Eastern Trip

One thing to be aware of if traveling between cities by train is that it takes a LOT longer to get around via train in some of these countries than it does in Western Europe. I can speak specifically about Romania, don't know if that would apply to Bulgaria. The other issue is getting in and out of Romania from the countries it borders can be quite a challenge depending on the country. Romania to Hungary appeared fairly easy, as there were several trains making that trip a day from various large cities such as Bucharest, Cluj, and Timisoara. But I have heard that public transit from Bulgaria to Romania is surprisingly difficult, and experienced that getting from Romania to Serbia via public transit was a real pain and time-waster. So I'd definitely research the hell out of the train connections between where you want to be in Bulgaria and Romania to make sure there's an efficient way to do it. As for pass versus point to point tickets, it's hard to say - being a youth the eurail pass might be a better deal than it is for us old people, but train tickets in this part of the world are also quite inexpensive comparatively. If you did get a pass, no need for a global one, it makes more sense to do a 5 country pass - Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and either Austria or Czech Republic, since Turkey isn't covered by Eurail anyway. That would cover everything but Turkey, whereas the Balkan Flexipass pass wouldn't cover Hungary, Slovakia, Czech or Austria. Then again the Balkan pass is quite a bit cheaper, so it depends how many train legs you are doing in what countries to see which would be the better deal. I'd figure out your itinerary first, THEN research the p2p costs combined with pass options for your trip to figure out the best deal.

This page will give an idea of travel times in Romania: http://www.romaniatourism.com/Schedule-of-trains-to-Romania.html#bulgaria The Sofia-Bucharest connection looks like one of the better ones, but getting to Hungary would take FOREVER by train. You really might want to consider discount airline trips. As far as lodging in Romania, for Bucharest I'd recommend staying in the old city and doing a lot of research in advance about how good the staff is. There was a very nice looking hostel I passed in the old city that also functions as a tourist information center, but unfortunately I don't remember the name of it. I couchsurfed in Bucharest and had a great experience, but my hosts lived rather far away from the old city and I spent more time than I'd wanted to on public transit as a result (hours!!) But yeah, if there's a city I'd splurge on a hotel for peace of mind, it would be Bucharest.

I agree with Sarah and while I hate to say it, safety is another issue; especially on the overnight trains. Dont travel this route alone. Have you ever traveled outside the US by train? Have you ever traveled outside the US alone before? Some experience would sure help on a trip like you describe. Look at Wizair, Ryanair and yes, even Aeroflot. As for cost; Budapest to Vienna is something like $35. The overnight train Bucharest to Budapest is probalby about $100 plus the cost of new shoes (they often are not there when you wake up). I'd buy the tickets as you need them. And yes, stay in the best hotels you can afford from Turkey until you get into Hungary. From Hungary on its pretty much okay. A really good hotel outside of Bucharest and Sofia might cost $75 a night. A car, a driver and a hotel room might cost you $350 a day. Of course I havent been to Bulgaria or Romania in a couple of years so you might check the costs yourself and see if i am still current.

Thanks for the advice all! Matthew: Were you meaning that I should just catch buses or trains as able, and skip the whole Eurail pass on that itinerary? I've been working out most of the cities that I can visit, and going off of the advice of my older brothe (he did this sort of thing while studying in Nottingham), spend about 2-3 days in each place I visit. I realize that may not necessary be the case for each city, of course, but to give everybody a timeline I'll be there between Feb 4-ish through at least the first week or so of March. With that said, I'll try to spend about 40 days travelling around before meeting up with some 2nd cousins in Ireland near St. Patricks Day. My older brother had also said that Prague was fun, but expensive due to the tourism. He said you get a very similar experience in Budapest, and that Vienna would be about the same to fly out of anyways. My current itinerary was looking along the lines of: Istanbul -> Plovdiv (via bus/train) -> Sofia -> Bucharest -> Brasov -> Sibiu -> Belgrade? -> Budapest -> Bratislava -> Vienna/Prague -> etc. As you can see, I could fit in another few cities. I wasn't sure how expensive the sleeper trains would run me out east, but if it saved me a night in a hostel I thought it'd probably be worth it.
Also, it'd be great if anyone (like Matthew) had suggestions for alternate itineraries, or additions that I should try to work in. I may have a friend going with, but our travel experience is somewhat limited with hostels and whatnot.

I've been to everyone of the cities you mention except Istanbul. It will be a trip of a life time. At a minimum In Romania you missed Cluj and Timisoara. In Bulgaria you missed Veilko Taronvo (spelling)

If its party you want start in Amsterdam and end in Prague. Nothing else is necessary. Keep in mind that while traveling in Central Europe that many beautiful women will show you attention like you never got in the states. Especially late at night in or near bars. Ask yourself, why here and not at home? There are a couple of popular cons, each will leave you broke (including your bank account tied to your debit card) and some will leave you hurt.

Hi, On the Romania part I would say you have a good and interesting trip planned out including Sibiu (Hermannstadt) and Brasov (Kronstadt). That would hold my interest more than going to Bucharest. As suggested above, add also Sighisoara (Schäßburg) or Timisoara (Temeschburg)

Probably not a great time given the current politics in the region to be using anything other than the Romania names as a way to identify Romania towns. That having been said, as suggested Sigisoara is a must as is Pele's Palace.

A lot of towns have Romanian, German, and Hungarian names especially if they are in Translyvania (Siebenbürgen). All the different names are known by the minority populations in Romanian and the Romanians themselves. But to each his own.

I would seriously think long and hard about traveling by land from Romania to Serbia. (But I think Belgrade is a fantastic place to visit and will be returning there myself). Seriously, you are going to have to waste at least a very long full day in transit to get from Bucharest or Sibiu to Belgrade. And it's not a fun trip. It's at least 8 hours from Bucharest to Timisoara, and if you time it right, another couple hours across the border to Serbia, then a several hour bus ride to Belgrade. Tiring, mostly boring. If you time it wrong, you might end up spending 8 hours in Timisoara, which I think is a bit overrated - it was pretty enough in parts but there wasn't a ton to do. I would try to find a flight out of Bucharest to another destination on your trip if at all possible. I'd avoid night trains whenever possible, not even worrying about safety, just because unless you can sleep anywhere you will have a hard time. We took a night train from Bucharest to Timisoara in a relatively luxurious private cabin, and my husband - who is usually out right away on normal train trips sitting up - barely slept. The alarming swaying of the train made it pretty difficult. There isn't a bus that I could find from Timisoara to Serbia. There's a company advertising private transfers online, but they didn't respond to email or phone calls.

i know a guy that would take care of all the transportation issues but it would cost about $300 a day including accommodations, which while a decent deal i think is more than Collins wants to spend and not nearly adventurous enough.

You should to go to Eurolines.com and check out the Eurolines Bus Pass - unlimited travel for 15 days or 30 days, detinations all over Europe, there are associated hostels in most to the places. There are night and day buses. It's geared to students and young adults. My daughter used this to travel from London as far east as Bucharest (with lots of stops in between - Vienna, Munich, Paris and others) and then north to Warsaw for her flight home. She was pleased with the travel and scheduling, the buses were modern with facilities, and she said sleeping on the night buses was easy. Worth a look. Ther is a another busline but I can't remeber the name - something like Student Bus Agency??.....I'm sure someone here knows it.

A good suggestion checking out EuroLines as way of getting around from Hungary to Romania, but if they have an age limit ("young adults"), I'm out of luck.

Collin, can't speak about the other countries, but in Turkey, long distance buses are probably a better choice than trains. Also, be sure that a railpass is worth the money - most of the countries you mention might have better point-to-point deals. Some hostels and couchsurfing are safer than others, of course; I prefer hotels or b&bs, but that depends on your budget.