I’m assuming you know that Russia requires visas for just about everyone. But if I was going to cut anything, it’d be that. Visas are annoying, and can be expensive and hard to get. If you did that you could add in perhaps Austria, somewhere else in Germany, or the Baltics.

If you intend to use Eurail, I’d get a global pass. It may be easier for you to fly in between the cities which aren’t covered by the pass, or take buses. Look into how long local trains in these areas take: sometimes, in countries in the former soviet bloc (esp. the further east you go), you could get out and walk faster! It’d probably be not only cheaper but more time efficient to take a bus in this case.

Yeah, I know about the visa thing. I don’t really mind all the red tape around going to Russia – it’s a place I’ve always wanted to go to and see.

Looking at it now, I guess I could get rid of Budapest and go straight from Krakow to Lviv (or even skip Lviv and go straight to Kiev?). I could add another place in Germany then….

I don’t know about the global pass, since at the itinerary now a good chunk of the places aren’t covered by it and probably would be a waste of money. If I change it, then it’d be a different case, but I was wondering how one would go about with how it is right now… because I really like this itinerary – I’ve made so many of them and this is the only one that gets me all excited.

Taking the bus is a good idea though – I haven’t thought much about that.

Your trip would be a little too leisurely for me. I would plan an average of 3 days per city, then add 1 day to some for a specific day trip and/or extra travel time when long distances are involved. You may want to add a day in Ukraine just because the distances are so huge that travel time may significantly interfere with your time there.

How are you planning to get from Kiev to Moscow? That’s an 12 hour train ride. I’d look for a cheap flight, although it would not be horrible on the train. Be sure to have both Russian and Ukrainian currency with you as some trains are run by the Ukrainian rail system (blue cars and usually very new equipment) and take only hryvina (pronounced roughly grieve-nah) while others are run by the Russian rail company (generally green cars — often right out of Dr. Zhivago) and take only Rubles. I would take anything you need to eat or drink although there will probably be some sort of snack cart or even full food service. Also, the trains between Moscow and St. Petersburg sometimes sell out (especially on weekends), so I’d seriously look at buying that in advance through a travel agency — even though it will double the cost.

Be sure to learn the Cyrillic alphabet as there are several issues where you may have trouble navigating in English. For example, I think most of the trains from Krakow to L’viv arrive in the middle of the night and you’re unlikely to find a ticket agent with English skills at on any Ukrainian or Russian train or at any station. The German rail system (probably the best and easiest place to check schedules) use L’vov — the transliteration of the Russian spelling as opposed to the Ukrainian L’viv.

Russia is extremely expensive — or at least was in 2008. Things were much more expensive than Western Europe. Finland, one of the most expensive places in Western Europe, was cheap by comparison. Things were dirt cheap in Ukraine when we worked there in 2004, although a low cost of living doesn’t always translate to cheap for a tourist — locals could buy train tickets at a special rate. Tourists paid more.

Thank you so much oldlady! “3 days per city” seems to be the consensus, so I’m going to go with that and take off a few days in some places.

What is the minimum daily budget would you recommend for Russia then? I’m hoping that the cheaper places like Poland would balance out Russia being that expensive, but I don’t know.

Oh, and would you recommend cutting out Budapest? I don’t really know much about the city, but it seems interesting and I don’t want to cut out a place if don’t have to. It seems like a waste….

I would whole heartedly recommend keeping Budapest on your itinerary. I loved the city, and will definitely go back some time. Yes, it adds a lot of travel time, but is worth it. If you could add Vienna or Bratislava in between, and then Kosice on your way Krakow or something, you would be breaking up these long journeys quite efficiently. This may mean that you cut Wroclaw though =/.

I would cut Wroclaw out, Krakow is more beautiful so it won’t add much to your trip.

I wouldn’t cut Budapest, although since it’s now pretty much on the “main tourist track” it would be easy to get to on your next visit if you decide to skip it.

My trip to Russia was not backpacking and economic conditions have changed fairly drastically since 2008, so I really don’t have a good idea what things cost for the bargain traveler there. Hotels and Restaurants cost twice what they did in Western Europe. I would guess you could cover a minimum backpacking style (what you’d spend $75 US a day for elsewhere) for $125 per day in Russia. Hopefully somebody will have better answers.

Thanks oldlady, that’s still helpful.

Hmm, cutting out Wroclaw? Then maybe I could have some time for Warsaw instead. I guess I’ll decide once I get there, really. (:

Any other suggestions?

Noooo, don’t go to Warsaw, find somewhere else. I thoroughly did not like Warsaw. A very boring place. The old town is nice, but small. It’s not Warsaw’s fault, it’s the Nazis and the Commies =/

How you planning the daytrip to chernobyl?

6 days in Berlin might be a bit much. 3 days would be enough.

We all have our own preferences, and I think that if a major site isn’t worth more than three days, it isn’t worth going there. Think it through; your first day is spent in travel, finding your lodging, and settling in; your third day is spent packing up, checking out, and getting to the train station or airport. That leaves you one day. I think 4 or 5 days is more like it as it gives you time to see the sights. Major towns like Paris or Rome are easily worth at least a week or two.

We stayed in St. Petersberg this summer. The hotel was about $210 a night, including breakfast, and it was not one of the big name hotels. That was more than we usually pay, but it was convenient to the sights we wanted to see. There is a lot to see there; the Hermitage is well worth two full days, some other museums could fill a day, and both Catherine’s palace (home of the amber room) and Peter’s version of Versailles could easily take a full day. Some world class musical events could also take a long evening, and just walking around town could take a day. So if you are going to pay for a visa and transportation to this remote city, I think it is worth more time than three days.