Croatia

[finke87]

I want to do a bit of Eastern Europe traveling this summer. I'll be coming in from the U.S. and I really really want to start in Dubrovnik. But its pretty damn inconvenient/expensive. My alternatives are Split and Zadar. I can't find much on Croatian travels, it seems that its a lesser traveled country.

My plan was to go from Croatia to Budapest-->Vienna --> maybe Prague and then onto Western Europe to Switzerland.

Any other ideas and thoughts?

[Dig]

No thoughts, but it sounds like a cool start! Welcome to tpunks! and I am sure somebody here has been there.

[The Sasquatch]

croatia is AWESOME!!! one of my fav countries. I'm not current on budget airlines in europe anymore, but you could possibly fly into someplace cheaper and then take a cheap flight to croatia. part of my route in '06 was very similar to what yours looks like. After croatia i made it to budapest (stops in bosnia and serbia), vienna, and then prague (stopped in cesky krumlov en route). anyway if you have any questions i will try to help. croatia and budapest were absolutely great.

[smlizotte]

Last time I went to Croatia, I actually flew into Rome, spent a couple of days, took the train to Naples, then another train to Bari. All pretty reasonable cost/ease for the trains. From Bari took the overnight ferry to Dubrovnik (Jadrolinja). It was something like 60 euros, not the fanciest or comfortable since the sleeper cabins were sold out but was beautiful to wake up pulling into the port in Dubrovnik. There are always locals at the port with signs for private rooms to let (sobe) and we had no problems. Also took a day trip to Mostar, highly recommended.

[pantich77]

Originally Posted by finke87

I want to do a bit of Eastern Europe traveling this summer. I'll be coming in from the U.S. and I really really want to start in Dubrovnik. But its pretty damn inconvenient/expensive. My alternatives are Split and Zadar. I can't find much on Croatian travels, it seems that its a lesser traveled country.

My plan was to go from Croatia to Budapest-->Vienna --> maybe Prague and then onto Western Europe to Switzerland.

Any other ideas and thoughts?

I would choose Zadar. The islands around Zadar are lovely and peaceful. The view of Zadar and the Velebit mountains from the island Ugljan are stunning. Also the Kornati islands are well worth a visit from Zadar as well as Plivice lakes, an easy one day trip.

[Sijuki]

The train from Split to Budapest isn't too expensive as long as it is in season. Otherwise you have to go up to Zagreb I believe. Or you can take the ferry from Split over to Italy (Brindisi) I want to say, it's relatively cheap and is overnight.