I think your itinerary is really good. I’ll let others weigh in on Dublin, but there is no way I would pick Frankfurt over any of the cities you’ve chosen. Nobody on this forum ever says “you’ve got to see Frankfurt!”

frankfurt is an airport only no reason to do anything there basically a bank city

Frankfurt is not worth a stop.

Thank you all for your responses! Now I’m definitely not including Franfurt in my itinerary and I’m showing this thread to my friend so there are no doubts whatsoever!

Any thoughts on Dublin, anyone?

IMO, Dublin is only worth the time and expense of getting there if you have enough time and resources to wander around the Irish countryside for a few days. Dublin is “just another big city” for me, although the local pubs are great if you find a couple non-touristy ones you like.

Thanks OL! Well, there are great pubs in other cities too… And I think my friend wants to go to Dublin itself, not really interested in the countryside. So I guess we should stick to the original plan then?

Given the lack of interest in seeing the Irish country side, I would definitely skip Dublin. There are many others who disagree. Maybe one of them will write the other side.

If it significantly adds cost to your trip, I would skip it as well. I do like Dublin, but for how much $$$?

Yeah, I think it will, because we’ll probably fly back home from London, so we would have to get a roundtrip flight Lon-Dub plus the expenses there…(we’ll be on a tight budget). Unless my friends want to cut any of the cities on the original plan – which I think they don’t, but it’s something to be discussed.

Thanks OL and mim! You all have a good night.

How about Dubrovnik instead of Split?

From Lon, you could probably get a roundtrip for a little over $100.

I did think about Dubrovnik, it was actually my choice before I even knew about the existence of Split and the islands of Hvar. But after doing some reading here, I got the idea it would be better to go to Split and explore a couple of islands, then go to Dubrovnik and in the end going by bus to Split just to catch a flight to Budapest, since Split has better transport connections. It just seems to be better in terms of traveling time, I don’t know.

It may be easier with traveling times since Split is more of a transportation hub than Dubrovnik. That being said, I would much much rather go to Dubrovnik- it’s the place to visit if you’re going to Croatia, IMO. Did you look into budget flights from Dubrovnik? Getting a cheap flight to Zagreb then onto Budapest may not be a bad option, though it would kill at least a day of travel (Worth it to me, understandable if not to you). Otherwise, I would highly advice going to Hvar or another island instead of Split. Split is fine for an afternoon, but that’s all it needs.

I too recommend Dubrovnik over Split, but also I do understand the transportation situation.
We ferried from Dubrovnik to Hvar to Split over the course of a few days, then flew out of Split on Croatian Airlines.

Thank you DOI and Cil. I like the idea of ferrying from Dubrovnik to Hvar and then Split. They are close enough, right? At least we’ll be able to see more places and see a bit of Split before our flight (depending on the time it departures, of course!).

You are all being very helpful.