Honeymoon suggestions for Eastern Europe in September?

November 28, 2005 8:53 AM

Next September (16th ish) I will be going to Eastern Europe for a honeymoon. Any travel suggestions? Resources? Must sees?

My fiances grandparents are polish and mine are hungarian so we thought it might be interesting to go to Poland, Hungary and maybe somewhere else (also more affordable from what I hear). We will probably have between 7-10 days for travel. Not sure if we want to freelance it or do some sort of travel package thing. Neither of us have ever traveled in Eastern Europe so we have no idea what to expect (is there as much English spoken as western europe etc)....any information, thoughts, suggestions etc would be greatly appreciated!

posted by UMDirector to Travel & Transportation (8 answers total)

English is spoken widely in Eastern Europe as they are trying very hard to internationalize. Everything is also really cheap there. You should be able to get by freelancing, it's the place to go if you're going to Europe on the cheap.
posted by geoff. at 8:58 AM on November 28, 2005

I have been to both Prague and Budapest twice. Can't say enough about Prague. Beautiful, amazing city, and when I was there a few years ago we were able to eat and drink like rock stars for about what you would pay for a meal at IHOP. Budapest is also very inexpensive. Pack an umbrella, as Eastern Europe is rainy that time of year.
posted by moseymose at 9:34 AM on November 28, 2005

Freelance it, it's easy. hotels.com is useful for booking hotels over there.

Czechs very grudgingly speak English, so learn some basic phrases before you go.
posted by cmonkey at 9:44 AM on November 28, 2005

Poland: I only saw Krakow, which was quite nice.

Czech Republic: Prague was nice but personally I preferred Telc and Cesky Krumlov (although it was off-season, so maybe Krumlov sucks during high season).

Romania: I liked Brasov a lot, liked Sinaia, and thought Bucharest was interesting.

Bulgaria: Sofia was great, Rila was interesting, Veliko Tarnovo was neato.

...don't take a package. It's easy to do it yourselves, and you'll save money. Travel by rail, don't be afraid to slap down the extra for a sleeper car if you're going overnight, and have fun!
posted by aramaic at 9:55 AM on November 28, 2005

Another vote for Prague. The city is amazing and the beer is great (you can try a different beerhall/restaurant every day). You might pick up Prague: A Traveler's Literary Companion before you go, to provide some context, and Czech: A Rough Guide Phrasebook is extremely useful (and small enough to be carried in a pocket), but whatever you read or take, you'll enjoy it. I can't think of a more romantic town for a honeymoon (in Eastern Europe, anyway).
posted by languagehat at 10:10 AM on November 28, 2005

The Tatra Mountains in Slovakia just might be the most beautiful place in the world.

Also a second vote for Cesky Krumlov.
posted by captainscared at 11:01 AM on November 28, 2005

Seconding Telč and thirding Cesky Krumlov but also the castles in Lednice and Valtice. And see the town of Mikulov as well; real fairy-tale stuff. These people seem to run a tour of the three towns.
posted by nicwolff at 5:44 PM on November 28, 2005

Obviously - Krakow is a must. We actually had more visitors here this year than Prauge (or so the rumors goes) - it's an amazing city and a great place to visit. Budapest was also great when I went there this autumn, a trully amazing city. Hungarians aren't as warm as Poles, but still a very nice place. Vienna, while a 'western city' is 70km outside of Bratislava and is one of the most delightful places I've ever visited. Bratislava itself isn't too hot, but is worth a day trip. There is an amazing candy store in the main square which sells absolutely amazing hot chocolate for 50 korona. And I've never been to Prauge.

Travel around by train: Fly in to Warsaw, take the train to Krakow (3 hours) stay a bit, take the train to Vienna (5 1/2 hours), from there you can hop over to Bratislava (1 hour) for a day trip, go down to Budapest (2 1/2 hours) for a few days and finish off in Prauge (6 1/2 hours).

As far as english goes: Krakow is pretty good about service personel speaking english. Vienna was excellent, Budapest was so so, Bratislava was pretty bad. Learn to say a few basic terms and use the international language of hand gestures and pointing.

Get a good guidebook, try a cheap hotel booking site (HRS or bookings.*) and make your own itinerary. Find stuff that interests you and stop along the way. Spend lots of time just walking around and turning into random streets, going into random shops. Make sure to check out the local english-language magazines (all the cities have them) - often they'll be avalible in your hotel.
posted by jedrek at 8:21 PM on December 4, 2005