I need A CHEAP DETOUR

It took me several minutes to figure out you meant sophisticated........ I must be slowing down.

I looked at your list and know how much you enjoy your fishing. Montenegro looks like a strong candidate.

If it's early June and you choose Sofia, let's have coffee and bonitsa! I'm taking side trips to Macedonia and Serbia (maybe) but those are just (long) day trips.

Split? Zadar?
Where are you basing yourself that so many destinations could be accessed for so little?

I wanted to go to Bratislava on our Eastern European trip in 2018 but we couldn’t fit it in. So maybe a good choice to just go there!

Interestingly, I just was watching a YouTube of the 10 cheap countries in Europe (for 2022) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ImGb0Z6QfVc

Many of your countries hit the list. Does Albania hold any interest? Interior doesn't have much infrastructure and may be iffy. Not sure on the fishing. Macedonia is the cheapest in his research.
As to Romania how's the fishing in the Danube delta?

I can't add anything to what you have so far (and haven't yet been to Bratislava myself), but I wouldn't go to Seville in June when I knew I'd have later opportunities in cooler months.

Save Malta and Seville for next March - and change Seville to Granada. It’s definitely more your style.

Save your pennies for Sarajevo for September fishing.

My vote goes to North Macedonia or Sofia - or how about Stockholm, Brussels, Milan, Basel, Eindhoven, or Targu Mures? Those flights are cheap, too.

Carol now retired, Montenegro would be the easiest for sure. I’ve been there fishing a few times and have several acquaintances I would like to see.

CWsocial it would be my third trip to Bulgaria but I love it there and I know a guide that is amazing to be with. She was patient enough to sit on the river bank while I fished …… at every river and stream we crossed from Sofia to the Turkish border. Was, and is, at the top of the list.

I need to find a window between June 18 and June 28 as I am being evicted and have no place to go. So if you will be there during that time frame, maybe ……

SJS; thanks. I can run up to Bratislava on the train about any time and may do that on this trip. Where are the cheap fares from? Budapest. It’s a hub for Wizz and Ryan flies in as well, one of the advantages of spending time there. But unfortunately Croatia is poorly connected which is why it wasn’t on my list. But visited last year.

MariaF I did Albania during COVID (one of the few places open), an amazing country. I will make it back I think, but not this time.

There are a lot of surveys and articles on cheap trips this year, and apparently a video, its where I got my list, although Eastern Europe is a no-brainer for economical.

Acraven, Spanish is a beautiful language, but I am not ready to face it again just yet.

TexasTravelMom, there is “cheap to get to” and “cheap to be at” which rules out the likes of Milan. Sure, you can do it cheap, but to be in Milan and not do it “right” ……….. I couldn’t do it. Haven’t been there in a decade, but loved it. No direct flights to Sarajevo this season or that would have been an easy choice. Sarajevo just moves me. And the fishing is some of the best in the Balkans.

Romania was on my list, maybe into Bucharest and out of Targu Mures but that’s $135 while RT to Targu Mures is only $40.

Believe it or not, this helps. I will talk for a few more days then check flight schedules. The trouble with Wizz and Ryan is they only fly a few days of the week and sometimes its hard to do a shorter trip.

How about the area of the Dobruja in Bulgaria?

Nope, I'll be gone well before June 18.

Not Bratislava, it's too boring and you can do it anytime from Budapest.

Now countryside Slovakia is gorgeous, so there are other options there.

Why no Polish destinations anywhere on the list ?

Skopje has a decent modern airport. Lake Ohrid should suit your fishing needs.

Why no Polish destinations anywhere on the list ?

Maybe Mister E is afraid that he will fall in love with Poland and then cheat on Hungary lol jk!

But I agree Kim, really seems like Poland fits the bill, great value, undertouristed, plenty to see and do, and June is a relatively good time to visit. Plus seems fitting to give back to a country who has done so much good for Ukraine and her People.

Split your travel between Skopje and somewhere else Seville, where the famous barber is from. There is actually a guy there who offers haircuts for about $5. He only gives one type of haircut so no language barrier.

Fred, I would have thought you would send me to the Saxon settlements in Romania and Bulgaria?

Kim, every time I say I am going to Bratislava, someone tells me it boring and I go someplace else But I agree about Slovakia. That I have done a couple of times.

Poland? Some day. I guess I overlooked it this way because I haven’t been in much of a traveling mood the last few years …. Ive gotten very comfortable with City Breaks and a day trip. Just getting lazy I guess. And I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want to see a lot of tourists following a leader with a flag yelling “rally”. But I still love to explore, its just with the two aversions it’s becoming more difficult.

Stan, BigMikeWestByGodVirginia: Skopje sounds interesting. Seville? That would be a useless precaution. (who gets it?)

Here are my choices so far. Two places I have never been. The dates are dictated by the dates the discount airlines fly.

Skopje (thank you Stan and BMWBGV) and a day trip out of Skopje (even an overnight).
I could do a fast trip, depart 19 June, return 23 June. That would give me:
19 June Monday, arrive at 2pm, late afternoon and evening to play.
20 June, Tuesday, all day
21 June, Wednesday, all day
22 June, Thursday, all day
23 June, Friday, 10am departure
$34 (under seat bag only) to $135 (the full Monty) round trip. I will do the underseat.
Really nice hotel for $350 for the stay. So I can probably do the whole thing for $600 if I throw in a Showaround guide for a day or so.

Târgu Mureș and hire a guide to go sightseeing for a few days. (Thank you for an excellent idea TexasTravelMom)
19 June Monday, arrive at 9am, most of the day to play
20 June, Tuesday, all day
21 June, Wednesday, all day
22 June, Thursday, all day
23 June, Friday, 9am departure
$55 (under seat bag only) to $145 (the full Monty) round trip. I will do the underseat.
Really nice hotel for $400 for the stay. So I can probably do the whole thing for $750 if I throw in a Showaround guide with car for a day or so.

@ Mister E.....Those are the well known towns in Transylvania in Romania you refer to , but since you most likely want a place visited by locals deep in the SE Europe , the Dobruja area might fit into your plans. On my last day trip to BP in 2016 riding back to Vienna, the young woman in my compartment was an ethnic Bulgarian having grown up in Romania. She spoke at least 5 languages fluently, ( i marveled at that linguistic accomplishment ), among them excellent English, so we spoke in German.

Once she told me she was part of the Bulgarian minority in Romania, I figured immediately she's from the Dobruja. That piece of real estate is always a military objective in the wars, at least since the 18th century. As such, it is included in the peace treaties following the hostilities.

Check this region out.