have you been to croatia, slovenia and austria? (2 Viewers)

[broken arm]

what are the must see, do, taste, feel things?

we may be going through all three by train on the way back to the UK - and we'll want to use bus/feet/tent.

 

[flashback]

Croatia. Yeah, I was there at one point.
Emm. That's the one with Hvar and Split and Dubrovnik and things?

Yeah. It was grand. Emm. Grand. The sister was out there, and seemed to have a better time of it than ourselves. I dunno. I think we weren't there long enough, so we did too much traveling rather than sitting around.
The Adriatic is pretty. The rocks are astonishingly sharp, and there are next to no beaches, but the sea is nice.

Some of the people are dickheads. Some of them are really nice. Generally the Hungarians were cooler though, on the whole.

I dunno. I wouldn't be rushing back, but there was no harm in seeing the place. I think I am sticking to central / south america these days more though. Better sort of buzz about that neck of the woods.

Things to do,... walk around the olive groves around Hvar / Spit, and the lavender fields, and all of that, and find little coves to swim out of.
That would be my main thing.

I have heard good things about Slovenia, and also Bulgaria. But, thats not really that near. Bulgaria is a place I would like to go to.
Budapest was alright too. If you are about that direction. Worth a few days...

 

[broken arm]

was in budapest many years back - we liked it.

the current idea is get the train from london to alps. get train down east coast of italy. get ferry from Bari to Dubrovnik and do a route back around to london through croatia, slovenia and austria. croatia is a bit light on rail routes so we'll probably get a bus along the coast (if possible) to slovenia.

i wanted to go to macedonia but time wise that may be too much BUT you have me thinking we could go through Macedonia and bulgaria and fly back?? mmm.

 

[broken arm]

it takes three whole days getting to bulgaira by train..

Train times London ► Sofia (option 1, via Belgrade):

• Day 1: Travel from London to Brussels by Eurostar, leaving London St Pancras at 13:00 (12:57 Fridays & Sundays), arriving Brussels 16:03.​
• Day 1: Travel from Brussels to Cologne by high-speed Thalys train, leaving Brussels at 17:25 and arriving Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 19:45.​
• Day 1: Travel from Cologne to Vienna on the excellent City Night Line hotel train 'Donau Kurier', leaving Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 20:06 and arriving in Vienna (Westbahnhof) at 08:35. The 'Donau Kurier' has sleeping-cars (1 & 2 berth deluxe with shower, 1, 2 or 4 berth standard sleepers with washbasin), couchettes (4 & 6 berth compartments), reclining seats & a bar-restaurant car, see the photos & information below. The train travels along the famous Rhine Valley between Koblenz and Frankfurt, so if you are in a sleeper and your compartment happens to be on the left-hand side of the train, switch off the lights and watch the Rhine pass by, mountains and castles lit by moonlight, while sipping a glass of Riesling. Wonderful..!​
• Alternatively, you can travel from London to Vienna via Paris, Strasbourg & the (real!) Orient Express, see the London to Austria page. However, as only full fares are available for the Strasbourg-Vienna Orient Express, this usually works out more expensive.​
• Day 2: Travel from Vienna to Sofia by direct sleeping-car, leaving Vienna at 19:48 and arriving in Sofia at 18:15 next day (day 3 from London). This train travels via Budapest and Belgrade (Hungary & Serbia). Just one sleeping-car of the Bulgarian railways runs direct Vienna-Sofia, with 1- 2- & 3-bed compartments with washbasin, see the photos below. There is no restaurant car, so take you own food, water and beer or wine, and enjoy the ride...

Train times London ► Sofia (option 2, via Romania):

• Day 1: Travel from London to Brussels by Eurostar, leaving London St Pancras at 13:00 (12:57 Fridays & Sundays), arriving Brussels 16:03.​
• Day 1: Travel from Brussels to Cologne by high-speed Thalys train, leaving Brussels at 17:25 and arriving Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 19:45.​
• Day 1: Travel from Cologne to Vienna on the excellent City Night Line hotel train 'Donau Kurier', leaving Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 20:06 and arriving in Vienna (Westbahnhof) at 08:35. The 'Donau Kurier' has sleeping-cars (1 & 2 berth deluxe with shower, 1, 2 or 4 berth standard sleepers with washbasin), couchettes (4 & 6 berth compartments), reclining seats & a bar-restaurant car, see the photos & information below. The train travels along the famous Rhine Valley between Koblenz and Frankfurt, so if you are in a sleeper and your compartment happens to be on the left-hand side of the train, switch off the lights and watch the Rhine pass by, mountains and castles lit by moonlight, while sipping a glass of Riesling. Wonderful..!​
• Alternatively, you can travel from London to Vienna via Paris, Strasbourg & the (real!) Orient Express, see the London to Austria page. However, as only full fares are available for the Strasbourg-Vienna Orient Express, this usually works out more expensive.​
• Day 2: Travel from Vienna to Budapest on air-conditioned InterCity train 'Avala', leaving Vienna at 09:52 and arriving in Budapest (Keleti station) at 12:53. A restaurant car is available.
• Day 2: Travel from Budapest to Sofia in a direct sleeping-car, leaving Budapest Keleti station daily at 17:45, arriving Sofia at 22:12 next day (day 3 from London). The sleeping-car has 1- 2- & 3-bed rooms with washbasin. It is routed via Romania, being detached from the EuroNight 'Ister' and attached to the Bucharest-Athens 'Romania' in Bucharest. In the comfort of a sleeper, it's a safe, pleasant and scenic journey, but there's no restaurant car, so take you own food, water and beer or wine.

 

[maims bond]

You could go from Dubrovnik to Sarajevo. Cool city, but a little difficult to get to, no trains, only buses. The Bosnian countryside is pretty amazing.

 

[broken arm]

You could go from Dubrovnik to Sarajevo. Cool city, but a little difficult to get to, no trains, only buses. The Bosnian countryside is pretty amazing.

if we get the bus to sarajevo and them up to zagreb it's easy to get a train to london from there. have wanted to visit bosnia for ages.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Had honeymoon there. Should be a post somewhere.
Dubrovnik is a lovely city. Water taxis to get from place to place rock.

 

[cpr]

Dubrovnik is beautiful, went there two years ago for a week in summer. Very hot in July, lovely islands all around, great ice cream,very relaxing and interesting.Good chill out spot. Going to Austria in March so will be able to tell you more about that then.

 

[maims bond]

if we get the bus to sarajevo and them up to zagreb it's easy to get a train to london from there. have wanted to visit bosnia for ages.

You can also make your way back to Budapest, but Zagreb is probably closer. Dubrovnik is nice and all but in the high season it's almost intolerable after a few days there, thronged with camera-totin fatties. Pretty expensive too.

 

[flashback]

right, the heat is pretty amazing alright.

We came from a NYC summer to the heat there, and it was still seriously eyeball drying stuff. My other half is 1/4 central American, and she was suffering.

Its this still, forty something degree C air, virtually none, or no air conditioning. It can be tough. The first couple of nights in Budapest I got up every couple of hours to stand in a cold shower, before I could get my temperature under control.

 

[Space]

Austria's deadly, times I've been there have been around the Tirol Alps. Don't know much(anything really) about the main cities though. People in general were really nice, helpful and friendly.

There's thread about Austria somewhere from people who've been to the cities and that.

 

[Rimbaud]

Lake Bled in Slovenia rates as one of the best place's i've visited.Loved it and can't wait to go there again.
Zagreb was a let down for me - not very exciting.
Dubrovnik is really good/laid back.Sarajevo and Belgrade are pretty excellent too if you ask me.

 

[broken arm]

Lake Bled in Slovenia

that looks great. we'll be camping too... another site says it's only an hour by bus from Ljubljana - do you reckon it'll make a good walk?

 

[sarah]

i've been to innsbruck in Austria very nice, if going in winter months, we went night tobaganing (oh god no idea of sp!) which was mad and dangerous and deadly and cold if you are stupid enough to wear a pair of mary jane flats in the midst of a snow covered mountain,

which i was.

highly recommend beautiful scenery, uptight weird austrians. smallest gay club in the world.

 

[jane]

http://www.thumped.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=49458&highlight=OMG+AUSTRIA

Christ, we need to go back to Austria. Fuckin' love it.

 

[Rimbaud]

that looks great. we'll be camping too... another site says it's only an hour by bus from Ljubljana - do you reckon it'll make a good walk?

Yea its just the hour on a bus.Walk from Ljubljana to Lake Bled?Its probably 30 miles or so, maybe a bit more.5 to 6 hours walking?What time of year will all this be happening?Lake Bled is really worth a few days.
On another note the scenery from Sarajevo to Zagreb is'nt the greatest with alot of socially deprived towns along the way - although that may have changed if theirs been renewal plans going on in the region over the last few years.

 

[broken arm]

Yea its just the hour on a bus.Walk from Ljubljana to Lake Bled?Its probably 30 miles or so, maybe a bit more.5 to 6 hours walking?What time of year will all this be happening?Lake Bled is really worth a few days.
On another note the scenery from Sarajevo to Zagreb is'nt the greatest with alot of socially deprived towns along the way - although that may have changed if theirs been renewal plans going on in the region over the last few years.

it'll be end of may start of june. Not sure what places we'll have time to spend a few days at yet. we'll only have about 3 weeks in total.

part of the reason we usually travel by train is to see the countries we are travelling through - doesn't have to be fancy hills

 

[Umfufu]

We went to Dubrovnik a couple of years ago.

The old city is really impressive. It's almost like a reconstruction of a medieval village (except the main street is filled with small, expensive, boutique shops!).

You have to do the walk around the top of the city wall.

Most of the hotels are outside the city walls but we rented an apartment inside it which I'd highly recommend.

It's a lovely relaxing place to go but a week in Dubrovnik was plenty.
It's a small place & quite touristy.

The old city, while beautiful, is unnaturally clean & new looking which makes it feel a bit sterile.

Definitely worth a look if you want a relaxing week with your other half. though.

 

[jane]

I would like to repeat that I love Austria and I could eat it every day and never get sick of it.

That is all.

Thanking you.

 

[broken arm]

I would like to repeat that I love Austria and I could eat it every day and never get sick of it.

That is all.

Thanking you.

how did you get there/get around? what places did you stop at? did you meet any nazis?