Eastern Europe Trip- any suggestions?

kelloggs

Doing interrailing from warsaw to istanbul in july, hoping to take in as many countries as possible without coming home thinking i've only visted train stations! Countries aiming to see: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey (well just Istanbul).

anybody like to suggest any proposed routes or any must sees? would like to mix the cities with the off the beaten track. not sure if taking in Croatia will leave me stuck for time as it takes me a bit far west, anyone tried this in similar time frame?

all thoughts welcomed.

daiixi

Trains in Croatia will take you to Zagreb and Split but you will need to catch a ferry or a bus down to Dubrovnik as trains don't go further than Split. Also you can get a train from Budapest to Belgrade (Serbia) but you have to get a bus from Belgrade to Sarajevo (or a train to Mostar (worth a visit) in Bosnia & Herzigovina and a bus from there to Sarajevo and another bus from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik).

Haven't been to Romania but really want to get there this year and Turkey is definitely worth visiting.

The route I did was Berlin to Krakow return. Berlin to Prague to Czesky Krumlov to Vienna to Budapest to Belgrade to Sarajevo to Dubrovnik to Split to Zagreb (entirely misable and don't spend too long in Split either - Dubrovnik and the islands are the go in Croatia or on the north west coast).
I then went from Zagreb to Llubjana and from there to Salzburg. Llubjana is DEFINITELY worth a visit.

I met people who had been in Romania/Bulgaria/Macedonia and got conflicting views on the areas but noone had had any troubles travelling anywhere.

Good luck!

carrotcake

make sure you go to sighisoara if you're in romania. it's a really old german town that's been kept perfectly