Advice re Central Europe (10 Days)

kennyb3

Flying into Krakow on 4th August, home from Milan on 14th. plan is to hit Poland (obviously), Czech, Austria, Slovenia and then chill out in nice hotel at Lake Garda for last 3 days.

so was wondering if anyone could advise me on nice spots to visit (possibly adventerous hikes/walks or whatever) in any of these countries. want to do more than just see krakow, prague, vienna, ljubljana.

I hear lake bled is gorgeous, apart from that could anyone please advise on other things to see/do?

also anyone recommend a nice hotel (3/4 star in Riva or the north end of lake garda)

thanks in advance

PS any other advice on thsi trip would be great. have read a good few interrailing thread already.

supertramp

As for Slovenia, yes Lake Bled is well worth a visit. But just another hour away from Bled (coming from Ljubljana) is Lake Bohinj, which is a more secluded lake and less touristy. It is fantastic and on the edge of Triglav National Park.
There are also cave systems there, which are worth a look. And on the coast is Piran which is nice. Of course, Ljubljana itself is great!

Off to Krakow tomorrow myself. Will go to a plce called szczawnica. From google images it looks amazing! Also Zakopane is a nice mountainous village.

milkado

Hey, Krakow is great! Stay there for as long as possible, lots to do, really cheap, great little city to wander around! From there if you have time you should go two hours south to a little town called Zakopane, very touristy but very nice, it's up in the mountains so quite a change of scenery, if you cross the border into the Slovakian side it's much quieter and nicer though! In Slovenia definitely go to lake Bled, amazing place and there's so much you can do from there, one tour company 3glav is great, I did their emerald river adventure and saw a lot of Slovenia from doing that, great fun and you go white water rafting on the most beautiful turquoise river too! There are so many things you can do from there and even around the lake you can go tobogganing, rent a boat, go swimming etc, great spot! Venice would also be a good stop off place on the way to Lake Garda as you practically have to go right past it to get there, one day is enough to get a taste of Venice like! Enjoy your trip!

kennyb3

sorry im only replying now. thanks very much for your resonses they are much appreciated. if anyone else has anything else to add please feel free... thanks again

Brian

WooPeeA

Krakow is a nice city with nice places and good quality food and drinks.

City is also located in nice hilled area, lots of forests, wild animals and nice views. 2-3 hours south and you're in Zakopane resort, a ski paradise. Add few hours east and you're in Bieszczadzki National Park.. Just an hour South west from the city and you'll be able to visit a desert called Bledowska.

Auschwitz is also located close to the city if you'd like to experience that.

Wieliczka Salt Mine is also interesting proposition, an underground city that reaches a depth of 327 meters, and is over 300 km long.



Few pics:

Zakopane:





Bieszczadzki National Park:


Wieliczka Salt Mine:


Bledowska Desert:




Krakow:




Warsaw, the capitol, is good for business and good for money. City offer great night life, lots of cinemas, large shopping malls etc. It's very modern city as unlike Krakow Warsaw was completely destroyed during WW2.

WooPeeA

I've been in all other mentioned by you countries. I'll try to post something about them when I'm gonna have some more time.

kennyb3

thanks a million woopeea

Imposter

Slovenia:
Was in Slovenia 2 weekends ago. Stayed in Ljubljana for 3 nights.
Spent fri evening and monday looking around Ljubljana.
Did a tour direction Piran on the Saturday -
Tour took in: The Škocjan Caves, Piran, Lipica (Lippanzer horses), Predjama Castle. Cost 44€ each - basically an 8 person car with a tour guide - a bit expensive but worth it for the local knowledge and the hard to find castle.

On the sunday we hired a car and went to Bled, Bohinj and the Savica waterfall. Worked out less that 100€ between 4 of us - car, petrol, parking etc. Waterfall was amazing!

Would really recommend both of those daytrips from Ljub. Both were really really nice.

Google for photos or I can send you a PM once I get mine sorted (hopefully in the next week or so)

Czech:
Ceske Krumlov is really nice and a nice change from Prague. It's small but worth a day or 2. You can do canoeing there and there are loads of nice hikes. Should you be in that area you might be tempted to go to Budweis - don't nothing to see there.

Austria:
Well I currently live there so I could write a book on it.

From Krumlov, Linz is not so far away - it's one of the European capitals of Culture for this year. Outside of the weekends though it's pretty quiet. Nice cycling along tha danube there if that interests you.

Halstatt is really nice.
Salzburg too.
Both could be done in a day (especially if you've a car)

Innsbruck is also a really nice town.

Loads and loads of hiking/biking/whatever in and around salzburg and Innsbruck especially in the mountains.

Between Vienna and Linz is the Wachau wine area along the Danube - quite nice and some things to see there too - also possible to cycle along the danube.

South of Vienna is the Neusiedlersee - it's a really shallow lake - nice for swimming, sailing or whatever. It's also a wine region. Rost is the town I stayed in while there - really nice, cheap and very relaxing.

kennyb3

im probably pushing my look here but i would be really grateful if anyone could help me with all or any of the following:

1. recommend a nice hostel/low star hotel in prague
2. as above for Ljubljana
3. as above for in and around lake bled
4. any further info on what to do/see in and around lake bled
5. whether to go to austria or slovenia first from the point of view of coming from prague and going onto lake garda. my bro is living in graz so thats where i ll be heading in austria.



thanks in advance

Brian

kennyb3

also could someone give me advice on reserving a train from prague to graz? i have my interrail pass. do i have to wait until i get there to reserve or how can i do it now. using the OBB website or at a main train station here in ireland??

really confused

Imposter

1. recommend a nice hostel/low star hotel in prague
Sorry can't remember where we stayed - didn't think it wparticularly good anyway.


2. as above for Ljubljana
We stayed in Alibi - not the main one but one between the train station and the center - was really nice and great location. Check hostelworld.


3. as above for in and around lake bled

Sorry can't help.


4. any further info on what to do/see in and around lake bled

As above: Lake Bohinj and the savica waterfall. The waterfall is a long walk from Bohinj though! There's a bus to Bohinj from Bled. AS I said above - hiring a car from Ljubljana is a better idea if it's possible.


5. whether to go to austria or slovenia first from the point of view of coming from prague and going onto lake garda. my bro is living in graz so thats where i ll be heading in austria.
Based on your first post:
Krakow, Prague (over Vienna) Graz (possibly over Maribor - check that there's a train from Graz to Maribor) Ljubljana, Bled, (over Villach, Milan) Garda.

Unless you book the whole schedule you plans are likely to change! Try and book the trains in Ireland if you can (and the schelule is fixed), otherwise just book them as you arrive in wach town or maybe a few days before if possible. I'm not sure what's possible on the ÖBB site with regards bookings seats so can't help you there (I'd be pretty sure it isn't possible as it wouldn't let me book a ticket to Ljub online!)

kennyb3

Imposter wrote: »

Try and book the trains in Ireland if you can (and the schelule is fixed

do you know where this can be done by any chance? trying to find out. maybe at connolly of hueston?

Imposter

kennyb3 wrote: »

do you know where this can be done by any chance? trying to find out. maybe at connolly of hueston?

no idea - but at a guess they'd be your best places to find out

milkado

Hostel Celica in Ljubljana is good, it was a prison so the rooms are designed like cells and are really cute and different to any other hostel! It's right beside the train station and about 5 minutes walk to the city centre!

In Bled stay in travellers haven, really nice, clean place with the friendliest staff ever. You can book all your excursions through them etc It's less than a 5 minute walk down to the lake.

Around the Lake the main things to do are to rent a little wooden boat and row out to the tiny island in the middle, there are also parts of the lake where you can pay a low price to swim and use the waterslide and sunbeds and stuff. There is tobogganing on a mountain right beside the lake too, you could even just catch the chairlifts up the mountain for the view, there are picnic benches and a little bar/restaurant up there. There is also a castle facing the lake but I didn't go so can't really comment on it! Apart from that there are so many excursions to do in Slovenia, I'd recommend the 3glav company, they have an office near the lake and I went horseriding and on a full day tour around Slovenia that included rafting. There were lots of other things to do like canoeing etc too!

kennyb3

Just discovered this:

we are due to fly home from milan linate at 11.30 (14th Aug with aer lingus).

we were thinking of stayin in the riva area as this was north and more toward the airport. but it seems very difficult to get from riva to milan and we have to be in teh airport at half 9.

would it be advisable to stay at the south of the lake near verona train stattion? anyone know of a nice area near teh lake very close to verona?

or just go to milan the day before and stay there?

kennyb3

also is getting a train from ljubljana to verona difficult?

munchkin_utd

there is none.
The best connection is to leave at 2.30 in the morning and get the night train to Venice and change there. (or simply spend the day in Venice and get to Verona in the evening)
All other connections are 2/ 3 changes and seem like a bit of a trek.

An alternative would be to include Munich for a day/ night as a stopover as theres a number of direct trains to from Ljubiana and a train every 2 hours all day long to Verona from Munich.

timetable info is under the journey planner on www.bahn.de (and theres an english option there too, as well as special advance booking offers to/ from german destinations)

ardmacha

The Bohinj railway is the most scenic in Europe, it goes through tunnels into valleys where in some cases there are no roads. Well worth the spin on an Interrail. If you are in Ljubljana and heading to Verona it wouldn't really be on your way though. The line connects Jesenice to Nova Gorica where you can get an Italian train to Venice etc from Gorizia (really one town with a border just outside the Nova Gorica station.