Where to spend extra days in Croatia/Slovenia/Hungary--Suggestions Please!

Geh! Guess it helps to post the itinerary as well. .. My husband and I are both in our mid 20s and like to be active. We don't need to see the sights in BP as I used to live in Hungary. We're not opposed to driving more, it just seemed like we were missing so much in an effort to see "more". I'm left wondering if I did the right thing given that tours (including RS) let you "see" the whole country in 10 days or so and we're barely making half. Are we travelling too slow? Here's what I have 12 --Arrive in BP--relax (sleep: BP) 13 --Visit Friends (BP) 14 --Drive to Plitvice (Plitvice) 15 --Hike (Plitvice) 16 --Krk ? (Krk?) 17--Istria(Rovinj)--Eastern Towns 18--Istria(Rovinj)Western Towns 19--Istria(Rovinj)--Buj. Nat. Park 20 --Slovenian Istria(???)--Piran, Koper 21 --Bled(Bled)--Caves, Vintar 22--Bled(Bled)--Bohijni, Bled 23--Bled(Bled)--??? 24 -- Alps Drive (Ljblj) 25 --Ljubljana to Budapest (BP) 26- 27- 28- 29 --Visiting friends ? (BP)
30 – Fly Home So, basically I have 3 or 4 extra days to play with. Thank you so much for any suggestions! I've just thought myself in circles over all this and need a new perspective.

Hi Jamie, I was going to take a stab at an itinerary alternative, but first I wanted to ask you: if you had to choose between adding Venice back in, adding more time in Hungary, or going the Split/Mostar/Sarajevo route, which is more appealing to you and your husband? My initial reaction was to re-work it so you could add Split/Mostar/Sarajevo, but then it occurred to me that doing so would be MY preference, not necessarily yours. Are you leaning one way or the other at this time?

Hi Angela--
Sarajevo/Mostar/Split would be my ideal choice of what to see hands down. But (there's always one of those, isn't there), when I had them in--even without Venice--there seemed to be a lot of extra time on the road for relatively short stops in each. Taking them out, I was able to add more time in Istria and Slovenia, plant ourselves for a few days and see more of the region than just the major highlights. I would love to take a day in Hungary to go Eger. It's one of my favorite cities and my husband's never been there or take an extra day at the baths or head up the Danube Bend. Or. Or. Or. But, we're really open to anything. We both love history of all sorts and hiking around outdoors, so I'm not sure we can go too wrong. I really appreciate your help!

That's always a conundrum - seeing more at the risk of missing more or planting yourself in one spot for longer periods at the risk of it being too slow-paced! I think my husband and I have Travel ADHD, because we tend to do the former. Keeping in mind your last post and the fact it sounds as though you'd rather settle down in an area than running all amok, I think you may have answered your own questions - add a couple days on the back end of your trip to Budapest so you can make it to Eger and the Danube Bend. And, just throwing it out there, maybe instead of driving all the way to Plitvice from Budapest consider staying a night in the Lake Balaton area? I've never been but have heard great things about the area. Also, regarding Krk: the drive between Plitvice and Rovinj is only about 4 hours. Do you think you'll need a stop in-between? Ok, in the spirit of full disclosure, I've not been to Krk, but we made the drive between Plitvice and Istria in an afternoon and it was a piece of cake. As for Istria, I don't think 3 full days is too much, especially since you'd like to visit Brijuni National Park. Lastly, my opinion is that 3 full days in Bled is a lot, as the town is postage-stamp size and although the surrounding area is beautiful, you could chop a lot of wood if you were out and about for 2 full days. I hope you find these random thoughts useful, and I'm at the ready if you'd like me to propose a more aggressive itinerary that would include Split/Mostar/Sarajevo. :)

You've definitely hit the nail on the head. We usually are the ones running breathlessly from one spot to the next. We're fine finding adventures all from one spot though too. I'd absolutely love to hear your "aggressive" itinerary that includes all my original dreams. Here is what I had originally booked up. I still have rooms reserved for this trip, although cancelation deadlines are drawing near, so I'll have to make up my mind one way or another soon Right now cutting Venice is coming to mind. . . 11-May Home-Plane 12-May Budapest--Land 3PM, Relax, Get Dinner 13-May Budapest--Visiting Ujszasz and Szolnok 14-May Budapest-Plitvice--Pick up Car AM, 5 Hr Drive 15-May Plitvice-Hiking 16-May Plitvice--Drive to Sarajevo 17-May Sarajevo 18-May Drive to Mostar Early AM, Drive To Split Early PM 19-May Split 20-May Split, drive to Istria 21-May Istria 22-May Istria-Venice (Umag, Piran, Koper) 23-May Venice-See Venice 24-May Venice-Bled-4 Hrs Drive--Skocjan Caves 25-May Bled--Day in the Alps (RS Suggested driving tour?) 26-May Bled--Lake Bled/Vintar/etc 27-May Bled-Budapest--Ljubljana--6 Hr Drive 28-May Budapest--Eger? 29-May Budapest-Szolnok?
30-May Budapest-Home

Ok, my "aggressive" itinerary didn't include Venice, so you got me there! This is along the lines of what I was thinking (overnight locations in parentheses), including thoughts you had on your recent post: 11: fly to Europe 12: land Budapest (Budapest) 13: Budapest (Budapest) 14: pick up car in AM; drive about 4-5 hours (TBD) 15: continue 2-3 hour drive to Sarajevo (Sarajevo) 16: Sarajevo (Sarajevo) 17: noon-ish drive to Mostar, about 2 hours (Mostar) 18: late afternoon drive to Split, about 2 1/2 hours (Split) 19: Split (Split) 20: afternoon drive to Plitvice, about 3 hours (Plitvice) 21: Plitvice (Plitvice) 22: morning drive to Rovinj, about 4 hours (Rovinj) 23: Istria (Rovinj) 24: Istria (Rovinj) 25: morning drive to Bled, stopping at Skocjan Caves along the way, about 3 hours (Bled) 26: Bled (Bled) 27: Bled (Bled) 28: Bled to Budapest, about 5 hours, more if stopping in Ljubljana (Budapest) 29: Budapest (Budapest)
30: Fly home

Notes: On the 14th if you did the entire Budapest - Sarajevo drive in one day (about 7 hours) then you'd end up with one more night that could be added to Budapest. We don't mind long drives and would probably go straight through, but you may not relish that thought. It would also take about 1/2 a day from Sarajevo since you'd be arriving later in the day (unless you got an early start). Plitvice also doesn't necessarily need 2 nights, but since you mentioned you enjoy hiking you might want to spend the extra time in the area. This may not be enough time in Budapest, but it sounds as though it's a place you'll visit again in the future, given you lived there and have friends that give you an excuse to visit! Lastly, I use ViaMichelin.com to get driving times/distances, and found they were pretty accurate for our trip. However, border stops and/or traffic could add time to your travels. (oh - and make sure the rental agency lets you take the car into all these countries!)

I always am left wondering what people actually decide after getting feedbackit's always interesting to hear what worked and what could have gone better, so I figured I'd post the itinerary we finally decided on. Angela found me on another thread and noticed that we had decided to keep Sarajevo we realized that we'd be fine driving and it was a city that I really wanted to visit. I don't know why we didn't think of going from BP to Sarajevo then on to Croatia saving us backtracking to Split/Plitvice. Sometimes the obvious answers are the hardest to find. Anyway. . .here's what we ended up with: 11- Home-(Plane) 12 BudapestLand 3PM, Relax, Get Dinner(Budapest) 13- BudapestVisiting Ujszasz and Szolnok(Budapest) 14-Budapest-SarajevoPick up Car AM, 8 Hr Drive (Sarajevo) 15- Sarajevo (Sarajevo) 16-Sarajevo (Sarajevo) 17- leave Sarjaveo early for Mostar(2 hrs), onto split mid-afternoon Split (Split)(2.5 hrs) 18-Split (Split) 19-Split-Plitvice (Plitvice)(3hrs) 20-Plitvice-Istria (Porec)(4hrs) 21- Istria- (Porec) 22- Istria(Porec) 23- Slovenian Istria, see Skocjan Caves on the way(Bled)(4hr) 24- Bled (Bled) 25- Bled- (Bled) 26- Bled- LjubljanaBudapest5ish Hours; return car (Budapest) 27- BudapestEztergom? 28- BudapestEger? 29- Budapest-Szolnok?
30- Budapest-Home

Hi Jamie, I just noticed you posted your itinerary - thanks for the follow-up, as I, too, wonder sometimes which way people end up going after posting questions. Glad you got it hammered out and it looks like it'll be a fun trip!