Road trip in central europe ?

Time is precious on trips, even if its just time to unwind. So do look for a more convenient airport. I am surprised Venice is the best deal. Check Vienna, Budapest, Frankfurt, Munich and even Bucharest and Podgorica.

I wont hit on the cost of a driving tour, I get the impression you have done them so you know the costs. Its the back track to Venice that is the killer for me. You have to in order to save hundreds on drop off charges for the car, but its a long haul to end a trip on.

Dolomites, Salzburg, already seen so maybe find a route that sees new things.

Krakow for the kids, I get.

Bratislava I visited about a month ago. My 2 days there were plenty. If it werent so close and so cheap to home it would be at the bottom of my list. Cute, but thats about it for me. But Slovakia has a lot of beautiful and interesting stops central and north. The two Banska towns come to mind and Kosice is good for a night. Further up the Štrbské Pleso (lake) and the surrounding is well worth a visit and if you are into castles Slovakia has some of the best.

Vienna to Krakow then down through Slovakia to Hungary would be a great trip. Even as far as Romania if the flight in and out of Bucharest is a good one.

I would plan the trip and not the airport. July is a long way off. I know everyone says buy tickets early but I have done a few tests of that over the years and it doesnt alway pan out. The last try was almost a year ago. I found the cheapest flight to Budapest then tracked it. Sure that flight went up and down in price, finally went up and stayed. I used google to track the changes and google also tells you of other similar flights when you get the updates. The similar flights 4 months prior to the travel date were cheaper than the orignial cost of the flight i had been tracking for 7 months. But they cost more when I first started looking.

If you could get away in June, that would probably save a little on ticket cost too. And check the a lot of different departure and return combinations. Again, google has a chart for that.

Oh, 6 or 7 days in Budapest? Okay, for the sort of trip you are doing then thats about the minimmum. 10 days wouldnt be a bad thing either. You will find that Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Poland will be a lot less expensive than your previous trips to Italy and Austria, France, German and even Croatia so that will help too.

Thanks a lot for that answer Mr É !

I can assure you that (for now, I now we are too early) Venice is the least expensive flight from Montreal. All the other places you put are at least 200$ more per person. Venice is not so Bad, we could Budapest Venice. with stop in southern Autsria (Graz or anything else around). Its and 8 hour, or 800km trip. Not that bad.

You add Bucharest in the mix, but Romania is not on my list (maybe it should be !) so that would be quite a detour, more than Venice I think. The same goes for Podgorica. There's no direct flight there from Montreal and it's quite out of our travel plan !

We Cant go in june. I'm a teacher and my wife is a school psychologist and our teens are in school too. The earliest we could go is around june 27-28.

And 6-7 nights in Hungary is for Budapest and any other stop we could ( or must ! ) do in that country. Our days are not set it was just to give a vague idea about what we could or want to do.

Yes, Bucharest or Podgorica only work if you changed the focus of your trip to Eastern Europe. But you seemed a bit open so I threw some things out.

If you give yourself 4 solid full days in Budapest then you can look at stops in Gyor and Pannonhalma for the Abbey. Or if you are departing to or arriving from Slovakia Lillafüred would be a good stop. Szentendre is always a good day trip. And here are the castles of Slovakia ... (told you they were good) https://www.slovakia.com/castles/

Slovakia
https://slovakia.travel/en/banska-stiavnica
https://www.visitbanskabystrica.sk/art/mestsky-hrad/?lang=en
https://visitkosice.org/en

Hungary
https://hellogyor.hu/latnivalok
https://foapatsagiturizmus.hu/en/
https://iranyszentendre.hu/

One last thought. You might look at a train or discount airline from Venice to Central Europe, then rent your car. Depending on how you pack, could save you some real money. Or consider the $200 a ticket more to reach central europe and know that if you land in a major city that you wanted to spend a few days in then the savings on the car for those days might net out to $0 vs renting and parkiing a car for a week. That car will cost you $120+ a day even if its parked if you include the parking costs and the rental.

For instance, fly into Vienna and spend a week using trains to visit the places that interest you. Then rent the car to do the tour of Poland and Slovakia and back to Vienna to drop off th car. Train to budapest and fly home from Budapest. That might net out to $0 vs a car for the entire period.

Just thinking out loud.

Many thanks once again.

For now it's a bit hard to check for many flights options because our dates are not visible on gloogle flight yet. But from what we can see a trip to/ from Vienna and/or Budapest are something like 500-700$ more per person. But it's really something we would look into the next weeks when more flights are avaible to check at.

We are very open minded about our next summer trip. We are just fixed on the kind of trip we like: A mix of history, good beers, some eay/medium hikes, natural wonders, vibrant cities and quaint villages.

You have southern Poland. You've already been to Krakow, which is beautiful. Why not add northern Poland? Gdansk is supposed to be a fascinating town; though I haven't been there, Rick Steves love it. And you could say you have seen the south of Central Europe and its north.

Slovakia: Consider something in the stunning Tatra Mountains of northern Slovakia. A beautiful town is Levoca.

Hungary: I have been there twice, staying in Budapest both times. Two great smaller towns are Eger north of Budapest and Pecs south of Budapest and not far from the Croatia/Serbia borders.

Consider using Vienna as your gateway. You could still go south to the Dolomites and then backtrack.

Hi Craig !
Thanks for those ideas !

Like I've said in my initial message, we already been to Poland (including Gdansk). It was 18 years ago but still. So why Krakow ? Because as an history teacher I want to bring my teens to Auschwitz. There's also the salt mine near Krakow that worth it.

Vienna as a base is not a bad idea, but flight to Vienna cost 600$ more (per person) than flight to Venice.

I salute you for wanting to show your teens Auschwitz. I saw it twice and believe everyone should visit it. Also, I love the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Sounds like a very ambitious trip. If it were my holiday, I'd cut the number of countries by half. So to spend a least 2 weeks per country.

I've made several trips all over Poland over the years, so I will note the southern Poland (basically everything south of Łódź) by itself can easily take up two weeks by itself. Looking at the map, you'll see the region (stretching from Germany to the west along Czechia and Slovakia, to Ukraine in the east) is as big as some of the countries you are visiting like Slovakia and Hungary. There are several different mountain ranges in Southern Poland, each a microcosm with their own character, cultures, and history:

Bieszczady Mountains: On the very east, along the border of Poland and Ukraine, you have the Bieszczady National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), this is the most wild and rugged parts of the country, home to primeval forests, ancient wooden churches, bears, bison, and wolves. It's long been on my to-do list, but the war in Ukraine has put it on hold for now.

Tatra Mountains: This area, based around the popular resort town of Zakopane, is probably the most accessible from Krakow. This is also home to the unique Polish highlander culture (Górale). Many good hikes of all abilities accessible from Zakopane as it is surrounded by high peaks, including to the glacial lake of Morskie Oko, a must see.

Beskidy Mountains: This is the point where Slovakia, Czechia, and Poland meet, and has become a popular alternative for locals rather than the more touristy Zakopane area. The mountains here are not so tall and more manageable than the high Tatras. I suggest staying in the spa town of Wisła. Next to Wisła is the larger spa town of Ustroń also good to stay in.

Sudeten Mountains: This area is to the far west closer to Germany, a landscape dotted with forgotten medieval villages, baroque spa towns, and grand old castles. This historical-cultural region, know as Silesia, has been at the center of a constant tug-of-war since the middle ages, between the Germans, the Poles, the Czechs, and the Austrians. You can base yourselves in the charming Kłodzko Valley.

Personally, for what you are interested I'd suggest a week in Zakopane in the Tatras and a week in the Kłodzko Valley in the Sudetes. Here's my trip report and photos from my Polish Sudeten Mountains roadtrip + some of the surrounding Silesia region - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/vicarious-travel-poland-2017-wroclaw-silesia

You're still 1 year out from the trip. I'm sure better flights might pop up. Thinking best to fly in to Krakow (or Katowice) and out of Budapest. You might find Frankfurt as a good connection to get into/out of Europe.

Hope this all helps :)

Carlos: Thanks for the answer and insights!
Of course we could cut the numbers of places that we have in the mix, but after all thgose european trips I think we know our pace. We are quick to pack and unpack, we are very efficient travellers I guess ! We dont feel the need to explore every corner of each region, sometimes a quick glimpse of a place suits our needs. We wouldn't do 2 weeks in one mountain region, that would be too much.

bucephale, for me to plan to spend two weeks it has to be a place that I already know that I love. I would hate to be stuck in a place for a week or two and discover on day 3, it just wasnt my cup of tea. So trip 2 or trip 3 or even later for the long stay and I have done those. But first I need to discover, and that, like your trip, is generally a reasonably paced journey.

And we are all different. No way would I do your cross-country driving trip. But thats me, so thats wasn’t pertinent to your question so I never went there in the discussions we had.

MR É: we usually stay in only one or two coutries in our European trips, but this time yes it will (maybe, still have some things to think about) be a more wide one.

Kosice in eastern Slovakia is a very attractive small city, and it has a very good museum about the oppression of the population under Communism--better than what I found in Bratislava, though the latter is a worthwhile destination. The Kosice museum is highly English accessible. I don't remember whether the audioguide is available in French, but it might be.

I spent several nights in Graz this summer and liked it a lot. It's lively without being swamped, as some areas of Vienna can be.

However, Vienna is extraordinarily museum-rich and is especially recommended for folks who like art. It will pay dividends to research what each museum covers so you can make the best use of your time, based on your interests; I spent 17 days in Vienna this summer, with probably about half that time in museums.

The Wien Museum reopened in 2023 after what I'm guessing was a major reorganization. It's a large, modern place that covers Viennese history in considerable depth (with some art) but also has temporary exhibitions. I recommend it.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is a monster, with three main sections: antiquities, decorative art, and art. You really need to zero in on what you're most interested in.