Help with Eastern Europeon trip

In Krakow and Budapest you do not need a car. There is a night train between the two cities and public transportation within the cities. There is also a day train if you prefer. Krakow the city really deserves 2 full days, then the Salt Mine 1/2 a day, and then 1 day in Auschwitz. Budapest is usually recommended to stay 4 days. Sorry I can't help with Adriatic part of your trip.

I have to agree with the previous posters recommendations for length of stays for Krakow and Budapest. Those would be the minimum days to see the cities comfortably. i haven't been to the coast of the Adriatic yet. You can easily do it on your own, I did last year. Take a bus, no need for a car. You shouldn't worry about the language barrier. There were just a few places I had some difficulties, but I was still able to get my point across and that is all part of the adventure. I really tried to speak the language with my translation book, but Polish and Hungarian are very hard to speak! I would show them the book and point to the word that i wanted to say and they would understand. It again is so easy to do on your own. no need to take a tour. Take day city tours if you want to meet some people and stay in hostels if you want. I stayed at the Greg and Tom Hostel in Krakow and loved it! There was a mix of people there from 18-65 and it was clean, cheap and fun!

I cannot comment on Krakow or Budapest because I have never been, but I can give you some thoughts on Slovenia and Croatia. Only speaking English in either of these countries is no problem what-so-ever. In fact, my understanding is that people of Slovenia speak English as well or better than Americans! ;) They grew up with American television and unlike a lot of other countries in Europe - they don't overdub on top of the shows. They use subtitles. So their English is quite good. The other added perk is when you are longing for some English speaking television...Slovenia is the place to be. We stayed in Lake Bled, Slovenia. Very pretty. We didn't do a whole lot in Lake Bled. We took the boat over to the island and toured the church. Had some good desserts and fed some ducks - but otherwise it was just very pretty to see. The 2nd day we picked up a rental car and drove thru the Julian Alps. Fabulous! Except take dramamine if you get car sick - because I got sick. But the Alps are great. There is a lot of history in those mountains from WWI. There is a great museum along the path that is very moving dedicated to WWI and the Austrian/Hungarian/Italian/Slovnian conflict. There is a monument to the Italian soldiers worth visiting. Really great day trip. We left Lake Bled and headed into Croatia. Croatia is a country that you have to give adequate time too because it is a very long country and driving time can be underestimated. And I think you really need a car in Croatia. There is not the same public transporation as the rest of Europe seems to have. We drove to Plitvice Parks and spent a few hours there. Very pretty. Amazing waterfalls. We left there and headed to Split which took 3-4 hours of driving I think. Split has a facinating Roman-era ruined palace. The locals have moved in and have been occupying this ruined palace for many many many years now. And Split is nice because you can see Palm trees in Europe. Continued..

And lastly Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is great for lounging on beaches, eating amazing fresh seafood, walking the old city walls and seeing tangible effects of the Bosnian/Serbian war. Dubrovnik's old town took a lot of damage. They are repairing it exactly the way it was. I made a restaurant recommendation in another thread that I think was titled "Dubrovnik". If you want to search it otherwise I can look again. It is in the RS book. Hope that helps.

Do you have a copy of Rick Steves' "Eastern Europe" guide book yet? If not, you should get one as it sure helped us when we did the Easter Europe swing.