Travelling In Eastern Europe

I plan on backpacking Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, & Poland this summer. Does anyone have any advice on how to get around in these countries and from one to another?

I was thinking of getting the Eastern Europe Rail pass frmo Rail Europe but given the limited rail network in some of the countries I'm not sure it's worth it.

Any advice would be great... especially form those who have been there.

Thanks!

I'v edone quite a bit of traveling throughout Europe, and believe it or not, but I found it much cheap to fly with the EU than it was to purchase a rail pass. I mean I just bought a ticket from Sky Europe of 1 pound, plus taxes, from Amsterdam to Slovakia! Only catch, some of the air lines need a european address when booking

But, check out www.airberlin.com and www.skyeurope.com.

Best of Luck,

Flying is good for covering long distances, but not for real 'traveling'. If you want to go from city to city, trains are the way to go. Trains are generally really cheap in Eastern Europe, especially Romania for example. I'd probably buy point-to-point tickets, depending on just how much you plan on riding the rails.

CanuckAbroad,

From city to city - true enough; however, from country to country, I'll take the a cheap flight anytime. Call me 'posh' but I'd rather fly for an hour and a half, than take a 4+ hour train ride.

I suppose it depends on one's definition of "travelling". Does your definition equate "travelling with destination" or does it also entail the experience in reaching it?

It's the whole experience.

If he's going through all those countries, it probably doesn't make sense to take flights when he can get from point-to-point in reasonable times. I'd rather take a 6 hour train ride than an hour flight, because dealing with all the airport stuff (security, etc) turns into 4-5 hours anyhow.

If going from Poland straight to Croatia, if you could get a cheap flight that'd make more sense.

But, if you're going Poland > Czech > Hungary > Croatia for example, then it makes more sense to go via train, and actually see the countries from the ground, stop at interesting cities, meet people, etc.

I plan on doing it all on the ground because, as some people have already pointed out, this is how you get the true experience of a country. I'm going to be travelling through them in a kind of order, ie. Poland > Czech Rep. > Hungary > Croatia, so a rail pass seems to be making sense to me right now.

I know Rail Europe offers an Eastern European pass that would cover Poland, the Czech Rep., & Hungary along with Austria and Slovakia if I feel so inclined to visit them as well. This only leaves Croatia which I've been planning to traverse mostly by ferry down the coast anyway.

Anyone have any thoughts on the above...

P.S. Thank you for all of your replies so far!

Your itinerary makes sense - Train service is limited and VERY slow in Croatia. Pretty much bus and ferry all down the coast. If you take the bus to Split I believe, then you can hop the ferry down to Dubrovnik and some of the islands. Dubrovnik is by far one of the nicest places I've seen in all the countries I've been too. Good luck!

Sounds like a blast. I'm sure that you'll enjoy it.

Train timetables should be reliable if you are using the right source - I would use www.cp.sk to check timetable information if your passing through Slovakia. Bratislava is a great stop over (one or two days)if your traveling btw Warsaw and Vienna. The site also gives connection from Budapest. The Czech/Slovak trains are pretty punctual.

Best Regards,
Michele