From venice to Central Europe

[Erna Grobler]

We booked our return tickets to Venice. I have been in venice before, but not my husband. From Venice we planned to visit Slovenia and Croatia. Although we still want to, things have changed as a cousin and her husband moved to Oradea in Romenia and we would love to visit them as well. We have exactly one month travel time, from 4 April to 4 May 2018. We normally rent a car for our travels, but this time may be different, we will use public transoprt.
My questions are:
Transport: where to use flights, trains, buses, taxis or Goopti? or anything else?
Should we rent a car in Croatia?
Itinerary: Clockwise to ljubljana, Budapest, Oradea etc OR
first to Istria by ferrie?
Any practical recommendations will be appreciated. We do of course want to visit attractions, but do not mind for off the beaten track. Also some of the best islands is a must, we are interested in Korcula and Hvar.
Should we perhaps stick to our original plan to visit only Slovenia and Croatia?
Thank you!!
Erna (Walters) Grobler
(Then, we as South Africans originated from Bratislava, generations ago. So many difficult choices!)

 

[Ian Sutton]

Sorry I can't add specifics on travel in those countries, but in general visiting a location when you know people there, can give an insight that really isn't easy when visiting as an ordinary tourist. On this basis I'd find time to fit Romania in, even if the other locations may be more visually appealing. Logistically this does rather extend the travelling, but it does look like there is a direct train line between Oradea and Budapest. Perhaps the best option would be to fly from Venice or Trieste to Oradea and then train backwards to reduce travel time... if there are direct flights.

 

[Andrew]

When different modes of transportation are possible, I look at www.rome2rio.com . Plugging in Venice-Oradea, I see flights from Venice or Treviso to places where you can go on by land to Oradea, but looking at an odd connection, there's also Bergamo-Oradea twice a week on Ryanair. Flying them, be sure you know of their baggage allowance and rules.

 

[Pauline]

I am moving this thread to the Italy forum.

 

[DDTraveler]

A few years ago we traveled from Trieste to Ljubljana, then into Croatia including Split and Dubrovnik, all by car. I think it's probably easiest and cheaper to rent the car once in Slovenia, (as opposed to Italy) but not sure as we were with another couple as far as Pula on the Istrian peninsula. You do need to purchase a vignette for traveling on the highways in Slovenia, which I believe you can buy at border crossings and gas stations. We did not have one, and fortunately was never stopped.

We found driving in both Slovenia and Croatia pretty easy, with good roads.

For our trip next Fall, we are going to be in Budapest (after taking the overnight train from Prague), then perhaps rent a car and head to Zagreb and then to Split. I imagine we'll drop the car there, and visit a few of the islands. We will take the ferry across to Ancona, Italy, where we will go on to the next leg of our trip.

I hope this helps!

DD

 

[Alpinista]

Ditto the above for buying the vignette as soon as you cross into Slovenia -- we got ours at the first filling station. Absolutely loved the few days we spent in Ljubljana and Lake Bled, so know you will have a great time. We stayed at the Vander Urbani hotel which is in the middle of the historic district and would highly recommend it (but take a careful look at the hotel photos to be sure that the modern/offbeat decor is something you'd like -- we did). There is no parking in that district, but there is public parking very close by which we used. I think that there was the option of the hotel picking up you and your luggage too, but we travel pretty lightly and didn't pursue that.

 

[Erna Grobler]

Thank you! I have printed all the suggestions and am sure I will use many of them. The following is what I have in mind at this stage:
Fly into Venice, stay for a few days as we would also like to visit Murano and perhaps Burano.
Venice to Budapest: Flight, stay 3 nights
Budapest to Oradeo: Stay 4 nights. Return Train (Family will pick us up at train station)
Budapest to Ljubljana: Train
Ljubljana: Stay a few days and do daytrips OR rent a car and do our own itinerary (About 5 days?)
Ljubljana to Zagreb: Train or bus.
Pick up rental car in Zagreb after spending 2 nights: Zagreb to Plitvice National Park. (Should we stay over at Plitvice, in the park?)
Dubrovnic: 2 nights (If we have the car, will make sure for parking. Nearby accommodation will also be fine for us)
Split: 4-5 Nights, visit Hvar, Trogir, Krka, Korkula.
Via E63 route to Pula: 3-4 nights, take ferrie to Venice.
Thank you!!

 

[Alpinista]

Ljubljana: Stay a few days and do daytrips OR rent a car and do our own itinerary (About 5 days?)

Ljubljana is a wonderful spot, but the old town section is small and the attractions outside that area are limited. Lake Bled is a definite day trip, but five days in total might leave you with time on your hands. There are a number of options for other day trips that are easy to research on line, but it might be worth weighing the interest in those trips versus other spots in your itinerary where you could add in some of the days you have allocated to Ljubljana? Maybe include a city like Trieste (reachable from Pula via ferry) as a stopping point?

 

[Erna Grobler]

Thank you for all this helpful information. I am on track now, I think!

I can book a direct flight from Venice (Treviso) to Budapest with Ryanair. How reliable are they?
I read different reviews about them.
Thanks

 

[Andrew]

Ryanair is very much a low-cost, no-frills airline: check their rules on baggage and other matters. In the last few months they cancelled many flights with advance notice because of pilots' annual leave, but they say that's resolved for 2018. Stories here and here.