Croatia, Slovenia, Budapest itinerary help (modified since original post in June)

4 nights Mlini - Villa Carmen (wanted a place away from busyness of Old Town)
Day 1 - recoup from jetlag; maybe take tram to Srd for sunset & dinner

• Or stay in Dubrovnik. I think Dubrovnik despite the crowd is worth 2 full days.
• If I had come to Dubrovnik (would be my fourth trip) I would stay in Dubrovnik. The only Villa Carmen I could find is a 20 min drive from Old Town. Hope you are closer. Old Town Dubrovnik is at its best in the evening. There are not that many accommodations within the walls, so the evening is the sweet time to be there.

Day 2 - explore Old Town Dubrovnik -- Dubrovnik Pass worth it?
Day 3 - daytrip to Montenegro - like to visit Kotor, Perast and either Herceg Novi or Budva. recommendations?

• I would hire a Montenegrin guide (cheaper) to pick me up in Dubrovnik.
• Kotor is a small less impressive version of Dubrovnik.
• Above Perast is a Prosciutto maker (and you can get inside of the curing house) and restaurant called Restoran Zora that I like a lot.
• Perast is lovely,
• Herceg Novi is cute and enjoyable.
• Budva is a bit of a stretch of a trip for a day trip

Day 21-22 transit train Ljubljana to Budapest (5 am to Keleti or 9:30 am to Deli)

• Keleti is generally more convenient. But really depends on where you are staying. If your accommodations are near the M2 line, Deli wouldnt be bad.
• If early checkin is an issue or you are not staying in a place that you can leave your luggage in the morning, then I have a suggestion.
• Might be a good morning to go to a bath house to relax and use time until you can check-in.

Day 21 or 22 - 25: purchase Budapest Card & use Metro for getting around; sights to see: Parliament, Great Synagogue, Opera House, Szechenyi or Rudas Baths, Matthias church -- any other suggestions?

• Budapest is a good stop even if you only have 2 days. But to see it well takes 4 full days at a minimum. It’s about the same physical size as Chicago with a population closer to that of Houston.
• You probably don’t want a “Budapest Card” you will do better with a 15 day Budapest Pass for 5.950 ft (about $16.50). The 96 hour Budapest Card will cost 32.990 (about $91.00) and unless you are going to spend a whole lot of time in museums it wont pay for itself.
• Széchenyi or Rudas Baths or Gellert Baths. I vote for Széchenyi or Gellert Baths.
• Parliament, if you want to go inside (yes) buy your ticket now
• Great (Dohany utca) Synagogue, do take the tour.
• Opera House, do take the tour and see a performance … buy your ticket now
• Matthias Church, do buy the ticket to go inside.
• What else? Geeee, where to begin. Where are you staying, that always helps in planning. Then what are you interested in? History, music art, maybe a cruise from Szentendre, small villages?

Day 25 - extra time available in AM before flying back to SFO

Looks like a well-thought out plan. I can comment on a couple of things:

• the Dub Pass is not that much more than the cost of the ticket to walk the walls
  by itself (it appears to be the same price for a day), but given your schedule,
  not sure you'll get that much more use out of it. Wandering the old town is
  probably the bulk of the activity, and the other places on the pass are IMO not
  really worth it if you are time-constrained.

• lots of accommodation options around Plitvice if you have a car. The hotels
  at the park apparently will validate your park ticket for a second day if you stay
  with them overnight, but the 2nd day is only 20 EUR more for a ticket, so it may
  be worth looking into cheaper/more charming lodging nearby since you can
  commute.

I have said this before on the forum, but save an hour on the way out to drive over
to Poljanak and take the road down towards the B&B Villa Nena. When you get to
the small bridge, park the car and walk down the small paths before & after the bridge
and you get amazing viewpoints of Veliki Slap and the lower lakes without having to
hike up from the lake level.

• the train from Rijeka to Ljubljana is old and creaky but fine. My rental car office was
  a few blocks walk from train station, so you may want to take that into account.

• the Julian Alps drive from Ljubljana probably could be done in a day, but that would be
  a long day IMO. Better to plan a night in Kobarid or Bovec. If you want to visit Postojna
  Cave, that is a short diversion on the highway on the way back to Ljubljana (driving
  counterclockwise).

• If you are thinking of a night in Bled, the Triglav Bled hotel is on the other side of the lake
  from the town, near the Jezero train station. It's located above the lake and rooms on
  that side, along with the breakfast room, have a lovely view of the lake and the island/church.

• in Budapest, if you find yourself with time to kill, take the subway/bus out to Memento Park.
  Old Communist monuments & statues in a suburb. Quirky but interesting.

St Stephan's and the Matthias Church have concerts in the evening.

I always recommend to stay in Dubrovnik’s old town. It is so much nicer and easier. You do not need a car there. If you really do not want to stay within the walls, stay in Lapad. It is an easy bus ride into the old town.

Do not drive to Korčula, take the ferry from Dubrovnik. Again, if you insist, drive to Orebič, leave the car in the parking lot (you can get an app to pay for 24 hours then more time if needed) and ferry over, about 15 mintues. The Moreška Sword Dance fesstival is from 9/1-10. Ferry from Korčula to Split via Hvar. Check September ferry schedule at croatiaferries.com.

If you did rent the car and parked in Orebič, take ferry back, get car and drive to Split. I am telling you from experience and at least 6 trips taking this route, rent the car after you leave Split. You will save so much time and money and headaches.

In istria stay in either Poreč or Rovinj, not Motovun. Parking will be easier in the first two towns. Motovun is a hill town, very, very hilly with parking down below. You can hike up or take a bus. I know in Rick’s guide it mentions all the quirky shops and people, but we visited a year ago and half the town was for sale. Most of those people left. It is worth a day trip though. And take the truffle tour, even if it is touristy, after all, we are tourists.

When leaving Istria do not drive to Rijeka to take the train. Like another poster mentioned, it is very slow. Try daytrip.com or goopti.co. Both have been mentioned on this forum.

Stay in Ljubljana and take the bus to Lake Bled for the day. If staying in Lake Bled try the Vila Bled. It is a hotel now but was Tito’s private villa. It’s on the lake and beautiful.

Whatever you decide, have a lovely trip.

thanks all for advice
*will stay in Old Town vs Mlini; I've checked with Karmen Apts. and Dubrovnik Gardens, both aren't available for the dates I need. Apartment House Lina has availability and Room Mimi might also. Any experience with those 2? Both were recommended by Karmen Apts.

* I'll pass on train from Rijeka to Ljubljana
* will take ferry to Korcula & rent car in Split

I haven’t stayed at apt. Lina but the location is fine. The old town is very small so you won’t be far from the main street (the Stradun).

Hi All, I've been busy adjusting our itinerary, implementing many of your suggestions.  I'm new to this type of travel forum so I'm not sure if everyone who responded to my initial inquiry sees this latest post or just the last person.  In any case here are a couple of lodging questions I have:
1) I've been emailing the property direct to check on availability (per suggestion of Rick Steves and assumption that properties would prefer this over an online booking service).  When I'm researching airline fares, I'll use kayak or google travel for initial research, then contact airlines directly.  I've been looking at booking.com, then send an email direct to property if there's one available. Unfortunately 'm not having much luck getting responses to my emails.  I'm not familiar with booking.com.  Here's my questions: are they reliable, hidden costs, responsive to booking issues?  Is it "safe" to book through them?
2) On some of the properties I've been looking at, they require payment in cash.  Is that typical?  We'd hate to carry a lot of cash on us.  If it is typical, my understanding is it's best to get cash once we get to Europe.  What's the best way to do that?

​​​​​​​Thanks! Karen

1) I've been emailing the property direct to check on availability
(per suggestion of Rick Steves and assumption that properties would
prefer this over an online booking service).

I am only good for helping in Budapest.

I guess you are lookinig at apartments? Not hotels? In that case Booking.com or AirBnb are where you need to go. It's just easier. Cash when checking in...... I would be more comfortable with a booking site and pay thru them. Then you have some recourse if something goes wrong. The apartment owner has put the cost of the AirBnb or Booking.com fee in the rent he quotes you, so dont feel bad.

A few apartment managment companies do have their own website and thats okay too, but make sure they are also listed on AirBnb or Booking.com as it is sort of like a reference. To find the other sites where an apartment is listed go to AirBnb or Booking.com and look for some unique wording in the description, then google that wording. Make sure they are publishing their license number so you know they are legal. And the right location can make a world of difference.

PM me and I can help you find something in Budapest. Or post your requirements here and you will get suggestions.

Thanks Mr. E for your input! Good points about booking.com which is very reassuring. I'm still working my way through Croatia & Slovenia logistics. Once I'm done with that I'll definitely take you up on your offer on Budapest suggestions and ping you.

Happy to help

I use booking.c9m for initial research and often end up reserving lodging through them. Pretty often the hotel's website is cheaper, but not always. Just a few days ago I found the same rate in both places, but the booking.com listing included breakfast, which was an extra cost on the hotel's website. One of those listings was probably an error by the hotel's web person, but I don't have time in the middle of a trip to chase down that kind of thing, so I used booking.com.

I have probably made over 200 reservations through booking.com, with no problem. It's easier to find the key information there than on many hotel websites, and the reviews have proved very reliable, overall. You can't leave a review on booking com unless you've stayed at the hotel.

You do have to read the options carefully, because frequently there are different rates for different cancellation policies, as well as rates with and without breakfast. I normally choose a cancellable reservation and opt to pay at the hotel, because choosing the latter eliminates one potential issue; the hotel check-in person could possibly not realize payment has been made through booking.com.

Booking.com is huge; if you search for them, you will surely find some complaints. There have been a few complaints on this forum. However, it is a legitimate company and in my experience your odds of a trouble-free booking are high.

It's important to remember that there is the occasional issue with a direct booking, too. I recently booked an air-conditioned room on the website of a hotel that has rooms both with and without a/c. They didn't exactly highlight that difference on their website, but there were two different rate. I carefully booked a room with a/c. When I checked in and went up to my room, there was no a/c unit. When I complained--pointing out that I had paid for a room with a/c, they switched me to an air-conditioned room of a higher category. Apparently they had overbooked the air-conditioned single rooms.

My main warning about using booking.com is that it seems the rates displayed there are increasingly (but not always) noticeably higher than what I can find on the hotel's website. Therefore, I urge everyone to check both places.