Budapest and where else?

There is a night train from Budapest to Krakow, Poland. It is a very interesting and historic city and Auschwitz is an hour away by bus or train.

That is what we are doing this summer: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Munich.

The avove suggestion to visit Krakow is good. Croatia is wonderful also. You can see pictures of both and other suggestions at my personal blog at
www.gadtravel.com

I'll second Croatia. It is a beautiful country, and quite different from Budapest. Zagreb is nice, some good museums. Split has the ancient Palace of the Emperor Diocletian, and Dubrovnik is a unique walled jewel on the Adriatic. You could even dip into Bosnia.

Day 1: Train to Zagreb from Budapest, spend the night.

Day 2: Train to Split

Day 3: Split

Day 4: Boat to Dubrovnik

Day 5: Dubrovnik

Romania would be great, but I'm not sure how well a vegetarian would fare there.

Krakow definitely makes for a great addition to the trip. Last summer, we did Budapest, Krakow, and Prague and had a wonderful trip. Three days gave us ample time to see Auschwitz and get to know the city of Krakow quite a bit (it's relatively condensed). That being said, Croatia is certainly on my "to-do" travel list, so it's an enticing option as well. Good luck!

Thanks for the responses here and in email. We have decided to add Krakow and one other city in that area, but we don't want to go back to Prague or Vienna. The other new wrinkle is I am going to bring my son, who will be 10 1/2 at the time that we travel.

Since we are starting in Budapest, we are considering a third city that is either halfway to Krakow or reachable by overnight train in some sort of triangle. Can anyone comment on a good choice for a third city? So far, it looks to me like some options are:

Kosice, Slovakia
Lviv, Ukraine
Berlin, Germany

Thanks!

Some comments on your last post.

Kosice is a nice city easily doable in a day. We were there this summer but unfortunately on a Sunday which meant the town was very quiet. We traveled here from Eger but Kosice is easy to get to as there are IC trains from Budapest that end here. You can check the DB train site for onward train connections. If you go this route you can also check the Slovakian transport site for connections (bus/train/etc.)

http://cp.atlas.sk/vlakbus/spojenie/

Keep in mind that Kosice is close enough to Budapest that I don't think an overnight train will be an option. Also, as stated in other threads, lots of folks (including my wife and I) can't sleep on night trains.

Lviv, Ukraine is not an option. It is quite far away and takes lots of time unless you fly. We did this this summer taking 2 buses to travel from Kosice to Uzhgorod (Ukraine) taking about 2.5 hours. This was followed by a 6.5 hr train ride through the Carpathian mountains to Lviv. The other way to get to Lviv is from E. Poland (Przemysl) but here too the route takes time.

One suggestion is to travel to Krakow and then move to Warsaw - worth a couple of days and only 2.5 hrs on the train from Krakow if I remember correctly.

Edited to add - maybe you were considering doing Lviv after visiting Krakow in which case this may be feasible if you plan on flying out of Lviv. In this case, check out the Lonelyplanet thorntree forum for details on the border crossing (going into Ukraine) which can be time consuming due to the smuggling taking place

Just to clarify, there is a night train from Budapest to Lviv direct, so that would be without stopping in Slovakia. It leaves at 7pm or so and gets in 15 hours later. From Lviv, you can take a train or bus to Krakow, although the train appears to leave at midnight and arrive in Krakow at 5am. You can take the bus to Krakow but I think that is where the hold ups at the border are (Lonely Planet says the drive is only about 5-6 hours but border crossing can be between 1 and 4 hours). You can also fly from Lviv to Warsaw (but not Krakow). Gosh, as I write this it sure sounds like a nightmare to get to, ha ha.

One question I have is: what is the problem with the night trains? I have taken overnight trains in the U.S. lots of times, so I am wondering is it some people don't sleep well on trains, or is there something specific and horrible about the Eastern European trains? Thanks!!

Ah - I forgot about the direct train to Lviv - it takes a long time and spends about 2-3 hours at Chop/Cierna nad Tisou (Ukrainian border crossing) while the wheels of the train are changed. In general I tend to avoid extremely long trips since the kids get bored and tired though getting to Lviv/Kyiv overland does require a long journey in almost any direction that I looked at.

The only night train we have taken was this summer between Lviv and Kyiv. The Ukrainian trains are long (about 20 full carriages) and the train jerks and sways when it is traveling at high speeds which throws you around on the bunk. Also, there are lots of rail joints that you feel when the train goes over them. Overall it was a good experience with fresh linens though the toilets leave a lot to be desired. Obviously, I am assuming the western European trains to be much better. Lastly, my kids really enjoyed the experience and slept soundly through the night while my wife and I were miserable.

Lviv - Poland - I don't think you will have too many problems crossing the border in this direction.

Since you have done Prague, Bratislava and Vienna, I would suggest heading South out of Budapest through Croatia and ultimately flying home out of Venice.