Eastern Europe and Balkan Countries

Too broad.

Hi, felicianf, I think what Mr. E meant was that it is difficult to respond to a question like this without more information.

First, can you tell us how long you will be over there? How many nights you are spending in each city? Usually 2 days equates to 3 nights, which makes it a total of 27 nights. Is that correct?

Second, it would really help to know the day you are arriving at the start (is that Warsaw?) and the day that you are leaving to go home (are you leaving from Belgrade?). If you can let us know that, it would be easier to help you plan.

I also think that even if you decide to keep this schedule, it will be easier to get information like city pass benefits, lodging, and walking tours if you do that on a city-by-city basis. You can start a new thread for each city and then ask your questions about each place. Does this all make sense?

That is so exciting that you will be traveling to these places. It is a wonderful area to visit.

EDIT: I forgot ask—are you doing this whole trip by bus? Or are you driving? You mentioned a bus tour. Does this bus take you to each of these cities? And then you find your own accommodation, etc.?

It sounds as though you have already scoped out bus times (departures and arrivals) and know this route works for you. If not, that is your first step. Or maybe this is a transportation only bus tour you have purchased.

I echo Mardee - but I would assume you might mean 2 nights in each city. That would give you a full day plus a portion of a day. If you change locations every day, then you only have a half day, meaning you pick one place/thing, or just enjoy walking the city center.

AirBnB Vs Booking dot com

This will vary city to city. There is no clear winner. Research both and see what you find. Much of it is preference. Some people prefer hotels and some apartments. If you are on a budget, check hostels.

Walking tours

Same variety by city. However many cities have a “free walking tour” that you can google. Then you tip the guide - usually €10-20 per person taking the tour. It’s an inexpensive way to get a 2-3 hour overview. In Krakow, I used https://freewalkingtour.com/krakow/old-town-krakow/

In Sarajevo, I love Tour Mage’s Grand City Tour. https://tourmage.ba/tour/sarajevo-grand-tour/ Have done it twice.

If you visit Auschwitz/Birkenau, that is pretty much your full day.

For such a short stay in each city, I can’t imagine any kind of city pass would be worth it.

Starting from Warsaw, then to Krakow and Bratislava Ljubijana, Zagreb,
Split, Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, and ending in Belgrade.

That is not an easy journey ... but a good one.. but you will benefit from expert help which requires dates.

I think the public-bus trip from Sarajevo to Belgrade takes about 8 hours. Will you be using public buses, or is this some sort of special transportation arrangement? Bus service across borders tends to be rather infrequent, so there's a risk to having a tight schedule like this.

Some of your cities are a lot more sight-rich than others; I wouldn't be happy with such short visits to Warsaw, Krakow, Belgrade and Sarajevo, but I admit to a very unusual degree of interest in Cold War history. Every traveler is different. You really need to hit some guidebooks to figure out what you want to do at each stop..

I would find it difficult to maintain the pace you propose, but I am probably three times your age.

Do consider that with less than two days in each place, you aren't giving yourselves much time to figure things out in each new city. You're traveling soon, so I'm not sure how much time you have for pre-trip research on so many places.

You'll potentially encounter very hot weather at all those destinations, so be sure to read lodging reviews and pay attention to comments about the quality of the air conditioning in the places you're considering. I depend heavily on booking.com reviews but often book directly with hotels after making a selection. I do not use Airbnb at all.

Online tickets for Auschwitz-Birkenau sell out well in advance. You need to buy those ahead of time. You can get within walking distance of the camp by train or bus, and I think some buses go right to the gate.

“ I am probably three times your age.”

Are you 195 years old?

Just kidding. I am 65.

Thank you for your friendly insights.
1. I am planning to make this trip with my wife and our children might join us when they have time.
2. The tour begins in August and we plan to take flux bus and have checked their fares and times.
3. We have already purchased Birkenau camp tickets online.
4. My main concern is to know what specific places we should not miss in each of these cities.

So do you have a half day or a day and a half in each city?

A day and a half.

I travel a lot in Europe, using only public transportation. I've taken lots of buses but made only one or two trips on Flixbus, so this isn't first-hand, experience-based information about that company...

Flixbus has a wide network, but it's apparently rather shallow, with not many buses per day on its routes. (In fairness, as I wrote earlier, border-crossing buses run by any company will be infrequent, at least in the part of Europe you're planning to visit.) I have no idea how well prepared Flixbus is for dealing with mechanical issues on one of its buses.

In July 2015 I opted to take a bus from Messina in Sicily to Lecce in Puglia. It was run by a local bus company, not Flixbus. The train was scheduled to take hours longer than the bus, so the choice to travel by bus seemed a rational decision--right up until the delays started showing up on the departure board. We were at least 4 hours late leaving, and the the bus wasn't air conditioned; that was the mechanical problem they had been trying to fix, but with no success. To the company's credit, it had also tried to find a replacement bus but been unable to.

Long-distance bus trips can encounter delays, and there can be long waits until the next scheduled departure. Your schedule is beyond tight. You could end up with even less sightseeing time in some locations than you have on paper.

You can find lists of Rick's top sightseeing suggestions for some of your stops on this website. Go to Explore Europe, choose one of your countries and scroll down to see whether one of your planned destinations is listed. If so, click on it and then on At a Glance if that is an option. You will only find that as a choice for some of your destinations, but it's worth your time to look. Rick is very good at identifying sights with general appeal.

Hello,

This is certainly an aggressive travel trip. Is this a "Bus Tour" offered by Flix Bus or are you designing your own itinerary and just traveling by bus? It sounds like a "Bus Tour" because you are limited to just 1.5 days in each city. Otherwise, I would suggest staying in some cities longer.

I would suggest Booking.com hotels instead of AirBnB because your stays are so short and AirBnB's have so many extra charges for short stays. In addition, you may want to know in advance the location of your bus station. This will help planning hotel locations as well since it sounds like you will leave early in the morning each travel day if this is a "Bus Tour".

I would pick 2-3 sights in each city and the rest of the time just explore the old town city centers and experience the general feel of the city.

Ok, here are things I enjoyed in some of these cities.
Warsaw: the Polin Museum, an organ concert at Archcathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, and the Royal Castle chapel.
Krakow: a walking tour on your half day and then your Birkenau trip. I also like St. Mary’s Basilica. See if you can get dinner and short concert reservations at Klezmer Hois.
Split: Diocletian’s Palace with your afternoon. If you can, maybe a day trip to Hvar or a similar boat trip.
Dubrovnik: walk the city walls, cable car up Mt. Srd.
Sarajevo: the Tour Mage tour, sunset views from the Yellow Fortress, and restaurants Dveri and Nanina Kuhinja.

I haven’t been to Zagreb or Bratislava. Ljubljana I liked but other than wandering I don’t have must do thoughts. Belgrade - got there, wasn’t a real fan. I enjoyed most my day trip to Novi Sad - and it was a good one.

You might be well-served with a walking tour in each city since your time is short. They are not all created equal, but they usually give you a quick overview and some history. I also don’t believe in “must sees”. Have a list of “possibles” but you may find you enjoy most the days you just wander and enjoy being there.

Our east European tour has commenced. Me with my wife arrived in Warsaw on the 10th morning and took a walking tour exploring old Warsaw.
11th, we did a city tour of our own.
On the 12th morning, we checked out and took the FlixBus to Kraków.

In Kraków, we had another walking tour. We had booked tickets to Birkenau Auschwitz camp a few months ago and took the bus to the camp. I had a heartbreaking two hours wandering inside the camp seeing the misery of the victims, which ironically had a resemblance to what Gaza is now.
Took the last bus back to Kraków at 7.30.
On the 14th we left Kraków to reach Bratislava, a wonderful gem not admired by many though.
I had a walking tour there also and that was by far the best free walking tour we ever had. Mathew was exceptional; not into fantasies, but comes with facts and figures often complemented by the exact incidents.
We stayed in an apartment in Bratislava and that was super! Better than a hotel stay.
Finding the door keys was fun. It always took me back to 50 years when I was scouting!!
Now we are on our way to Ljubljana on a Flixbus. So far, the bus travel has been fantastic and always on time.
Despite some friendly warnings, I guess bus travel is the best way to explore Europe as you go through cities, towns, and interact with locals and travelers.
I have conceived an idea to write a book on tips and tricks for bus travel in Europe.

Glad you are having a great trip!

I guess bus travel is the best way to explore Europe as you go through
cities, towns, and interact with locals and travelers.

Best is sort of relative to the trip I guess. But I agree that to really see the cities, towns and villages of a country the bus beats a train. Train track are out in the boonies and when they do get close to civilization they are buffered on both sides for noise so you cant see much of anything. Buses seem to be a bit more reliable than trains too.

Flights are fast (?) but it takes time to reach the airport usually away from the city. And you have to be there 2 hours before. On arrival you again will need time to check out and reach city centre.

Trains on the other hand are fast without those limitations but runs through the wild without seeing the cities and villages. Tickets can be costly if you book at the last moment.

Buses on the other hand are slower, runs to and from city centres and relatively cheap.

This is what I experienced.

Its working for you, so you found the best answer for your locations, style and interests. Well done. That guarantees a trip you will always remember.

It's always about the nature of the particular trip and what you enjoy ... and cost.

Here, the airport is 30 to 40 minutes from the city. The train station can be 20 minutes to the sane address. At the airport you only need to be 90 min early for a schengen flight. If you have never been to the train station before, I bet you show up 30 minutes early. So here to a similar location door to door with a 4 or 5 hour train time is about the same as flying. But if you hate airports, the train still wins. Then there is the arrival time that works best for your holiday. Train or plane could be better; never the same it seems.

The bus? Again, only from here to a similar situation, but a little more coming and going time than the train and the slowest travel time sometimes ... sometimes not.

So I havent found a one size fits all answer for my travels yet. I use what works best for tge situation.

It's a trade-off.

Going by train has certain advantages plus its disadvantages as do buses. I have done a few buses in Poland , Sweden and France in moving from city to city. Other than that my way is almost always by train. I don't fly , that's not an option.

felicianf, thanks for coming back and updating with your experience! That helps future travelers and it's fun to read about your travel adventures. I hope everything continues to go well. :-)

Thanks for all the lovely comments and sharing your thoughts on travelling in Europe.
As someone has correctly said there is no fit solution to travel and all options are open.

I am from Sri Lanka and the bus travel is not that advanced unfortunately. So I have a bias towards it. Pardon me for that.

By the way is it allowed to post a link with my travel photos which I have uploaded to a google drive?

Just a thought.

felicianf, I have done it a few times without Webmaster complaint. But I always put the ones i want to share in a seperate folder and put an expiration date on the link (usually just a few weeks). For some reason that feels better for me.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Here are the links:

1. Photos and clips of East European Tour so far-updated regularly.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ieYPBN2syvOEv_a40fnBVu3SBfnLeH6I

2 . Birkenau Auschwitz Camp:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CCKCO2fgal4xLIiMs3FS7ZN0fyKJdJOj

Hope you like them.

This is an excellent thread. I am enjoying reading about your travel style and your trip to date. It sounds like you are having a grand adventure that you are enjoying. I will join others in thanking you for coming back and letting us know how things are working out. Enjoy our trip!

Tour
We started the tour on 10th August morning at 7 am, landing in Warsaw, Poland. At 11 am, we joined a feee (tip-based) walking tour which gave a rough sketch of Warsaw, it's past and present. After that, we had time roaming around, focusing on some specific places which were insisted by travel books.

We purchased an eSIM in Sri Lanka from A1 which was supposed to be activated after landing in the eu area. This cost only 5 euros only but several efforts to activate it at the Warsaw airport failed, giving the reason as my passport copy couldn't be verified. We were handicapped by not having a sim, which made us clueless when it comes to Google maps. Luckily, we stepped into a kiosk where we were given a sim for 500 zlotys. That gave us some 900 GB for Poland and 10 GB for the EU for one month.

After spending two nights in Warsaw, we took the flybus to Kraków. The display at the bus terminal in Warsaw clearly indicated the direction, bus number, time, platform number, which eased my tension. I must also say that the flixbus app is also incredibly handy, giving the ticket in qr code, seat numbers, bus number, starting point in maps, whether there is a relay, and all relevant information in a nutshell.
In Kraków, we moved into an Ibis hotel like in Warsaw. After taking a walking tour and spending a night, we went to Birkenau Aushwitz Camp with a pre-booked ticket. The bus landed just at the camp at 5, and we had ample time to explore the site. We took the return bus to Kraków.
Leaving Kraków, we reached Bratislava, which was a wonderful bus terminal.
From Bratislava, we went to Ljubljana, also taking a flybus.
Ljubljana's new bus terminal is yet to be built, and temporary buses are departing from the road with clear platform signs.
From Ljubljana, we went to Bled by bus and spent a night there.
Returned to Bled and took a Flixbus to Zagreb in Croatia.
I must say Zagreb bus terminal is the most disorganized one out of all. It didn’t give the platform number on the display, which was disappointing. The details are printed and displayed separately, which causes anxiety.
From Zagreb, we went to Plitivice Lakes and are now returning from there.

Apart from Flixbus, there are many bus companies which run across Eastern Europe. Nomago and Arriva are two such. But there are many more bus companies which are not coming up in a Google search, unfortunately.

So this is the summary of what I have experienced so far.

Hope this will help you.

Since this is dated 07/03/25 and you say you are from Sri Lanka don't know whether you mean July 3 and going in a few weeks or March 7 and going this June-Sept?

Will just say I am going to Eastern Europe oct 6, 2025 and most cities in Eastern Europe transportation is free for those over 65.

Appreciate the link to the google drive. First time I've run into the HEIC format for the files.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Image_File_Format

Those seem to be able to contain both pictures and movie clips. Not crazy about not knowing which before I open the file.

janet_kupfer, transportation is free for non-EU tourists in only two locations that i am aware of and those are Hungary and Prague. There may be others, so a list would be great. I checked at random a few of the capital cities in Eastern Europe without finding any.

We started the tour on the 9th August 2025 and concluding today, 31st August 2025.

I am over 65 but was not benefited by the old age in public transport in the Eastern Europe.