Smoking in Eastern Europe

Agree-lots of smokers in the restaurants and public places, however, we found no problems with having non-smoking rooms in the hotels--in fact, non-smoking rooms seem to be the default. Hotels know their market, and non-smoking tourists predominate. have never asked for a non-smoking room on several trips, and always had one.

Debbie...If you have an aversion to smoking, you may want to 1) think about traveling elsewhere, 2) take a respirator, 3) avoid restaurants, bars, trains,... Eastern Europe is fantastic, but they haven't quite gotten on board with the whole smoking=bad concept, yet. Just try to avoid confined areas and you'll be fine. Your larger hotel chains will have non-smoking rooms, but not the mom 'n pop hotels or B&B's. But it's certainly worth asking. They do love to light up, especially in Poland. Don't let that stop you, though.

It is true that restaurants and pubs can be very smokey, but depending on the time of year you plan on going, there are lots of outdoor options. Many restaurants (at least in Poland) have outdoor seating available as long as the weather holds. Some places have temporary "beer gardens" that are removed when it starts getting consistently colder, say mid-September. But other places have permanent outdoor seating that they will open up anytime the weather allows.

Debbie - Short answer, check with your doctor. Long answer based on my experience follows...

Everyone's reaction to smoke and other irritants is different, so it's hard to get advice for this from others. If your problems are severe, you probably have an allergy or ENT specialist who should be able to give you sound advice.

I have severe reactions to smoke as well as purfumes, chemicals, etc... I work with my sinus specialist a couple months ahead of my trips to adjust my preventative medications when exposure will be unavoidable. At least in my situation, my doctor has never advised me not to go. He has advised that I might suffer a little. So far, I have been able to travel all over Europe and Eastern Europe with only occasional mild symptoms.

I had a few problems last year in the Czech Republic and Poland in bars and clubs. I didn't really have problems anywhere else - Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia. I was extra careful to avoid smokers, but sometimes I just had to deal with the smoke in places like the great jazz club in Krakow and in a few local bars in other towns.

Hope you find a way to go as all three countries are amazing places to visit!

The situation is a lot better for the smoke sensitive in Central Europe today than it was even a few years ago. I believe all three countries have banned smoking on trains and train platforms and in most public places. (I had the dubious privilege a while back of taking one of the very last trains in the Czech Republic to allow smoking--needless to say, it was a less than pleasant trip, with many smokers chain-smoking to get in their last gasp ciggies!) There's been some pushback on total smoking bans from pub and restaurant owners in Croatia--as of a few months ago, bars and restaurants were permitted to have separate smoking areas.

Honestly, I have been really amazed at the degree to which public smoking is being prohibited even in countries where smoking is a way of life--Turkey, Eastern Europe, even China! I never thought I'd see the day when Irish pubs, French bistros, and Turkish taxis would go smoke-free. In my opinion, the European country that is the most retrograde on smoking is the Netherlands. It's surprising that a country where the population is educated, pro-'green', and relatively health conscious still allows smoking in bars and cafes.