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June 2017 – European roadtrip
Highlights
15 days
3000 km
6 countries crossed
Hit the road!
1st of June.
It’s 6 AM and I hear the alarms buzzing. Tough, I know, but this is the holiday sound! 🙂
The first day of many adventures to come.
Up we go!
A 6-hours drive leads us to Salt mines Turda: the coolest underground places we’ve been to. Dating back to the 11th century, now it’s a history museum of salt mining, specially designed for tourists.
By the end of the day I’m back in Cluj after soo many years…looks even better than my memories.
Oradea is the first stop of day 2. How can you not love it? Respect!
At the end of day 2, we arrive in Budapest, ready for a 2-days packed itinerary.
Buda vs Pest, or a city with 2 personalities. Buda is the hilly piece of land with imperial atmosphere, while Pest is the busy, buzzing flat side. But when the dark falls, everything comes together as one.
I have to confess: Budapest by night just stole my heart.
Just 1 hour before you reach Zagreb, there’s the lovely baroque-style Varaždin, ex-capital of Croatia.
Zagreb: beauty and beer go well together.
Such a cool, pocket-sized capital deserves more that 1 night. Zagreb, promise we will come back.
Hidden on the road that connects Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes, stands a magical watermill village where human and nature worked hand in hand: Rastoke.
Leaving Rastoke behind, here we are at Plitvice Lakes National Park, ready for a 1-day trek. Its 296 square kilometers, 16 lakes ranging from azure to green, blue or even grey, are impeccably designed for trekking.
Nature is full of surprises. And some places are worth the wait.
Funny thing we heard: some guys from Dubai were asking “how did you build this?” 🙂
Zadar is the first stop where we actually have some time off. Every one of the past 6 days has been a marathon.
One morning we get up and head to Ninska Laguna. Looks like all the effort pays off: we’re the first two humans on the beach. And what a view.
3 days later we find the new hottest spot on the Dalmatian coast.
Roman ruins by day, Mediterranean vibes by night. Cannot get enough of Split.
And finally, the last stop in Croatia, pearl of the crown: Dubrovnik.
No wonder King’s Landing from Game of Thrones was set here, the most beautiful medieval city I have seen. King’s Landing, House of the Undying, The Red Keep, Walk of Shame, Qarth…with just a walk within the city walls you’ll follow the footsteps of your favourite actors and scenes from the movie, and get lost in a world of fantasy.
“Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle”
It’s so hard to leave Dubrovnik behind.
On the long way home we’ll have to cross Bosnia and Herzegovina next to the Montenegrin border, rest in Serbia for 1 night and cross Bulgaria the next day.
The Bosnia-Montenegro border is simply out of this world.
First we see the Bileća Lake surrounded by lime stone mountains, then the road leads you right into the Sutjeska National Park. You can expect any time some Jurassic dinosaur coming out of the woods and following you.
I would give up the highway anytime, just to have this view again.
We rest for 1 night in the quiet little serbian city of Čačak. It’s enough to chat with the locals and learn we have more words in common that I imagined.
The next day is not just a regular morning on the road. 600 km more. It’s the day we’re going home. 🙂
Map
Stops
Bucharest, Romania
Turda Salt Mine, Romania
Cluj, Romania – Aparthotel Gutinului (1 night)
Oradea, Romania
Budapest, Hungary – Hotel Charles (3 nights)
Varaždin, Croatia
Zagreb, Croatia – Taban Hostel (1 night)
Rastoke village, Croatia
Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
Zadar, Croatia – Villa Julian (3 nights)
Ninska Laguna, Croatia
Split, Croatia – Rooms Valentino (3 nights)
Dubrovnic, Croatia – Villa Dard (2 nights)
Sutjeska National Park, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Čačak, Serbia – Hotel Tema Nova (1 night)
Back in Bucharest, Romania.
Vignette/toll costs
Hungary – vignette ~11 EUR/10 days (purchased by card/Romanian RON, at a gas station on the Romania-Hungary border)
Croatia – several toll gates on the highway, total cost in 2 weeks ~25 EUR (purchased by card/EUR/Croatian Kuna)
Bosnia and Herzegovina – the road we chose did not imply any highway, so no additional costs
Serbia – 1 EUR Eco-Tax on border crossing (cash only, EUR/RSD) + highway toll 1.5 EUR (card/EUR/RSD)
Bulgaria – vignette ~8 EUR/7 days (purchased by card/Leva, at a gas station after crossing the border)
Romania – bridge toll 6 EUR (purchased by card/Leva)
Meal costs at the restaurant
Hungary – we usually paid around 30-40 EUR/2 persons.
- 4000 HUF(13 EUR)/1 course
- 1000 HUF(3 EUR)/drink
- regular tip 12%
Croatia – prices go up, as you go down on the coast. Let’s say the price is 40-60 EUR/2 persons.
- Zagreb – meal 90 Kuna(12 EUR)/portion, 16 Kuna(2 EUR)/beer
- Zadar – meal 100 Kuna(13 EUR)/portion, 20 Kuna(3 EUR)/beer
- Split – meal 100-120 kuna(16 EUR)/portion, 30 Kuna(4 EUR)/beer
- Dubrovnik – meal 150 kuna(20 EUR)/portion, 35 Kuna(5 EUR)/beer
Bosnia – we only stopped once at a restaurant, and paid 11 EUR for 2 persons. Great, right?
Advice
Bring EURO in cash. As we learned, you can pay almost everywhere in EUR (hotels, restaurants, and more importantly at the border crossing or tolls) without having to use different currency per country.
Turn OFF the internet connection in Bosnia/Serbia, as they are not part of the EU. Our telephone company was showing a cost of 11 EUR/MB!
Don’t forget your Passports.
Have the Car Green Card with you; ask the insurance company if it’s covering the territory of all crossed countries!
We heard the best time to go Croatia is the beginning of June. Later on, it’s starting to be really crowded. What do you know? Perfect timing! 😀
Total costs
Fuel 240 EUR
Vignette/Tolls 53 EUR
Accomodation 1000 EUR
Food 800 EUR
Entertainment 200 EUR
***
It would be disrespectful to squeeze all these beautiful places in one post, right? Each place has its own story. So step by step, here we go:
1 day in Romania: Turda-Cluj-Oradea
Budapest: 2 days packed itinerary
The perfect European city break you’ve probably never thought of: Varazdin and Zagreb
Nature at its best: Rastoke village and Plitvice Lakes
A city with an old soul – Zadar, Croatia
Split: Mediterranean vibes with a ‘Game of Thrones’ twist
Welcome to the King’s Landing: Dubrovnik
Happy travels and stay safe!
HaiHui Story 
Wow that’s fantastic journey!
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Yeaaah, thank you! We have just arrived back and started to sort out photos and stories :))) there is much more to be said about all these beautiful places we’ve seen! Hope this year will be enough to write about all of them 🙂 what picture did u like the most? have you been to these places ?
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Yeah, each one will have a story to be told!
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Beautiful pictures!!! We went to Rastoke Village and Plitvice too!!! 🙂 Loved your outline – very good info!!! If we do an Eastern European vacation later on this summer, I’m going to get in touch and get some info from you 😉
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haha thank you very much!!! I wanted to write something i wish i had found before…like advice for going with the car, meal costs, a map, etc, etc..so i’ve said to myself that if i did this, i would write an article with exact information.
So happy u like it! I’m actually very pleased with how it went, the places to stay were the best, and wouldn’t change anything about the travel route! Except maybe staying longer in Dubrovnik, the last city from Croatia…it is really out of this world!
So, sure, i’d be happy to help with advice! Just let me know if u have any questions! Happy travels!
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AH! I forgot to include Dubrovnik in the list of places we saw too! SO BEAUTIFUL!!! I’ll definitely be in touch if we make the trip… we have an almost 2 year old we’re a little bit nervous about traveling that far with… but we may not get another opportunity for a while, so we may throw caution to the wind and hope for the best! LOL!
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I agree, Dubrovnik was just the pearl of the Dalmatian crown! I enjoyed every moment of the stay!:) So you want to travel to Croatia again? or to the countries nearby? I definitely loved Budapest in Hungary, and also would have extended our 2-days stay. And also a cheap and very safe place to go is Romania, my home country. 🙂 Here i have maany things to recommend, within the historical Transylvania region (the one with the legend of Dracula:). Good luck with planning! And as i said, i’d be glad to give some advice. So cool to travel with the baby!!! 🙂
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I think that we’ll definitely go back to Croatia at some point! We really loved it… I would love to go to some of the islands off the coast (Split for example!)… We are wanting to visit Budapest, Slovakia, Poland, and possibly Vienna (IF time permits)! Will def keep you updated if we get to go! 🙂
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Fantastic photos! Hope you had an amazing time!
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Thanks so much, dear! Yeeah, it was the best roadtrip so far! And i wouldn’t change anything about the travel itinerary, it was absolutely perfect! 🙂
Btw, you have a lovely blog, and such an original life style! I’ll start reading about it on your page:)) I wish you safe and happy travels! And nice to meet you 🙂
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Thank you so much 😊Looking forward to reading more of your blog 😀
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I like the supplemental info. and map references you provided for this blog. How often do you travel?
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Thanks so much! I was looking for something more detailed or a travel itinerary before our trip, but didn’t find what i was looking for…so i said i would do something like this when i return:)))
Still have our jobs that keep us busy most of the time, but somehow we manage to plan a short getaway every month. And dream about a sabbatical:) How about you, how’s the travel working for you?
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Six months a year now. Your blog appears to be quite useful to me.
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Haha thanks a lot!!! So happy to hear that!!! 🙂 i’m always looking for maps and budget info, just to be prepared…so i’m planning to include this in my future posts, especially the long journeys:) we’re planning a south american adventure at the end of the year!;) what’s your next destination?
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1. Taking my wife’s 90 year old father in law on a two week Western U.S. roadtrip tour in mid August.
2. Fly to Europe in late Sept. for one week Air B@B stays In Paris, Dublin, London, and Rome. Then a 15 day reposition cruise with six stops back to Fort Lauderdale in early November from Rome.
We went to India for 10 days on a tour this past Spring.
I love Triposo for trip planning.
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wow good luck! 🙂 safe and happy travels!
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I like the way you present your travel stories. Lots of photos with just the righ amount of information. Looks gorgeous!
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Thanks so much for the feedback! Really appreciate it! It’s the format i was looking for, when doing research for a new destination:)) but do not find it often…so i’ve said i would write it exactly how i needed it, if i started a blog:) Thanks for dropping by, just let us know if u have any questions!
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Thank you. Will do!
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Fabulous pictures! You tour like we do! Thanks for the follow – there’ll be a shout out to your blog soon
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Thanks, dear!:)
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This is so great! I loved the photos, especially of Croatia. Nice narrative as well, and tie to the rest of your individual blog posts!
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Thanks so much! I loved your posts as well, very well documented, and so useful! Keep up traveling!:) What’s next for you?
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