Planning trip from Gdansk -> Athens, in total 10 stops.

  • 1 February 2022
  • 8 replies
  • 222 views

Hi!

I'm trying to plan my trip. Here's what I've come up with so far. But this route leaves out Sofia, Bucharest,Thessaloniki, Skopje and Krakow. But i think this is some of the best i can do in 30-40 days. This routes includes some planetickets near the end due to not so good railways. I have never travelled alone before and I really wanna experience travelling abit before i start on my 3 year bachelor lol. Do I need to search for visum? I am a EU resident so I dont think it’s mandatory? Are there many places to wash clothes? I'm gonna stay at hotels, I guess I can pay the cleaners to help me wash my clothes? I hope to get all my stuff inside a small carryon bag.

I'm thinking to adjust the days when I go, as long as I am at Split at xx. date to catch the airplane to Belgrade, and then to Athens, so the only fixed number of nights will be at Belgrade and at Athens. So I'll have xx amount of days to distribute on the places inbetween Gdansk and Split.


Any feedback or tips?


Places to sleep:
Gdansk, 3 nights
Warsaw, 3 nights
Berlin, 3 nights
Prague, 3 nights
Budapest, 4 nights
Bratislava (/vienna), 5 nights
Zagreb, 2 nights
Ljubljana, 2 nights
Split, 4 nights
Belgrade, 2 nights
Athens, 4 nights.
Total nights 35


My route so far
Gdansk to Warsaw by train, est price 17eur. 5h30m traveltime
Warsaw to Berlin by train, est price 40eur. 6h traveltime
Berlin to Prauge by train, est price 30eur. 4h20m traveltime
Prauge to Vienna by train, est price 18eur. 4h40m traveltime
Vienna to Budapest by train, est price 15eur. 2h40m traveltime
Budapest to Zagreb by bus, est price 15 eur. 5h traveltime (0 changes)
Zagreb to Ljubljana by train or bus, est price 10 eur (x2). 2h30m traveltime with either train or bus.
Zagreb to Split by bus, est price 20eur. 5h30m traveltime bus, 45m plane
Split to Belgrade by plane, est price -120-200eur. 3h-4h30m traveltimes depends
Belgrade to Athens by plane, est price 90eur. 1h30m-1h45m depends.

Total est price 495eur for travel. Lets say 700 euro just to be safe lol, planeticket prices do vary alot.


8 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Depends on the traveltime you may catch from Budapest a direct Nighttrain of Regiojet (quite cheap) or MAV (Hungarian Rail) to Split :)

and visit Zagreb then after Split (often in summer a special rail ticket for just 13€)


option. B
Budapest - Lubljana (up to 3trains per day from 19€)
Lubljana - (Zagreb just change) - Split and afterwards Split - Zagreb :)
or you add for example Sarajevo or Montenegro (Bay of Kotor, Sveti Stefan) and from Montenegro by Rail on a stunning Route to Belgrade :)

Hi,

 

I tried and couldnt find these routes, but it would be the best to go to Belgrade from Zagreb, then I dont need to fly from Split → Zagreb → Belgrade. So from Budapest → Split → Zagreb / Ljubljana and then fly to Belgrade.

Depends on the traveltime you may catch from Budapest a direct Nighttrain of Regiojet (quite cheap) or MAV (Hungarian Rail) to Split :)

 

If you could rearrange the route, how would you have done it? Would you remove or add any days or cities? I couldnt find any routes to montenegro either. I’ve searched alot on thetrainline.com, omio.com and momondo.com and I couldnt see any better way to arrange the travel haha, its hard to find all of the options. Maybe some of the summer tickets does not show yet?

 

Is there any booking app for the traintickets? Or should I just use the above sites? Or is there any site I shoudnt use?

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

I’ve searched alot on thetrainline.com, omio.com and momondo.com and I couldnt see any better way to arrange the travel haha, its hard to find all of the options. Maybe some of the summer tickets does not show yet?

Is there any booking app for the traintickets? Or should I just use the above sites? Or is there any site I shoudnt use?

thetrainline.com is quite good but for international planning I prefer the Deutsche Bahn website; also for booking tickets in/from/to/via Germany. In general, when looking for tickets, also try the website(s) of the operator(s). There may be offers they only sell themselves.

From Budapest to Zagreb there's also a train. Likewise for Zagreb - Split.

You won't need any visa but check your country's ministry of foreign affairs to be sure for Serbia (which is not EU).

As to washing clothes: hostels sometimes have washing machines to use for a small fee. Otherwise, in cities, there are often launderettes.

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@larsen 

The Routes can be rearranged on so many ways (i just try to avoid to travel routes twice :) )

That´s why i suggested to use atleast on one Route to from Split a Nighttrain :)

As Split have only a trains to Zagreb you always have to pass it :/

That´s why i suggest to go
Budapest - Split - Zagreb - Lubljana - Flight Belgrade
or
Budapest - Lubljana - Zagreb (just change) - Nighttrain to Split - Zagreb (visit) - Flight/bus to Belgrade

From Split you could go by Bus to Dubrovnik and further to Montenegro (Kotor, Sutomore,Bar, Podgorica) and catch from Bar,Sutomore,Podgorica a train to Belgrade

Means then Budapest - Lubljana - Zagreb - Split - Dubrovnik - Montenegro - Belgrade.

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

I think that 2 full days in some of those cities is a bit boring-some really have not much to offer. For B-lava not even a full day is really needed to see all main sights-it never was a real capital till some 15 ys ago.

My plug again for the yellow RegioJet trains from Praha to Brno/Bratislava/Wien/Budapest, you can get 1st cl seats for less as your quoted prices. INside CZ junior/student <24 (or 26?) can get 75% discount off local fares-with ISIC card.

Also try out cd.cz (=the CZ state railway) for some bookings-often they have real good low advacne fares to/fro CZ).

IN PL -if you are willing to use the much slower local/regional trains of PolRegio-they do passes like 3 days in 1 month for less as 20€. (regio karnet)

NOte: IF you are smart with booking, do not have an overdose of luggage to check, then you can probably fly Beo-ATH for maybe 30€ AND with 2 flites via another east-euro city (why not Sofia-or the summer beaches of Burgas or Varna??): check WIZZair, That is for seat only-often they do seats for 15€. In summer they also fly direct to several Greek isles.

In general: low-budget airlines like EasyJet, RYANair (try to avoid those nasty beasts amap though), WIZZair, Norwegian, Smartwings (CZ) can offer really good seat-only fares, but of course then you do not follow Gretha footsteps and will be blamed by anyone with responsible mindsets.

But once you have seen the bulky, diesel-smoke bulging overaged and sometimes vandalised trainsets often used over there in the Balkans (thats the so called local atmosphere!) you may even get 2nd thoughts about their assumed climate savings.

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Oh my god, this is a rail travel forum and not a low cost carrier forum IMO.
Flying so short distances and being proud of paying almost nothing for the highly subsidized flights… can’t believe. And this in 2022.
And yeah, even the diesel-powered trains on Balkans are more environmental-friendly than any flight. So please don’t post fakenews here @mcadv 

About your travelplan: If you fly Split to Belgrade you are missing probably the most scenic part of your trip. First taking a bus down from Split to Dubrovnik, watching sunset there from the hill. Next morning continue to Montenegro and then continue by daytime train to Belgrade. 
Amount of time in some of the cities is definitely exaggerated. If you go from Bratislava to Vienna you always have to pay for a daytime ticket which means you could already stay direct in a hostel in Vienna which would be cheaper in the end… Bratislava has nothing to offer except cheap beer. Super boring city. 3 nighs in Gdansk is also too much IMO. With 2 full days you are well done with it.
Also 2 nights in Ljubljana and Zagreb if you don’t plan any daytrips will be a LOT. There isn’t much to see there either - sightseeing in both places can be done within half a day, maximum 1 day. 
But as you didn’t say what’s the focus of your trip, difficultt to advise. If you wanna visit museums etc, then of course another story.

Hi,

 

Thanks

@larsen 

From Split you could go by Bus to Dubrovnik and further to Montenegro (Kotor, Sutomore,Bar, Podgorica) and catch from Bar,Sutomore,Podgorica a train to Belgrade

Means then Budapest - Lubljana - Zagreb - Split - Dubrovnik - Montenegro - Belgrade.

 

I like this idea, but someone from Serbia posted on a another post that there might be special rules and difficulities getting from Montenegro to Belgrade? What city do I take bus to from Dubrovnik to Montenegro to catch the train? Also - i didnt find any sites showing direct route from Budapest to Lubjana, all the ones I found went trough Zagreb. Also didnt find any trainroutes to Split.

 

*snip*


Yeah maybe too many days in some cities when I look over it again. I’m thinking to just take my time and dont stress too much haha.

 

Maybe something like this? I got told I cannot miss out on Thessaloniki and Kalabaka

Gdansk, 1 nights
Warsaw, 2 nights
Berlin, 2 nights
Prague, 2 nights
Budapest, 3 nights
Bratislava (/vienna), 3 nights
Zagreb, 1 nights
Ljubljana, 1-2 nights
Split, 4 nights
Dubrovnik 1-2 nights
Montenegro 0 nights only passtrough
Belgrade, 2 nights
Thessaloniki 2 nights
Kalabaka 1 night
Athens, 4 nights.
Total nights 29
 

Gdansk to Warsaw by train. 
Warsaw to Berlin by train 
Berlin to Prauge by train 
Prauge to Vienna by train
Vienna to Budapest by train
Budapest to Zagreb by bus
Zagreb to Ljubljana by train or bus
Ljubljana to Split by night-train (change in Zagreb)
Split to Dubrovnik by bus
Dubrovnik to Montenegro bus, and take train to Belgrade.
Belgrade to Thessaloniki by plane
Thessaloniki to Kalabaka by train
Kalabaka to Athens by train
 

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@larsen 

when searching via bahn.de (DB Navigator), oebb.at(Scotty) i get several routes from Budapest to Lubljana & Zagreb - Split just note that on the 12th June there is a timetable change and not all timetables after this date are already online :/ but usually there are not much changes than before so you may search with earlier dates :)

 

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