Eastern europe trip thoughts

I went from Budapest to Prague via train, with a stop in Vienna - it was my favorite of the 3 cities. The trains were great. If you want to save money, there are buses too, but the schedules aren't as good. With 21 days, and so much ground to cover, why return to Munich? Much better to fly open jaw.

As an alternative to starting in Munich, consider Berlin. Berlin fits well into an Eastern swing but is out of the way for most German itineraries. Vienna is also a great destination for an Eastern Swing. If you start in Munich, you don't want to miss Salzburg - it's an incredibly beautiful little city. Bratislava is another city on the route worthy of at least a brief stop. Once you are down in Dubrovnik. Driving back toward Italy seems like the better option. You can visit Venice and fly home from there or cross to Milan (be sure to stop in Verona) and fly from there.

thank you for the great suggestions, Vienna would be a good city to return from also.

I did a vaguely similar trip a year ago. I never do the Rail Passes because they don't seem to save any money and seem to be a hassle. I always buy point-to-point tickets. Dubrovnik is more challanging to get to because it doesn't have the same fast rail system as the rest of Europe. We rented a car and drove through Croatia. that was a nice experience. But we flew home from Dubrovnik at the end. The airfare was slightly more expensive - but still cheaper than back tracking to get to another city to fly home from.

Just a note that there is no train to Dubrovnik. Training from Budapest to Zagreb and then renting a car may give you flexibility to visit more of Croatia. Buses are nice and comfortable and are a reasonably priced option. You might want to look in to flying from Dubrovnik back to Munich with a low cost regional air carrier. This would give you more time to enjoy your visit in Croatia. We included Slovenia on our last trip (Budapest and Croatia) and had a wonderful time there.

Hi Jeff, We used trains to travel between Budapest and Zagreb with a 4 night stop-over in Ljubljana, Slovenia. From Zagreb, we flew Croatia Airlines to Dubrovnik. If you have time, we really enjoyed our stay in Ljubljana and I'd recommend it! Enjoy your travels--it sounds like a great trip!

thank you for the many great suggestions, good info

We also traveled by train and it was very easy. First class was not crowded and was very comfortable. Enjoyed visiting Prague, Budapest, Vienna and Dubrovnik.