Eastern Europe Tour

We were on this tour in 2018, with Katka —who was AMAZING—as our guide. The tour was great, and it was fascinating to learn so much history first hand — not only from her, but also from the local guides who had experienced the transition from Communist rule to independent rule. Prague is a beautiful city, but there were so many tourists. If you arrive early, I highly recommend pre-scheduling a day long visit to Terezin with Pavel Batel. I found out about him via this forum, and he is one of the best tour guides I’ve ever encountered. Krakow was not teeming with tourists, and felt very authentic. I’d recommend pre-purchasing timed entry tickets for the Schlindler Factory Museum for your free time. The winery visit was a lot of fun — they were quite generous with the tasting menu and had all of us dancing before the afternoon was over. Loved Budapest, but 3 days was not enough time to see everything we wanted to see. If you want to see the interior of the Parliament building (gorgeous!) you should try to book tickets well ahead for that, as well. We didn’t, but were at least able to see it by tagging along on a French language tour. Bring good hiking shoes for Plitvice. It truly is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life. By our free day on the island, we were exhausted, and spent most of our time lounging around the pool. You will be there at about the same time of year as we were, which means it won’t be super crowded, as most European families with children don’t arrive before July. Lake Bled is really like something out of a fairy tale. This tour covers a lot of ground, and you will probably be tired out by the end. Luckily the second half is a bit more relaxing than the first half. Is there anything specific you want to know?

I echo the prior comments, except I went in 2016 and had Peter Polczman as guide. What else do you want to know?

caroleshawver

unfortunately, most of the people who take RS tours never post on the forum. Just in case it helps, there is a dedicated section of the forum for the tours here:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours