Driving among Central European countries

I spent time last summer on buses in Slovenia and Croatia. The roads looked fine, but I didn't get way up into the Julian Alps. In scenic areas, a car can be a disadvantage to the driver, who must keep his eyes on the road. One thing to keep in mind is that your possessions are at risk if you're stopping at tourist spots and parking the car en route to your next hotel. But you can see a lot more charming small towns with your own wheels. Are you interested in the little places, or do you expect to end up mostly in the big cities?

A lot will depend on what cities and towns you want to visit. I think you'll generally find decent train and bus service between the capitals and within individual countries. Crossing a border between Minor City A and Minor City B is often more challenging.

The Istrian Peninsula is a very interesting area where depending on buses makes it difficult to see other than the main coastal towns, so a car would be an advantage there. I believe some of the Croatian islands are served by small boats as well as car ferries. If you are driving, you'll be limited to using the car ferries.

I suspect it might work well to make it a combination trip, visiting major cities by train/bus then using a car for more rural areas.

Driving is pretty easy but really only worthwhile if you plan on going beyond the major cities or if your itinerary ends up including many connections that are difficult by public transport - Slovenia/Croatia to Budapest springs to mind. The main issue you need to be aware of, other than making sure the rental company allows taking the car into all of the listed countries, are the various specific requirements for each country, such as toll stickers (vignettes), winter tyres (if you're visiting between November and April), etc. Out of the countries you listed, you would need to buy vignettes for Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. Croatia and Poland have regular toll systems, whereas the Czech vignette will very likely already be included with the car. If travelling in the summer (late June to early September), avoid any long distance driving on weekends, when the highways leading to the Adriatic Sea (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia) are filled with holidaymakers from all over Europe.

Driving in cities is not impossible, but make sure that you book accommodation that is not in a pedestrian area and has some parking facilities either on site or nearby. Park and ride facilities are also quite common and definitely something to consider if parking costs are prohibitive in a certain city. While parking in cities and near tourist sites will be an extra expense, having a car in rural areas will mean you will have access to cheaper accommodation that would otherwise be out of reach.

I did a quick possible map using the countries you listed and without any side trips you are looking at 30 plus hours of driving. So, realistically that's about 5 days of traveling. https://goo.gl/maps/hSrtGkVM2Mp If three weeks in 21 days then you have 16 days left. Divide that by 7 countries and you have about 2 days per country. You will spend 25 dollars a day parking the car, add that to the cost of the car and the one way drop off fee if you can find a rental that will let you do it: Or you circle back and add a few more days of traveling.

You could set up a base in Budapest because it is fairly central and then do a circular path to the north, returning to Budapest https://goo.gl/maps/Zr5xVV8ApwE2 , then a circular path to the south returning to Budapest https://goo.gl/maps/GV2Ka2LuyBR2 .

Still way the heck too much for me. I would narrow it down to 3 countries and break it up into <4 hour train trips and <2 hour flights. Lot easier. We do the region twice a year and haven't "needed" a car yet and when we did have a short trip where a car was more convenient I just hire one for the day.

With a little research you can figure trips like
Arrive Dubrovnik. Rent a car if you want to drive down the coast to Montenegro our up the coast to see more of Croatia. Then return to Dubrovnik to drop the car and fly to Belgrade (1 hour about $100). Again, rent a car for a day or two to see the Iron Gates and Novi Sad.

Hop a flight to Budapest. Another 1 hour flight and $100 (this service is spotty). From Budapest there isn't a place in Hungary you cant reach by train. Cheap, fast easy.

For me that much would be three weeks, but you get the idea. I use Google Flights to find the short discount non stop flights.

Your plan is really ambitious and involves a lot of driving. Too much for my taste. Seven countries in three weeks which leaves you 3 days per country. I would go just for three countries, let's say C.R., Slovakia, Hungary or C.R., Slovakia, Austria. Those are relatively small countries next to each other.

What a great trip, Robert. We have lived in Prague in the Czech Republic and in Vienna and Salzburg, Austria, have family in Croatia, and have spent considerable time in Poland and Hungary. We have driven in all but prefer not to. We buy a Eurail pass ( www.eurail.com ) to cover all countries and enjoy the ride. Trains and buses will let you enjoy trouble-free restful travel with the beauty of the country right outside your window. We use trains most of all. You can walk around, use the restroom and even eat on the trains. With a car you have to rent it, be sure of insurance, pay added costs no one talks about, pay for parking and you might face a police stop, ticket, or accident. Parking can be hard to obtain and you risk having the car damaged, having your things stolen from it, or having the car stolen. Trains and buses are easy to coordinate and a pleasure to ride. You can truly relax. Eurail can help you figure it all out.

Thanks everyone, I think I need to make a couple of clarifications. We aren't planning in going to all of those places, and we certainly don't have delusions that we can see any whole country in 3 days. The dream is that list, the actual trip will be a subset of that list.

When we priced out trains vs. cars, it seemed like trains were the more economical option if there were 2 or even three or us, but with 4, the cost of trains seemed to outweigh the benefits of train travel. I'd appreciate any thoughts people have on that.

I do appreciate the feedback, and I will look more closely at train possibilities- I like the idea of 'training' to the bigger cities, then renting a car for any side trips that we plan.

I appreciate any additional feedback!

Thanks, Robert in Montreal

Each situation will be unique. So plan out what you want to see then investigate how to get from place to place. The killer cost will be the fee to pick up a rental in one country and drop in another. Also don't be afraid to look at drivers if you are talking about a group of 4. For instance a chauffer from Budapest to Vienna in a van for five passengers is about $500 or $100 each. Faster than the train, a little more expensive than the train but door to door with an opportunity to stop along the way.

Robert, I've come to the same conclusion regarding the cost of train travel in my travels around Europe - if there's 4 people in your group, a car becomes good value, although do factor in tolls, parking and gas into the equation when comparing with public transport. Overall, however, I think your itinerary needs to materialize a bit further before you can finalise your decision. You can carve out itineraries from your country list that will make having a car superfluous, as well as potential itineraries where it would be essential.

This routing would seem similar to what you describe from your 'wish list'. I think I would prefer 5 weeks if driving, rather than your 3. For me, six or seven destinations by train would be far fewer headaches.

Prague
Brno
Bratislava
Vienna
Graz
Ljubljana
Zagreb
Lake Balaton
Budapest
Kraków
Wroclaw
Prague