Thanks for the incredible response! It is my first time but I still want to get a feel for the Balkans and it feels as though Croatia is westernizing rapidly. Do you think Budapest to Zagreb to Sarajevo to Belgrade to Skopje would be a good route? Last night I spent four hours procrastinating and read up on the history of the Yugoslav Wars, something not at all taught in US public high schools. There is a lot of really interesting stuff so I think it might be cool to go see some of the places that played central roles in the wars. Plus I got to learn about the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia naming dispute. What a fascinating political battle going on. I'll definitely take Slovenia into consideration. It all depends on time. I'm typing this on my phone but I have a layout of approximate times in cities and travel times. Adding in city might be difficult. Though as I mentioned it is my first time so I might find I have more than enough time and I might be overestimating my time in cities. Do you have any good resources for how long to spend in a city? I found plenty of estimates for my popular cities but from Wroclaw to Thessaloniki, the only city I can find any information about trip length is Budapest. For the most part I have 2-3 days each. Drinking and getting puked on is not at all my goal. My goal for this trip is to get a taste of other cultures. When my parents brought me abroad as a kid, we'd always get lost the first day and eat somewhere in some alley. Get some real good local food. One of my fears is that all the people around me will be doing a trip like I am for cheap alcohol. Any advice on avoiding crowds and young partiers? I'm more worried about them coming back drunk and waking me up than avoiding them in the city though.
We come from the same breed, my friend! I genuinely believe that the best way to travel is to get off the train, wander until something smells good, then go in and figure out how to communicate with the proprietor and get fed. :-) So, the Budapest - Zagreb - Sarajevo route is WONDERFUL, and totally worth it. Really beautiful. All three of those cities will blow your mind, and you will be able to get around easily as a tourist. And when you are walking in downtown Sarajevo and step on a Sarajevo Rose, you will feel things in your spine you have never felt before. It is a visceral experience. Stop. Turn slowly around and look at the hills that surround you. Think deeply about what created that mark, and that people LIVED HERE in that environment for fourteen hundred days. It changes you. Especially because you are surrounded by wonderful (and gorgeous!) warm people, and the feeling of energy and excitement of the people who live there. They don't hold a grudge, they look to the future. It's amazing. So. Now you are leaving Sarajevo... The beauty way to go is south to Dubrovnik, take a boat to Corfu, and enter Greece from there. It is some of the most stunning geography in the world. The easy way to go is from Sarajevo to Belgrade (which is a GREAT and vibrant city with an amazing youthful culture), but the train trip from Belgrade to Skopje is like a Greyhound bus trip from South Dakota to the Texas Panhandle... boring, long, and boring. And kinda shitty. Serbia has really been depressed for a long time, so the services (like trains) still run, but they ain't "nice" by any measure. So yeah.... those are my thoughts!! When my parents brought me abroad as a kid, we'd always get lost the first day and eat somewhere in some alley. Get some real good local food.