Best of Eastern Europe

No doubt Budapest is included in the tour so I suggest you check out the Hungary board here for posts by a man named James. He lives part time in Budapest and has posted often and lengthily about the many things to see and do in the city.

Suggest reading various guidebooks and check with the staff at the tour department as they should offer some suggestions for activities during "free" time. Your guide will provide such as well. As for weather, you could search the Weather Underground website which includes historical weather information for your planning purposes.

If you go to the tour page for your tour there should be a section for "weather" which might give you some idea of what to expect depending on when you're going.

I did this tour a couple years ago - end of June to early July. The weather was all over the place but that was to be expected for the time of year and the various areas you visit. We had a few warm days, warm enough to go swimming when you are in Rab but nothing unbearable. You don't say what time you are going so you may find things different.

As far as things to do in your free time, our guide was great at showing us what was available plus we had researched things to do in the major areas. We spent an afternoon at a wonderful Robert Capa exhibit one afternoon and went to the baths another in Budapest, went to the "Jewish Woodstock" in Krakow, listened and danced to an orchestra on the square in Eger, visited the Mucha Museum in Prague, the list goes on. You will find that you don't have enough time to do everything because it is a pretty busy tour.

It was an excellent time - you will enjoy it.

"Eastern" Europe can be hot in the summer and the Western Europeans their definition of air conditioning is somewhat different than ours. Bring cool clothing.

The tour starts in Prague and is a pretty fast paced tour (from what I have read - never done it) but it goes to a lot of really interesting off the beaten path locations. You might have to deal with the crowds in Prague but that would be the worst of it.

Two odd things, One is that it skips Vienna and second that it ends at lake Bled. If you have a few more days I would fly from Lake Bled to Vienna for a couple of days before you go home.