I highly recommend a trip to Eastern Europe because of the affordability and beauty of the cities.
My family and I went with friends to Prague (Czech Republic), Budapest (Hungary), and Croatia as part of a 19 day vacation across central and Eastern Europe.
-recommend booking tours with the local tour guides through this agency:
PRAGUE INTERNATIONAL Travel Agency | Incoming services | Conferences Congresses
The local tour guides are very knowledgeable about tourist attractions. -will schedule tours in times of day when there are less tour groups so that you don't need to fight the crowds to take a picture.
good places to visit in Prague: Prague Castle. The president's office is located here.
Wenceslas Square. A big public square with beautiful Gothic churches and King Charles Bridge.
Croatia: Plitvice (Plee Veet Say) Lakes National Park. This park has some really beautiful lakes. -16 lakes of various blue, green and grey colours because of calcium carbonate deposits on the lakebeds. We went for a 3 hour hike along the trails. Gorgeous waterfalls and lakes full of rainbow trout and some ducks. I heard about the beautiful beaches in Croatia. This park is breathtaking!
Budapest, Hungary: Take a Danube River tour at night. This is a "Must do" activity with the spectactular view of the Hungarian parliament buildings along the Danube. You can see birds flying over the parliament buildings (see picture below). Some river boats give you a glass of champagne or a beer as part of the river tour admission.
Food is quite affordable in Hungary. Example: a plate of turkey breast stuffed with ham and cheese, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut was only $5 in this restaurant in the "Buda" side of Budapest. Buda means "water fountain".
Czech pilsner beer is awesome!
Alcohol: Check out this beer garden in Vienna. The Schweizerhaus. Their Budweiser Budvar (premium lager) is one smooth beer. -much better than the weak Budweiser we get from the U.S.
http://www.schweizerhaus.at/
If you want to see palaces, the Schonbrunn palace of the Habsburg royal family in Vienna, Austria is a good place to visit.
Warning: Many train stations in Eastern Europe have thieves that wanna pick pocket your money. If you want to take a train, make sure you wear a money belt that is tight around your waist. Some of the pretty girls in Prague or Budapest were frisking me to see how much Euros I had when I was boarding a train.
-If you want to avoid the train thieves, spend the extra money to fly between countries. Airports are much safer than Euro train stations.
Public transit is reliable and pretty affordable in European cities. We bought an all day pass to take streetcars and buses in Vienna and Budapest.
Plitvice Lakes National Park:
Danube river tour at night in Budapest:
Wenceslas Square, Prague
Gothic church in this Square:
Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna:
Schweizerhaus beer garden in Vienna:
