I’d recommend some smaller cities and rural areas in addition to the larger cities. I like Bratislava for a day or two. The Tatra mountains in Slovakia and Poland are wonderful.

Farther afield: All of the Baltic capitals (Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn) are wonderful cities to visit. All three have distinct, walled, medieval old towns that are separate from the modern cities. The combination of Scandinavian and Russian influence make for interesting architecture and history. Unfortunately train service isn’t as good as the rest of Europe so it’s a little difficult to get from one to another. Check for cheap flights, buses and ferries.

I loved Slovenian and Croatia, but the cities aren’t really the best part. Ljubljana is a good visit, but the Julian Alps around Lake Bled are a better visit than the city. Zagreb is a good visit. Coastal cities like Split and Dubrovnik are better and islands, national parks in Croatia are even better.

Never been to Eastern Europe but I hear Krakow and Belgrade are awesome places to visit. Croatia is allegedly nice too (see above).

thanks oldlady! Ive heard good things about Lake Bled alright, i think ill have to visit there!
Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Belgrade sound interesting. Ive heard about amazing tourist stuff to do there, is there good night life?

Bulgaria is nice. Sofia is cheap and quite lovely. There are several good day trips from there especially Riga Monastery. Also don’t forget about Romania. It is super cheap and if you can rap (even poorly) you won’t have to buy any drinks.

I see you are going to Moscow. Moscow is NOT cheap. Your visa will cost at least $100 and lodging is expensive. I spent 2 weeks there in off season and paid $250/night for a threadbare cold room with a shared bath. I spent one night in the hightest rated hostel and left because it was filthy. I love Russia but be warned that there is an enormous culture gap.

St. Petersburg is cheaper than Moscow but I have to admit, standing in the middle of Red Square taking it all in an awesome experience.

If you like history, I recommend a cheap flight to Volgograd (Stalingrad during WWII). It is a lovely town on the Volga with an amazing history.

I just looked at your itinerary. Moscow, Kiev and Dubrovnik all present time and logistical problems which makes your trip nearly impossible for 23 days and $1,700 dollars. As madmads says, Moscow is terribly expensive. We dropped nearly $200 on a no-booze lunch for 3.

Kiev is a great visit, but it’s not easy to get to. Yalta’s another great visit in Ukraine, but getting there adds even more logitistics problems.

Croatia’s coast cities are actually very expensive. Places inland are much less expensive, but coastal areas, especially Dubrovnik, can be very pricy.

Any problems is Moscow? I hear it can be rough for Westerners, especially Americans, there. At least when it comes to officials like police and whatnot. Someone told me once there are two prices for everything in Moscow; the locals price and the tourist price (much more $$$). Based on what I’ve just read hear it sounds to be true. I’ve also heard you must make hotel reservation in advance of getting a visa. Is this true.

I would love to visit Russia one day, Moscow especially but it really seems like it’s not a tourist friendly place which is sad.

I don’t think it’s rough for Westerners, although it is a little difficult to navigate in “English only.” Hotels advertise their tourist friendly services, but it’s not the same as Western Europe. It’s like they don’t teach map reading in 4th grade which makes it difficult to get directions. Of course, the Cyrillic alphabet adds some difficulty, too. However we generally found menus in English and many of the museums had at least some English information. I’d read all the horror stories and can report that they’re vastly exagerated. I saw absolutely no evidence of any of the “police stops,” passport checks or anything else like that. Traveling Russia by train is a little daunting if, like me, you don’t speak the language, but learning the alphabet well enough to sound out the departure board meant we had no real problems.

Americans must have a visa to visit Russia. You need a letter of invitation to get one. Your hotel will provide that for an additional fee — I think it was $25 to $50 per letter. Visas are expensive and there are additional fees for expedited service in you need the visa in less than about 8 weeks. We used a visa expediting service, which was expensive but relatively easy and they were very good about answering questions on the phone.

Sorry the itinerary thats up was just a rough draft I was doing just to learn how to use the journey planner. My internet froze as I was doing it and I didnt realise it had saved! As much as I would love to visit Moscow for the history of the place, i realise its not possible in my time-frame. Appologies for the confusion, ill delete it now if I can! but thanks for the tips on Stallingrad etc, ill definatly be going there in the future!

Bulgaria sounds interesting, ill do some research into Sophia!

Other than being very expensive, Moscow is a wonderful city. It is very tourist friendly. I hear more and more English spoken every time I go. But in the smaller cities and rural areas, there is very little English spoken and never any English menus or signage.

I’ve been there many times and traveled all over Russia and I, personally, have never had any problems with police/military. I have seen American’s in trouble but they would have been in the same trouble if they were home. Russians are as curious about us as we are of them. Many grew up in the Cold War and were told that we are bad people and likewise when I was growing up. IMHO they are no differnent than any former Soviet country. They think we are all rich and rude. Sadly too many Americans go over there confirm the rudeness theory.

My advice to anyone going to Russia is (1) learn to speak and read enough of the language so you will not be completely lost and get ripped off. I have found that just by making the attempt to speak their language makes them more likely to help. (2) brush up on Russian history especially WWII. It is an ice breaker and puts you above the average tourist who is there just for the stamp in their passport (3) travel smart and use common sense. If your behavior will get you in trouble in America, it will get you in trouble there too (4) Expect culture shock. You’re not in Kansas any more Toto. (5) Remember that a 5 star hotel in Russia is the equivalent of a 1-2-3 star one in the rest of Europe.

You do not necessarily have to have a reservation but a visa requirement is that you have a “sponsor” and that is a place of lodging. Most places charge a fee to give you the documentation needed to get the visa. You do not have to stay there but I would recommend having reservation for a couple nights before going to Moscow.

Something else to remember when traveling to Russia is that you cannot fly in to Moscow and then go where you want. You must specify the cities you are visiting on your visa application and if you are where you are not supposed to be, expect a prompt deportation after you have been interrogated and the authorities are convinced that you are not a spy.

We took the train in and out of Russia, so I have no first hand experience with the airports, but we talked to two different groups of Americans who thought the Moscow airport was a nightmare.

I would recommend going to Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania. All of them are pretty cheap, have some really good recently opened hostels, and have everything you might want from nightlife in Sarajevo to amazing scenery in Kotor.

If you only have 23 days, I suggest keeping your traveling area more compact. Poland or Romania could easily take up 23 days each, and the more you spread things out, the more it costs and the less time you spend seeing/doing things. The Baltic capitols would be idea for this amount of time, but they are a little more expensive.

Ukraine is easy access with no visa now, but they use cyrillic and speak little english. Bulgaria uses cyrillic but many people speak english and its quite easy to get around. I found Romania to be as easy to travel as western europe, but the sights are amazing. With Romania and Bulgaria, the capitols are not the best sights to see, so plan other cities first. If you are in that area and have any extra time, Istanbul should not be missed.

I second rob_co2 that you should try not to spread too much. Eastern Europe in general is very cheap and has lots to offer, but some countries are pretty large and transportation is not always the best, so you can easily waste more time in trains/buses than you originally thought just by looking at a map …

Now, some suggestions.

Poland is very nice. You could probably spend all you trip just there. Within the same country you can get a medieval town (krakow) with historical auschwitz & salt mines nearby, moutains (the tatras, check zakopane), german architecture (wroclaw), beaches (gdansk tri-city area), a very large medieval castle (malbork) and a exciting modern capital (warsaw).

A combination of Bulgaria & Istanbul would also be a pretty good idea. Sofia is ok, but don’t spend too much time there, as the country has lot more to offer. Very nice little calm town (Veliko Tarnovo), beaches (Varna), roman ruins (Plovdiv), moutains in the southwest, and Istanbul is just a night train away… I cannot say for Istanbul, but i can tell you that Bulgaria is cheaper than Poland… (at least it was two years ago)

Visit former Yugoslavia. Before its split-up, it was one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, country in Europe. Beautiful local capitals, breathtaking natural sceneries, and a good lesson of history – all in one. Especially Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia are well worth it. Cities like Dubrovnik, Split, Mostar, Sarajevo, Rijeka, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Sutomore… will remain in your memory forever, and the natural beauties like Plitvicka jezera lakes, Vrelo Bune, Bled, Una and Neretva river valleys will make you want to stay more. The rail trip from Belgrade to the Montenegrin coast in Sutomore and Bar is a wonderful route with over 200 tunnels and even more bridges.