Solo Travel Central Europe

The short answer is no. Everyone you are likely to come in contact with either speaks enough English, or his coworker does.

4 years ago as a 68 year old I traveled solo to Krakow, Budapest, Vienna (also Cesky Krumlov, Prague, and Bratislava). I know none of the languages, except a bit of German - a very little bit, just the niceties. I had no problems getting around by train/bus and no problems navigating a menu. As James said, most everyone in the tourism business speaks passable English or knows someone who does or can communicate nicely with sign language. I loved all the places I visited in central Europe.

The tourism industry and most people under 30 years of age.

I haven't been to Zagreb, but in all your other places I had no trouble managing with only English. The only problem you might encounter in a restaurant is if you have any food-related allergies, sensitivities or other requirements.

One key word to know in any Slavic language is "pivo" that means beer.

In my experience you should not assume station personnel speaking English. Some will, but not everybody. For buying train tickets I have all the details (day, hour, train number) written down, which was always much appreciated.

Printing in block capitals is always a good idea, and remember that Europeans write the day before the month.

I found it prudent to allow a bit of extra time when catching a train or bus in Hungary. Sometimes the destination boards, even at train stations, didn't include all the information I was expecting to see.

Acraven, you raise a good point. I'm always nervous about catching trains, especially in unfamiliar stations so I arrive an hour early, find my track, then drink coffee or eat lunch and unwind. That impacts comparing flying to trains time. Still both the Budapest Stations are pretty easy to navigate. Nothing like Nord.

I have been to the cities you are pondering, except Zagreb, and have had no difficulty with the languages--I've taken trains in all the cities with no problem, deciphered menus (they usually have English versions, unless you are in a small non-tourist town) and received assistance as needed, usually from younger people.

Thanks for all the replies (and encouragement). Makes me feel like I can do this!

Generally, I agree that you will not have problems. Zagreb is very sophisticated. The TI just off the main square is staffed by very good speakers of English. We took the "Zagreb ghosts and goblins" tour (which is very silly but fun), and the guide spoke excellent English. Tourist restaurants will not be a problem. Smaller restaurants away from tourist areas might be a bit more chancy.

In some of those countries, getting out of the big cities might have lower likelihood of English speakers. Croatia is a country with a resort mentality - the Commie Riviera. Thus, all the tourist areas are staffed speakers of today's lingua Franka, English.

Hi,

You will see the trains stations have announcements in 3 languages, the local language, German and English. Likewise with the signs...three languages. That was my experience in Praha hl n and and in Brno. No concerns in Krakow and Warsaw either based on a friend's detailed visit last August as to what she saw.

In 2015 I was at Budapest Keleti, so many signs in English I forgot I was in a non anglophone city.

Restaurants most likely will have mult-lingual menus.

You'll have no problems getting by and around but getting more out of the trip is another story since you cannot read the local language. That was my feeling in Slavkov near Brno in 2017 when the explanations/signs/ announcements of upcoming events, etc were all in Czech. In situations like that, I feel I am missing out liguistically.

I traveled to Vienna and took the train to Prague, staying at Airbnb both places. Language was not a problem. I did make the train reservation online a month in advance (much cheaper than buying the ticket at the station) and also booked a local tour in each city in advance. Aren't there apps for on the fly translations of menus? In these cities and in Budapest people seemed to speak sufficient English and if you're already experienced in navigating train stations, you should do fine.

As for solo travel, you might find this book useful, "A New Book Makes a Compelling Case for Traveling Alone".

If you’d read Stephanie Rosenbloom’s new book Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude, you might have thought twice about inviting anyone along on your adventure. Rosenbloom, a travel columnist for The New York Times, makes a compelling case for vacationing alone.
She does so in a book that flits from Paris to Florence to Istanbul to New York City (the four cities in the title) but, more importantly, journeys into the world of the social sciences. Rosenbloom is an avid student of psychology, history, and sociology, and is able to weave into the text history and the latest scientific studies, transforming the work from a travel tome into a guide to living well.

The same writer, in a shorter newspaper article, "On Eating Alone in Paris" .

Never assume everyone will speak English, but some will. However, I keep Google Translate available so that I can ask in the native language if someone does not speak English. It's a free app, very easy to use, and will translate just about any language out there. it's available on both IOS and Android. Here's a link to the web version - https://translate.google.com/ - to get the app, just do a search in your app store.

Also, I'm also a 60+ female who has traveled alone for over 20 years through most of Europe and parts of Asia, and would not trade those experiences for anything. It's almost meditative at times - the joys of wandering by yourself, changing your plans at the last minute without repercussion, talking to locals who reach out to you because you're alone - it's a life-changing experience as I'm sure you know. I have traveled occasionally with friends, but the joys of traveling solo outweigh the trips with others. It's just not the same.

Have a wonderful time on your travels!

"Never assume everyone will speak English...." How very true. If the person did, that may not want to speak it with you. I've seen where (in 2017) the DB conductor came into the coach stood near to the table where I was sitting, near the door, made an announcement and explanation in German that due to the AC not working, DB was passing out water free as a way to relieve the discomfort...yes, it was getting a bit hot. The young Swedish guys sitting at the table asked the DB guy to repeat what he had just said in English. The DB guy looked at him and ignored him, said "free."

Most likely you would fine someone who has the level of English to communicate, or in central or east central Europe, they could ask/say they speak only German. I've had both experiences in Brno, Slavkov, and Prague and in Krakow. When the announcements are made in only one language, (they are sometimes), then that can get more difficult. That depends on the station, remote or busy, etc.

In 15 years of traveling to Hungary several times a year I have only had one significant language problem. We had gone shopping and wandering in the morning before a dentist appointment. The plan was when it came close to time I would call City Taxi and have them pick us up where ever we were. The City Taxi dispatchers all speak perfect English so this would be a snap. Except we found ourselves at the corner of Árpád fejedelem útja and Vidra utca. I couldn't even begin to pronounce it so i tried to spell it and that got us no where. After a few minutes with an incredibly patient dispatcher I said we would walk to an easier street and call again. He demanded that we not give up and the exercise turned to him asking me to describe what is around me. After a few more minutes he had it figured out and the taxi was on its way.

My only other memory of a language problem occured in the Central Market ( Központi Vásárcsarnok ----- ha! ha! ha!). This time we were looking at dried fruit when a sweet woman came up and pointed to some chocolate covered somethings and said they were the best. I asked what they were but the woman's English was pretty much exhausted by that point. We thanked her and I ordered some. About the time the clerk was handing me my purchase the sweet woman reappeared and held a finger in the air and proudly pronounced "cranberry". She had apparently gone looking for someone to translate for her. Why? Just to be kind to the tourists.

That same attitude is prevalent when ever we are in Budapest. Its why i don't worry too much about the language. For the most part this same attitude has been true in all of our Central and Eastern Europe; more so than in the West. Maybe its because they arent yet burned out on tourists.

I guess my only other suggestion is to know your districts. The street i live on in District VI, is not a unique name. There is one in District II and another in District IV. Other address can be similar. Also it helps to know utca is a street and ut is an avenue. So Vaci utca is a tourist street and Vaci ut is a different place all together. To complicate utca is often abreviated as "u." Then there is Vorosmarty ter and Vorosmart utca (ter is a square sometimes spelled tere) both are stops on the M1 metro line. But both interesting for different reasons....

The ut / utca thing drove me nuts.

There is a hotel on Vaci ut that advertises that its in the heart of the tourist zone. They are taking advantage of the ut vs utca issue. I once told a guest to take the M1 to Vorosmarty ter and then walk to the river. They got off at Vorosmarty utca and had a very long walk to the river. And occasionally our guests end up at the wrong Vasvari Pal utca. But you know, thats the worst of negotiating an otherwise very easy city to get around in.

Yes, the finer points of a foreign language, ut / utca, comparable to the "ß" or umlauts used in Swedish, German, etc or elongated compound nouns, as in Hungarian, German, ...all part of serious language study.