuring that we're not staying in shit holes but i know what you mean. we're also at different times in our lives now where slumming it to save a few bucks isn't worth it.

[Hondaracer]

The latte art part isn’t so much to see the nice little tree in your coffee but to ensure the use decent beans/roasts lol