Where to go before and after Romania April & May 2027

I was going to suggest Hungary, but you already plan to go there.
You have 10 weeks to visit France, Germany, Prague and Budapest, possibly Slovenia or Croatia.
That is quite a lot to cover even in 10 weeks.

France, Paris deserves 6-7 days. Next consider the following areas of France: Normandy 3 days, Alsace (Strasbourg) 3 days, Lyon and the Rhone River Valley down to Provence and the Rivera. Give that at least a week. There is more to France, but you have about 3 weeks already.

Germany, family in Dusseldorf, then do some touring in the Rhine River Valley, including Cologne, Rudesheim, Trier, Wiesbaden/Frankfurt, Heidelberg, then consider Bavaria for a week. Then Austria (Salzburg and Vienna) 4-6 days, Prague (3-4 days) and on to Hungary.
Budapest and Hungary need at least a week. Now you have used at least another month, with about three weeks left. Need at least a week in Romania.

If you add Slovenia, that is easy to do prior to Budapest. You could consider doing Bulgaria or Serbia that are nearby.
Suggest you do some research to determine WHAT exactly you want to see. TripAdvisor.com use "things to do" and decides what you want to see. Planning is fun, you learn more about where you are going and that means your visit will be enhanced.

Thanks so much. Great ideas. So much to consider when planning a long trip.

⁹Do you mean public transportation or do you mean train and / or bus?

So, France / Duselforf to Cluj by bus and train is fixed? I would make a 2 day trip out of it. But you gotta go through Budapest which makes it better to do Budaprst before, not after Romania.

Part of the challenge for me would be Romania to any other country via train or bus. I just don't do well sitting for long periods of time. May probably won't be too warm, so the lack of AC isn't an issue and I have new stomach meds so Romanian, including train, toilets will rarely be an issue.

If i placed a limit of 10 hours by train or bus; from Bucharest it's Sofia, Bulgaria.

From Cluj it's Hungary or Ukraine. I didn't double check all the options, just my gut.

Ok, Bucharest to Belgrade by train or bus (15 hours). Then there is an interesting scenic train to Bar Montenegro. Then 3 weeks of sightseeing plus a week of buses and a few trains going north through Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia to Prague (better maybe to do Prague before Romania).

Actually, I would fly from Bucharest to Belgrade or the coast.

Thanks. I will use trains or buses or fly if I need to to save time. I don’t want a day long train or bus ride.

The problrm is Bucharest is so far removed from where yiu want to go. I have 2 ideas

1. The adventure trip.
   Direct flight Bucharest to Belgrade is about 2 hours. Two easy airports.
   Spend a few days in Belgrade and Novi Sad.
   Take the train to Kolašin, Montenegro. Spend three nights and do some sight seeing in the high country.
   Continue on the train to Bar on the Adriatic coast.
   Use three weeks to travel up the coast to to Slovenia on buses, then Ljubljana to Prague by train with 4 days in Prague.

2. The very predictable tourist version.
   Two days a week there are direct flights from Bucharest to Dubrovnik.
   4 nights in Dubrovnik
   Use two weeks to travel up the coast to to Slovenia on buses, then Ljubljana to Prague by train with 4 days in Prague.

3. A bit of 1 and 2
   Fly Bucharest to Podgorica (you change planes in Belgrade).
   Spend a week touring Montenegro's Adriatic coast.
   Use two weeks to travel up the coast to to Slovenia on buses, then Ljubljana to Prague by train with 4 days in Prague.

I go fairly often to the region so for some of Croatia and a lot of Montenegro i have some resources. PM if any of those above are interesting.