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Opinions On Eastern Europe with Teen Girls

Posted by (Austin, TX, USA) on

I will be taking my daughter (15) and her friend for 2.5 weeks to Europe in June. I'd like to get your opinions/suggestions.

We will fly in to Amsterdam and spend 2 nights there and 2 nights in Brussels/Bruges. We plan on flying from Brussels to the East on a discount airline.

These cities are on our list to visit in the East: Krakow, Budapest, and Prague.

Questions:

What is the best way to get amongst these cities and what is the best order?

Is there another city we should add to our list of places to visit?

If a night train is the best way to get between these cities, what is the best way to book it from the U.S.? How far in advance should we book it?

When then want to fly from one of these Eastern cities to a Scandavian city (or even Iceland) before our return to the U.S. Any suggestions on what city would be best for me and 2 teen girls?

Thanks!

Posted by
590 posts

If you do take a night train I would wait until you get to Europe and book it as soon as you get there. I would stick to those 3 cities and possibly add day trips. I took night trains between those cities last May and half the train was empty. I booked a couple of days before. If you find an English speaking teller when buying tickets in Amsterdam or Bruges you could book the remainder of the trip from them. The employees in Budapest and Krakow didn't seem to speak any English. There is a good English speaking service at the prague rail station though. I find that writing the names of the places and times you want to go down helps if you encounter a non-English speaking employee.

Enjoy the trip! Very brave to take 2 teenage girls! lol

Posted by
7 posts

Hi Stephen!

A, I would say, the best order is just what you've written, starting in Poland, Hungary, Czech Rep. I would also visit Vienna from Budapest: the best way is to take either a train (4,5 hours) or a boat trip (6 hours). The boat is very funny, not VERY picturesque landscape but still. And it is cheap: 110euros and they have discount price for students. (Yeah: bring your daughters student card, it will grab discounts). http://www.mahartpassnave.hu/

Discount airline from Brussels: Wizzair (both to Katowice (near Krakow) and to Budapest).

B, Night train: there are night trains, but sometimes the landscape is so beautiful (in the mountains between Krakow and BUdapest, and Prague/Budapest that it is still worth to see... Altough I did Prague-Budapest and it took 11 or 14 hours (dont remember exactly) and I can tell you it was way too long to sit on a train...
About traffic in Hungary in Swedish: http://www.budapest.nu/transport_i_ungern
and in English: http://www.budapesttips.co.uk/transport_in_hungary

Check out Eurorail tickets: it is a train ticket without borders valid for a long time (2 weeks or months) and you can travel unlimited with it within Europe. Useful in Scandinavia, a lot of Swedes and Danish use it (coz otherwise the trains cost a lot there). In that case my suggestion would to visit Stockholm (calm, clean, tidy little city) and Copenhagen (much fun, multicultural).

I hope I could help, if you need more info on Budapest (sights, things to do etc.), don't hesitate to write. Or check out: http://www.budapest.nu
or http://www.budapesttips.co.uk

Posted by
2876 posts

On your last question (a Scandinavian city) I'd recommend Stockholm. There's lots to see & do, it's very walkable & public transportation is great, and it will be easy to find air connections from Stockholm's international airport back to the U.S.

Your itinerary is fine as is, but if you wanted to throw in one more city the easiest would be Vienna, because of its proximity to your other destinations.

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