Recommend Greece/Balkans itinerary?

All of this will be slow travel, with very few international train connections and no fast trains. Any guidebook for this region should include a rail map and bus company listings. If you're really interested in visiting these places, it warrants reading through a guidebook like Lonely Planet Eastern Europe. If you're not really interested, you should just fly from Dubrovnik to Athens on Aegean Airlines (service mid-March to mid-October).

From Split to Sarajevo or anywhere else by train, you must backtrack to Zagreb. Dubrovnik is not served by train, so you can travel from Split and continue on to Bosnia by bus, at least as far as the start of their train line. You'll probably leave Bosnia by bus, as well, since trains don't cross the border in the direction of Belgrade or Bucharest. Also, Belgrade-Sofia (Bulgaria) is easier by train than Belgrade-Bucharest. Your first Greek destination by train from the north will be Thessaloniki. (The train should be back running by then; there have been some bus replacements due to construction; other buses may still be a more frequent option.) From there, it's another 5 hours by train to Athens or you could fly to an island.

For train schedules, see the DB link at How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online. For another source to help locate bus companies, www.rome2rio.com may help, or you can just Google the two city names and the word "bus."

Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map gives you an overview of faster train travel times in hours,

As Laura said, you're talking about slow-travel country when you visit the Balkans and Greece. I figured on about 30 mph at best as I moved around via bus and (occasionally) train. The buses were comfortable, so there's no need to avoid them. It may work best to include 1 or 2 intra-European flights in your itinerary to avoid what might otherwise be 12- to 16-hour bus experiences.

As for places to visit, you need to do some reading and narrow down the territory you might want to cover. Be aware that unless you get up into the mountains, it's likely to be quite hot during the period you plan to visit.

Bucharest is far from the most interesting/attractive city in Romania. I would not go to that fascinating country and visit only Bucharest. I didn't cover the entire country, but I liked Timisoara (where the revolution began), Brasov, Sighisoara, Sibiu, and Cluj-Napoca. Costs are low enough in Romania that you might well find a 1- or 2-day tour in the NW (Maramures--wooden churches) or the NE (Bukovina--painted monasteries) to be affordable. Both are really interesting areas.

You skipped over Bulgaria, but I liked Veliko Trnovo, Plovdiv, and the two historic coastal towns of Sozopol and Nesebar. The capital city of Sofia might be a necessary way-station for the purposes of transportation, but it was not my favorite stop. Bulgaria is a great place to shop for inexpensive, attractive crafts.

If you go to Belgrade, Serbia (which does have its points of interest and sees fewer American tourists than many other large Balkan cities), I recommend a side-trip to Novi Sad, which has an interesting historic district. It's a good walk from the bus station, so check ahead of time on which city bus to take between the two.

The bus from Nis in southern Serbia (which I considered not too exciting) to Podgorica, Montenegro goes through some really lovely country. Podgorica itself is rather modern and is not where I'd want to spend much time. Kotor, Budva, Cetinje, Ulcinj, and Herceg-Novi are all more attractive, in my view. Since it sounds as if coastal Croatia is a must, you might visit Montenegro instead of Romania on this trip. It's easy to get to Montenegro from Dubrovnik by bus.

I would not go to Greece and visit only Athens. It's a hassle to get there (probably best to fly unless you want to visit Bulgaria or Albania), and there are so many interesting places to go both on the mainland and in the islands. My interest in classical ruins is pretty slight, but even so, I wouldn't want to go to Greece for less than 12 days, and more time would give you the freedom to consider visiting the large, interesting island of Crete.

I haven't been to Sarajevo recently, but if you go to Bosnia I'd also consider a visit to Mostar.

Not many trains in the region.

Earlier this year we flew into Dubrovnik, spent two nights, then drove down the coast to Montenegro, spending two nights in Perast before driving on to Titograd arriving late in the evening. Next morning was a cheap flight to Belgrade for 2 nights then another cheap flight to Budapest for a week. A really enjoyable low pressure trip. Had we had more time I would have started the trip in Zagreb and spent at least 4 nights between Zagreb and Dubrovnik or continued south to Skopje or Sofia two great places. Belgrade works for you because its a really good discount airline hub opening up a lot of places to see.

I am with K in that I would skip Romania and Greece as for me they are stand alone destinations best explored on a dedicated trip.

For clarity, Titograd = Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro.

Yes, but Titograd just sounds so much more, well..... Eastern European (and I can pronounce it and spell it, which is something I have trouble with the new name). One of the least interesting capital cities I have ever seen; but a very decent airport and a great hotel with a roof top terrace with spectacular views of all the Khrushchev era apartment blocks.

That does sort of sum up Podgorica. But the rest of the country is really nice.

I love Montenegro. Fly fishing is said to be excellent near the Serbian - Kosovo border so will be heading back either Fall 2017 or Spring 2018.

Hello everyone! Our balkan trip is postponed to another time, because we decided upon a month in Scandinavia this year. Thanks for your feedback however!