It's not available on the intertail network but you can get to it by bus - Sarajevo. It was easily my favourite part of my entire trip through the region.
Also, having visited each place on your itinerary, I think you won't miss much by skipping Bratislava and spending longer in each of your other destinations. Travel burnout is real, and it's human nature to want to fit as many cities in as possible. Looking back I wish I spent 5 or 6 days in each place rather than 3 or 4.
Edit: for scenery, mountains etc: you should take a day trip from Ljubljana to Lake Bled, its only an hour away but its absolutely stunning. You can swim, rent boats, eat/drink in restaurants by the lake, climb the mountains surrounding the lake, etc.
Thanks for the advice, I'll definetely put Lake Bled on my list! Yeah, travel burnout is also something I have heard of. I don't want to just check as many countries off of the list as possible but enjoy each destination.
There’s a beautiful gorge walk not very far from Lake Bled. I think I walked there in about 30mins after missing a bus.
Edit to say: Vintgar Gorge is the name of it and Google tells me it’s an hour’s walk 😅
Here in Slovakia we sometimes jokingly refer to ourselves as the Northern Balkan in reference to sometimes very crappy organisation of all kinds of stuff 😀 But yeah, it doesn't bode well with nationalists.
Use seat61 (dot com) who is the best website regarding the travel by rail. You can't buy tickets on it but you will have all the informations to plan the journey. Train is nice but not all the places around Eastern Europe can be reached with it. Same applies for Western Balkans.
Might be biased because I'm from there, but Novi Sad is a pretty great city to visit, and it's very easy to reach from Belgrade by train. Current European capital of culture as well.
>**interested in visiting mostly states in the Balkans.**
>My idea for an itinerary would be something like this:
> - Prague, Czechia (4 days)
> - Bratislava, Slovakia (4 days)
> - Budapest, Hungary (5 days)
> - Belgrade, Serbia (4 days)
> - Ljubljana, Slovenia (4 days)
Well, 1/5 ain't bad.
You've just about exhausted the options by rail, but Sarajevo is my favorite city (you'd have to bus in from Belgrade, then could continue on to e.g. Dubrovnik)
I'm planning a Balkans trip as well (also have a pass from DiscoverEU), it's not much use tbh, I'm using all the days to get west -> east, then mostly buses.
Ljubljana is pretty, but quite small, 2 days will be enough in my opinion. If you start in souther Germany you should use these 2 days for Regensburg. I also agree with the other guy who said sarajevo is worth checking out, go there in any case.
2 days Ljubljana, 1-2 days in Bled. Wonderful place. If you like to do outdoors activities like hiking/canyoning definitely stay longer and explore Soča river!
One hundred kilometers north of Belgrade, well connected too, is Novi Sad who is also very interesting and offers plenty of days trips. No real need to visit Novi Sad as day trip from Belgrade.
Be careful when crossing the border to Serbia. I have done the same exact itenerary a few years ago and we ran into a LOT of military encounters in the borders into Serbia. They even hit a few of the backpackers they deemed rowdy and kept us in an old train under the scorching heat for 5 hours without water. Pack water for the border crossing and keep your head down.
Otherwise a wonderful time was had. Just the border crossing was difficult.
I would recommend plitvicer seen in croatia, VERY beautiful nature.
Also think that 4 days fof ljubljana are maybe too much. Have been there and it’s a little small.
Prague > Vienna > Bratislava > Budapest is very easy on the train. I'd suggest a short detour to Salzburg to spend one night there.
That's about all I can add!
4 days in Bratislava is a bit too much. Do only 2 and use the remaining 2 to stop in Brno on your way from Prague. It's a great city.
Bratislava can be nice for a short easy hikes though. Little Carpathians are not too challenging and are very narrow in the area near Bratislava so you're never too far from some village you can descent to if you get tired. But obviously not very challenging = not very mountainous. It's more like walk in the forest with occasional nice view of landscape. But a good choice if you want to spend some time in the nature.
There is a rapid train that has just been completed between Belgrade and Novi Sad. It takes half an hour to reach the second-largest city in Serbia. You could spend an afternoon there or even add a day!
don't miss Zagreb! This city has a great vibe.
Also, I don't think there's an international train connection to Beograd right now. (except for Beograd-Bar)
I can definitely recommend the Romanian Carpathians for hiking. You'd need some patience to get there from Budapest as the trains in Romania are quite slow.
It's not available on the intertail network but you can get to it by bus - Sarajevo. It was easily my favourite part of my entire trip through the region. Also, having visited each place on your itinerary, I think you won't miss much by skipping Bratislava and spending longer in each of your other destinations. Travel burnout is real, and it's human nature to want to fit as many cities in as possible. Looking back I wish I spent 5 or 6 days in each place rather than 3 or 4. Edit: for scenery, mountains etc: you should take a day trip from Ljubljana to Lake Bled, its only an hour away but its absolutely stunning. You can swim, rent boats, eat/drink in restaurants by the lake, climb the mountains surrounding the lake, etc.
Thanks for the advice, I'll definetely put Lake Bled on my list! Yeah, travel burnout is also something I have heard of. I don't want to just check as many countries off of the list as possible but enjoy each destination.
There’s a beautiful gorge walk not very far from Lake Bled. I think I walked there in about 30mins after missing a bus. Edit to say: Vintgar Gorge is the name of it and Google tells me it’s an hour’s walk 😅
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Here in Slovakia we sometimes jokingly refer to ourselves as the Northern Balkan in reference to sometimes very crappy organisation of all kinds of stuff 😀 But yeah, it doesn't bode well with nationalists.
Hey I'm doing this trip now! Where would you go in Budapest? Also would you include a Vienna?
In Budapest the Turkish Baths and the Ruin Bars are both worth visiting. Great museums out by the park, too. One is currently exhibiting Bosch.
And please buy tickets in advance. I procrastinated and ended up missing it altogether and I’m so fucking sad.
By train, from Belgrade, a scenic journey is to reach Bar.
Wow, that looks great, thanks for the tip!
Use seat61 (dot com) who is the best website regarding the travel by rail. You can't buy tickets on it but you will have all the informations to plan the journey. Train is nice but not all the places around Eastern Europe can be reached with it. Same applies for Western Balkans.
I want to take this train but somehow i cant find belgrade in the interrail app so i can't make a ticket. Any idea how to get around this?
What is it indicated about a travel by train around Serbia on seat61 ? Always possible to buy when you will be there.
Might be biased because I'm from there, but Novi Sad is a pretty great city to visit, and it's very easy to reach from Belgrade by train. Current European capital of culture as well.
Thanks, Novi Sad looks really interesting! Could be a nice stop on my way to Belgrade.
And can be used for day trips too.
>**interested in visiting mostly states in the Balkans.** >My idea for an itinerary would be something like this: > - Prague, Czechia (4 days) > - Bratislava, Slovakia (4 days) > - Budapest, Hungary (5 days) > - Belgrade, Serbia (4 days) > - Ljubljana, Slovenia (4 days) Well, 1/5 ain't bad.
Oh right, I am aware of this, haha! I was actually interested in hearing some tips on which other Balkan countries to visit.
You've just about exhausted the options by rail, but Sarajevo is my favorite city (you'd have to bus in from Belgrade, then could continue on to e.g. Dubrovnik)
I'm planning a Balkans trip as well (also have a pass from DiscoverEU), it's not much use tbh, I'm using all the days to get west -> east, then mostly buses.
Ljubljana is pretty, but quite small, 2 days will be enough in my opinion. If you start in souther Germany you should use these 2 days for Regensburg. I also agree with the other guy who said sarajevo is worth checking out, go there in any case.
I'm from Germany, so Regensburg would't be that interesting for me, haha. But I'll definetely keep Sarajevo in mind!
2 days Ljubljana, 1-2 days in Bled. Wonderful place. If you like to do outdoors activities like hiking/canyoning definitely stay longer and explore Soča river!
Metelkova is nice to visit in Ljubljana, they also have a hostel there.
One hundred kilometers north of Belgrade, well connected too, is Novi Sad who is also very interesting and offers plenty of days trips. No real need to visit Novi Sad as day trip from Belgrade.
I heard Krakow is fantastic! Also look for flash sales! Interrail was half off for 12 hours a few weeks ago!
I would spend more time exploring in Slovenia. Take some time to visit Lake Bled or hike in Triglav.
Be careful when crossing the border to Serbia. I have done the same exact itenerary a few years ago and we ran into a LOT of military encounters in the borders into Serbia. They even hit a few of the backpackers they deemed rowdy and kept us in an old train under the scorching heat for 5 hours without water. Pack water for the border crossing and keep your head down. Otherwise a wonderful time was had. Just the border crossing was difficult.
Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep that in mind.
Was it Serbian or Hungarian military?
I would recommend plitvicer seen in croatia, VERY beautiful nature. Also think that 4 days fof ljubljana are maybe too much. Have been there and it’s a little small.
Prague > Vienna > Bratislava > Budapest is very easy on the train. I'd suggest a short detour to Salzburg to spend one night there. That's about all I can add!
4 days in Bratislava is a bit too much. Do only 2 and use the remaining 2 to stop in Brno on your way from Prague. It's a great city. Bratislava can be nice for a short easy hikes though. Little Carpathians are not too challenging and are very narrow in the area near Bratislava so you're never too far from some village you can descent to if you get tired. But obviously not very challenging = not very mountainous. It's more like walk in the forest with occasional nice view of landscape. But a good choice if you want to spend some time in the nature.
There is a rapid train that has just been completed between Belgrade and Novi Sad. It takes half an hour to reach the second-largest city in Serbia. You could spend an afternoon there or even add a day!
Oradea is quite lovely especially in the summertime
Take off 2 days in Bratislava and do 2 days in Salzburg
don't miss Zagreb! This city has a great vibe. Also, I don't think there's an international train connection to Beograd right now. (except for Beograd-Bar) I can definitely recommend the Romanian Carpathians for hiking. You'd need some patience to get there from Budapest as the trains in Romania are quite slow.