What's fun to do in Hungary or Croatia?

good point

i also enjoyed visiting The Museum of Broken Relationships on the day I had to myself in Zagreb

oh this should go without saying, but stay out of Budapest's many strip clubs.

trust me.

twoooooo weeeeeeeeks

ur going to hungary?

onvm i see upthread

Anyone been to Dubrovnik lately? Still a good destination?

I've been living in Zadar county for the last few months, but haven't made it any further south than Split. Prices in summer are ridiculous compared to rest of year, and I can only imagine Dubrovnik is completely overwhelmed in summer months - never been but I was under impression its one of those places that is crumbling under the weight of visitors, esp given its small size

Yeah that was what I was worried about! My partner works at a school so we're tied to taking holidays in mid-July to mid-Aug. Wondering if there's anywhere Croatia/Slovenia/ish that's pretty and relaxing and not full of holiday drunks.

Lake Bled looks pretty. But hard to tell if it's mental or just average crowded in midsummer. I've heard good things about Lake Milstatt in Austria.

Dubrovnik is packed during the day and relatively quiet in mornings and evenings. In season, a vast proportion of the visitors are cruise passengers who clear out at about 4pm.

If you want to have an incredible diverse holiday with minimal travelling then Slovenia is one of the best places you can go. Lake Bled is busy but the place is astonishingly beautiful - I went there in the height of the summer and it was busy but by no means overwhelmed, there are plenty of quieter bits where you can lounge around and swim etc. Bled -> Ljubljana -> Piran would give you a lot of variety and Piran itself is a beautiful little coastal town with a decent beach.

In Croatia - Zadar is wonderful, Split is OK but gets very crowded, I guess Dubrovnik is even crazier. A lot of the smaller islands would be great as well.

That’s great to know, thanks! Did you need a car or is it ok for trains?

We did all of Slovenia on trains, it's a very small country and you can head up and down it with ease.

You are genuinely better off getting the bus in Croatia, or a ferry if you're heading up and down the coast. The trains take a long time and don't go any further south than Split.

The buses are reliable and frequent, and mostly have wifi. the ferries are nice but can be long and arent as frequent, depending on route, not sure on if you can boat from Pula/Rijeka/Zadar down to Split or Dubrovnik, but buses are all the time

Soča Valley in Slovenia is beautiful, quite relaxed even in summer and great for hiking into the mountains if you're into that. Probably requires travelling by bus if you're depending on public transport though.

i regretted not renting a car in rural slovenia, though trains and buses around population centers were very effective.

Enjoyed Dubrovnik last May, it's tourist-y for sure but we were there before the real busy season kicked in. Taking the ferry to Lokrum for an afternoon was the highlight, probably.

Matt DC, we've basically part-pilfered your holiday: Ljubljana > Piran > Bled, and then up to Lake Milstatt in Austria. Thanks for the tips - I was having one of those "there's too much choice" panics about what to book and that was really helpful!

I was actually in Dubrovnik yesterday (albeit briefly, my bus transfer was there), it appeared much less crowded than I thought it would be (bus station seems relatively central) - may back up what ShariVari was saying (though this was around noon, would have thought the cruise ships lads would have been in by then?)

Going to Debrecen on thursday for the Bela Bartok Choir Competition. Then a couple of days in Cluj and Sibiu in Romania. Any mustsees in those areas? I know a lot of Romanian classics are shot in those two cities, but it's probably tough to drag my fellow choir members to a concrete monstrosity that I saw in that one film that one time.

Right, then. Croatia in June for less than £500 per person (two people) from the UK. Any ideas?

No?

How long are you planning on being there for?

I'm not sure about the budgetary constraints but when I was there we stayed in cavtat the first night, seemed like a nice enough little semi-contained resort town with decent swimming and some restaurants, and a lot of fancy yachts. dubrovnik definitely worth a visit though eating within the walls can be expensive. split was great - good fun watching people play picigin on plitvice beach at sundown. we day tripped to mostar (in bosnia-h) from dubrovnik too which was worth doing.

we never made it to any of the islands or national parks... though hear they're the true stars of the show

June may still be early enough that the national parks aren't mad busy, but idk - wouldn't bet against it either

Zadar and surrounding region are very user-friendly, particularly for public transport - the buses (and app) are excellent, even extending out to buses on the islands (Ugljan and Pasman)