Which Eastern Europe city after Berlin or Istanbul?

Air fare to Istanbul from the U.S. is generally very attractive. I know a number of people who began their European trips in Istanbul just to capitalize on that.

We just finished a trip in which we landed in Sofia, drove across Bulgaria stopping to fish in the mountain streams and rivers and then we drove across the Turkish border and on to Istanbul. That was six nights. After a few nights in Istanbul we took a $300 direct flight to Budapest where we spent another week. We go to Budapest a lot so this isn’t unique.

We had been to Bulgaria previously and had done all the typical tourist stops. Lovely country. It takes about 5 days to begin to do the country justice. Best of all you can hire a car, a driver and pay for a nice hotel room for about the cost of a hotel room alone in Western Europe. Sofia is a little difficult and no great bargain to fly into from the U.S. The $300 Istanbul flight to Budapest would have been about the same price if I had booked it RT which means if you visit Budapest you can take a side trip to Istanbul pretty inexpensively.

I love Budapest and head back a few times a year. Bulgaria was beautiful and I would easily go back again. Istanbul on the other hand I can only say I was glad I experienced it.

Thank you very much for your advice. Yes, I am aware that airfare from USA to Eastern Europe is rarely cheap or even possible with only a stop (from LAX). I would most likely start my trip in Berlin and end it in Istanbul or vice versa; and go visit one Eastern Europe country.

I have been to Budapest and found it wonderful. I would love to go back one day...but want to see something new this time. I will do more research on Bulgaria following your post. And probably Belgrade, and Bucharest...because I LOVE researching!! I book last minute...but by then, my research is done.

How much did you enjoy Sofia?

How did you find the major cities? Any particular one that has more sights? Or is more vibrant in Eastern Europe?
I won't have a lot of time to see the whole country...the focus will be Berlin and Istanbul...but I want a taste of another capital...and next trip I will mostly focus on Eastern Europe and Greek Islands.

Thank you!

For flight information within Europe, look at Skyscanner: http://www.skyscanner.com/ Remember that budget carriers don't always have daily service on all routes.

I have been to Berlin, Istanbul, and Budapest, and loved them all. I haven't been to Bucharest or Sofia.

Have you been to Prague? That's also a great place to spend time. And then there's Krakow...

So many possibilities, so little time. You really can't go wrong - just read as much as you can about each place, and pick the ones that call to you the most right now (assuming that you can get between them affordably).

Edit: I was cross-posting with your last post. I would say that in terms of sheer number of places to see and things to do, Berlin is probably at the top, with Istanbul a close second. Berlin also has the density of recent history - monarchy, Weimar Republic, Nazi period, Communist period, division into East and West Berlin, reunification - and all of that is palpable, with things to see about each era if you want. But you won't run out of things to do in either city.

I named a couple of cities I considered Eastern Europe...I know there is always a hmmm disagreement on which are Central and Eastern. I did not want to get into that one ;)

I have been to Krakow and Prague so hence my list of 3 cities above unless someone has a better suggestion.
But, thank you for your input as always! And no I cannot go wrong...I appreciate every place I visit!

You are certainly right about Berlin...I have been to Germany but was in a rush at the time for particular reason. So, I decided to postpone Berlin since I know that I will love it...Already re-learning German in preparation!

I enjoyed Sofia on our Bulgaria tour, and it has some worthwhile churches and museums, but I'm sure everyone considered other stops to be the highlights of the trip, such as Plovdiv and the Rila Monastery. When one of our book editors made his own tour of Romania, he found not much to like in Bucharest, but plenty of interest in the countryside.

Maybe you would do Istanbul and Berlin, instead of choosing between them and others cities that are not top of your list. There are several flights between the two cities, under $150 in September or October.

Val, we've done two trips to Sofia now and neither time did we spend enough time. Its a town of contrasts which is great and sometimes not so great. I think my favorite towns were Plovdiv and Nessebar. But so much of Bulgaria was memorable. Part of the advantage of visiting Bulgaria is the costs are so low that we had the resources to make more of the country accessible to us; and then it didn't hurt that we had an absolutely outstanding Guide on the first trip, and we used her on the second trip as well and still had funds for another specialized guide to take us to the fishing spots in the mountains. Remarkable and amazing is all I can say.

You mentioned Bucharest. Its been a few years since we were last in Romania. Again, this is a marvelous land with absolutely nothing in common with Bulgaria. Night and Day in comparison despite the fact that they are neighbors. Again, costs are such in Romania that we could hire an outstanding guide that we call our friend to this day. RS has nothing positive to say about Bucharest we visited as they were completing some of the renovations in the older and historic districts. Actually pretty nice. But a lot of the interest in Bucharest is seeing the remnants of communism. Once out of Bucharest the country is pretty amazing. We pretty much stayed in Transylvania and when we had to leave after 4 full days we knew we could have easily spend another 4 days. Its on the radar for a return trip as soon as I am able to identify where to go fishing.

Why the guides? Public transportation in Central/Eastern Europe isn't that magnificent and we are on limited schedules with generally no more than a week in each country. I could spend a lifetime on ancient trains or I could be in a car covering ground and seeing the world. A good guide and a good hotel room in either country is about the same price as a good hotel room in most of the popular places in Western Europe.

Another choice you might consider is Slovakia. It's magnificent; especially the High Tatra Mountains and the Banska towns. We've been back twice so far. Once sight seeing and once fly fishing and we have plans to combine Slovakia with the Carpathians in western Ukraine for a fishing trip in the early summer next year. Of course that is dependent on what is happening in Ukraine.

Hi,

"I would most likely start my trip in Berlin...." And, you can do just that from LAX, which can't be done from SFO. Flying Air Berlin from LAX to Berlin Tegel is the most direct way, some of the flights are direct, some require a lay over in Düsseldorf. Then, after visiting Berlin you need to choose a city in East Central or Eastern Europe before ending up in Istanbul. I would pick Belgrade since that place, if you have a car, puts you within range of "the Gibraltar of the Danube." Well worth seeing if you are interested in the history of the region as it pertains to Hungary. If you're going to focus on a country here, I suggest Serbia, that's another reason for picking Belgrade.

@Fred is correct about Serbia. I talk a lot about other places because that's where I am most useful but Serbia is another place on the radar. I have been researching and planning it for years. Actually the trip into Bulgaria this year began in the planning stage as a trip to Montenegro, then Belgrade, then east to the Iron Gates and then southeast into Bulgaria. I move slowly and enjoy my trips and that was more territory than I had time. This was the second year that the trip to Serbia and Montenegro got put on hold. Wanted to do it next year but we promised friends we would visit them in Slovakia and I have a real desire to spend as much money as possible in Ukraine.

I guess the point of the combined posts is that this is a wonderful region no matter what you call it. It is hard to go wrong.

I like to bounce around a LOT during my trips so no problem there. Perhaps one day I will slow down ;)
The information you have all provided is very helpful to me while I continue my research. I may be back in a few weeks with more specific questions. I do enjoy enjoy seeing places of contrast while travelling. I feel like I pay more attention this way to all détails and a city has to offer.
And I have never considered hiring a guide since it is usually expensive...but I will consider it this time. Thank you for the suggestions!

"I like to bounce around a LOT...." Then Serbia is the country for you to decide on esp in light of the history in this borderland area. Aside from Belgrade (one always hits the capitals), you can see Novi Sad and nearby, called nowadays, Petrovardin (Peterwardein), site of the mighty Habsburg fortress on the Danube, like the "Gibraltar of the Danube." In anglophone historiography the place and famous battle used the historical German name, Peterwardein, another step leading to expelling the Turks from Hungary. It would be interesting if a history museum of this Austrian fortress is located inside the fortress.

We enjoyed Bucharest. It is a interesting city. The nearby Romanian/Transylvanian countryside is beautiful. We used Daniel/Covinnus travel in July. He is an Excellent English Speaking Tour Guide. He was very accommodating and will show you all of the sights you are interested in. We wanted to hike in the mountains and we visited many interesting castles, churches and sights in the Romanian/Transylvania countryside. Daniel was very knowledgeable of the history of the area. He also knew the best reasonably-priced restaurants with fresh fish and excellent food. We loved staying 5-days in a modern reasonably priced mountain house near Bran. Also, Daniel's Tech skills were great. . Covinnus Travel helped us enjoy Romania during the short 7-days we were there. I recommend Daniel for an interesting holiday. The Fosters . http://covinnus.com/.