#1 - Hungary
Budapest, Hungary
1) Budapest City Transportation
Subway only tickets can be purchased at each station. Each one way ticket is FRF270 that valid for 60 minutes in day time and 90 minutes at night. For a one way ticket for subway, tram and buss, you can also purchase at each subway station for FRF280 per ticket that also valid for the same duration.
2) Convenient Location To Stay (Deak Ferenc ter)
Deak Ferenc ter is where all the subway line converges so it’s easy to get to all parts of down. It is also a mere 15 minutes walk to the riverside. If you are to chose a hostel, that’s a very convenient location to be.
3) Bus and Train Stations
Bus and train stations are close by one of the subways stations. Budapest is quite big. It is worth taking a subway to your hostels instead of walking if your hostel is a few subway stops away.
Intercity bus schedule can be found at the following website:
www.volanbusz.hu
www.bkv.hu
Outside of Budapes, Hungary
1) Horsemen Show at the Plain of Hungary(Kiskunsagi Nemzai Park)
The Horsemen Show at Kiskunsagi Nemzai Park is hard to get to with public transportation. Be prepared for a bit of a walk when you get to Bogac. From Budapest, you can take a bus to Kecskemet or Kiskunhalas (about FRF 630 PP; 2 hours) then transfer to a bus to Bugac (FRF600 pp; 30 minutes from Kecskemet or 50 minutes from Kiskunhalas) then you will need to take a 3 KM walk to get to the park entrance. The bus stop is actually outside of the Bugac town. Tell the bus driver where you want to go and the drivers are usually really nice to stop where you need to get off. If you plan to go as a day trip, which would be sufficient, plan to take the bus departing Budapest around 7 AM. You should be able to take the bus back to Kecskemet or Kiskunhalas from the bus station outside of the park by 2-3 PM. You can find detail bus schedule via the official bus company website http://ujmenetrend.cdata.hu/uj_menetrend/en/talalatok.php
There’s a 12:15 PM show everyday. It is another 2 KM walk from the park entrance to where the horsemen show is or you can pay FRF 1800 for a carriage ride. I would suggest to arrive at the park entrance at the latest 11:30 AM for the show. There’s not a lot to see other in the Park but it was cool to be in close contact to the Hungarian animals in the Park.
The officer at the park entrance can give you the schedule of the bus for your way back but the time they give you are actually departure/arrival time at Bogac so go to the bus stop at least 10 minutes before the expected time of arrival (we learned by mistake and had to hitchhike to Bogac).
2) Open Air Museum (Szabadteri Neprajzi Muzeum)
Direct shuttle bus to the Szabadteri Neprajzi Muzeum Open Air Museum from the Deak Ferenc ter in Budapest to the entrance of the museum for FRF1000 per person or FRF500 pp for students. The trip duration is only 30 minutes. The schedule and details are at the museum official website at http://www.skanzen.hu/index.php?fm=article&id=119.
If you take your own transportation, expect a 2 hours trip. You can take subway (FRF270) to Station Batthyany ter and transfer to the HEV suburban train to Szentendre (FRF1200 pp) then take a local bus at bus station 7 (FRF300 pp). The local bus stop is just besides the train station. You can buy the tickets on the bus. The local bus has a stop at the main road where the entrance to the Open Air Museum is. The museum has a lot to offer. Save at least 5-6 hours for this great museum.
#2 - Slovenia
1) How to get from Bovec to Bled?
Bovec to Bled: there’re frequent buses from Bovec to Bled only in July and August. For other times, there may be a bus on the weekend that depart at 3:50-3:55 PM that will take you to cities within 2 KM proximity to Bled that you can easily take another local bus from there to Bled. Check the buses in advance. We took a bus from Bovec to Lesce then took a local bus to Bled (about 5.5 Euro pp). You can buy the ticket from the bus driver once you get onto the bus.
2) Don't miss you on Canyoning at Bovec
It is one of the highlight of our trip. We did it as a package with Adrenaline Check Eco Camp where we stayed at their camp in a tent with mattress/pillow, dinner, breakfast and activities of your choice. It was a great place to chill as well. There are tons of companies around the area that offers activities like this. We would reco to go to Bovec for rafting, canyoning as the places where you do these actives are right there.
http://www.adrenaline-check.com/
3) Bus and Train Schedule
Train: http://ikvc.slovakrail.sk/internetIKVCWeb/pageFlow/connection/searchConnection.do?exceptionMessage=newSession
Bus: http://www.ap-ljubljana.si/eng/
We traveled in Slovenia mid to end of June. We didn't have a problem just showing up at the bus or train and bought tickets. Weekend may get a bit busy but it wasn't a problem getting on any bus/train we wanted.
It is not a standard to have a toilet on the bus even if you are doing a 3-4 hours bus trip so be prepared. The bus driver would be nice if you ask him/her to wait for you for a few minutes to go to the bathroom in emergency situation.
4) Ljubljana to Bovec; Bovec to Bled Bus Ride (Gravol is Your Best Friend)
Folks, get some Gravol with you for these 2 bus rides. It is damn windy. If you got a bus driver like ours, you will need some vomit bags. It is like a combination of the Sunshine Coast and the pre-Sea-to-Sky highway to Whistler.
5) Prejama Grad (Castle) & Postojnska Jama (Cave)
Prejama Grad is actually 9 km from Postojnska Jama. There's no public transportation or shuttle bus between these 2 sites so you either get your own ride or you need to do a 9 km each way walk. The walk is on a narrow car road. You can buy a package including entrances to both. There's free parking at the Prejama Grad.
Getting to Prejama Grad by public transportation is a bit of a hassle. There's no bus that get you to the entrance. The bus terminal lady told me I can take a bus to a close by city call Bukovje then walk 2 km to Prejama Grad.
We opt in for driving instead from Ljubljana since we wanted to go to Prejama Grad, Skojcan Jama and Koper all in one day. Renting a car is pretty easy and affordable and it definitely is a easy mean of travel.
Prejama Grad Official Website: http://www.predjamski-grad.si/en-p-predjama-castle-postojna
Postojnska Jama Official Website: http://www.postojnska-jama.eu/
6) Skocjanske Jama (Cave)
Skocjanske Jama (Cave) is definitely worth a visit. We drove to Skocjanske on our way from Ljubljana to Koper but we heard that the easiest route is to go to Divaca by either train or bus. There's shuttle buses from Divaca to Skocjanske. Shuttle bus schedule can be found here (http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/cgi-bin/newseng.cgi?action=detail&id=18&kajje=1).
There are 2 parts of the cave that you can visit. The first part is the classic route with tour almost every hour from 10 AM to 5 PM but the 2nd part that you can walk on your own is only until 3 PM. See schedule here (http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/eng/skocjan-caves-park_tourist_tours.shtml).
Official Website: http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/
How to Get There Page: http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/eng/skocjan-caves-park_tourist_location.shtml
# 3 - Russia
1) Visa Free Stay at Russia
Russia and Finland offers a 72-hours visa free visit to Russia if you take a cruise from this specific company, St. Peters Line (http://www.stpeterline.com/en/OnBoard/News.aspx), from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. It is no more than a ferry really. It cost about 100 Euro per person for a round trip plus a 20 Euro mandatory "city tour", which really is only a shuttle bus from the port to the city center that normally would have cost 1 Euro taking the bus. Despite all these, it is still a money saving way to get around the 200 CAD Russia visa.
There's also a 24-hours visa free offer if you travel from Tallinn to St. Petersburg but 24 hours definitely is not enough for St. Petersburg.
#4 - Estonia
1) Ferry Between Estonia and Helsinki, Finland
There are a handful of companies offering ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki. There's a tour office organized by an organization call "Like A Local Guide" (http://www.likealocalguide.com/tallinn/tallinn-traveller-info) in the city center close by the Estonia Official Tour Information office, which offers tourists very handy information, who can help research the timetable of the ferry and buy the ticket for you. Each company offer a slightly different rate depending on the time of day.
Viking Line and Linda Line are 2 ferry companies offer the best rate per the tourist info officer. Since some local travel between Helsinki and Tallinn for work on the weekdays, ferry in the late morning and early afternoon are cheaper. One thing to watch out for is that the ferry sometimes get cancelled due to weather so do check with the port or provide them your cell phone to send you updates.
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