The best way to explore Eastern Europe is by road, since the countries are so close together! What’s more fun than packing your bags, grabbing all the snacks you can carry and riding shot gun for a fabulous road trip? In this leg of our explore from home adventures, we will be exploring the following Eastern European countries Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, and Romania. Hop in the rental car and let’s start to explore, virtually!
Poland
Mountains, white sand beaches, and thousands of lakes!
Adventuring to the “land of one thousand lakes” (dubbed by locals), The Masurian Lakeland has over 2,000 lakes spread across its 290 km radius. Fishing, hiking, biking, boating, and water sports are some of the activities one can participate in when visiting this area of the world.
Here is a drone point of view of the landscape, which shows the dense forest, thousands of lakes, the charming little towns, and quaint farmland. Let’s dust ourselves off from all the outdoor activities, hop in the car and road trip over to our next destination – make sure you bring your ID!
Prague, Czech Republic
Home of the Pilsner.
After a 9-hour drive from the north of Poland into Prague, Czech Republic, we deserve to have a couple of cold brews. To prepare for your virtual Prague pub crawl from the comfort of your home we recommend you drop by your local LCBO and pick up one or more of the following beer options, coming straight from the Czech Republic:
- Czechvar, a great Czech brew with a fruity bohemian spirit, that leaves a smooth and refreshing taste.
- Staropramen, the spirit of Prague in every can, with a creamy head and balanced flavours, this brew is a great spring sipper.
- Pilsner Urquell, aromas of sweet cereal malt, flavours of fresh bread, honey and white citrus, and a refreshingly bitter hop finish, this pilsner is sure to please.
- Kozel Beer, a creamy mousse, light malt with aromas of flora, an easy drinking lager.
Now that you are well equipped with a beer in hand, let’s make our way around the city and submerge ourselves in the local beer culture. We meet up with Kevin from the Prague Visitor Magazine to explore the local beer culture and learn that beer is often more affordable than water in Prague! After we have drank our fill, we should try something completely different.
Beer is so en-grained in the culture, that some choose to bathe in it at Vinohradsky Dum Beer Spa. We do not in any means recommend you soak in beer at home, but if you do give it a try, let us know how the experience went! Cheers to a great day in Prague! Na Zdravi (for your health).
Budapest, Hungary
A fairy-tale to believe.
The great thing about Eastern European countries is that it’s easy to road trip between them since they are all so close together. Another 6-hour drive and we reach the capital city of Hungary, Budapest.
Known as one of the most photogenic cities in Europe, Budapest’s fairy-tale like architecture is present throughout the city, but the most breathtaking of all, is the Hungarian Parliament Building. Imre Steindl won the design tender (bid) with his eclectic style bringing in elements of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The Hungarian Parliament Building, set on the east side of the Danube River, in its gothic revival style, is clearly inspired by the English Parliament set alongside the River Thames in London.
Enough of this history lesson - let’s experience its vast beauty for ourselves by taking a virtual tour of the parliament building Try climbing up the 96 steps to simulate climbing the Grand Stairway located in the Parliament Building - or just imagining it would suffice. From land to sea we are making our way to our second to last destination, driving 7-hours to Split, Croatia.
Catamarans in Croatia
Like Orange is the New Black, Croatia is the new Greece. Once upon a yesteryear, travelers would boast about their yacht vacation in Greece to all of their friends after a summer of sailing and sunbathing. Croatia has become a great alternative due to the perfect weather and beautiful scenery. It is also extremely affordable and accessible to all types of travellers.
Starting on the coast of Croatia, we invite you to visit the breathtaking city of Split. In this virtual adventure we will sail the turquoise waters of the Adriatic Sea on a luxury catamaran. We recommend with this virtual experience you lather on some sunscreen and sit by a pool and soak up the sun rays. With a little imagination you can be on the bow of a yacht in Croatia without leaving your backyard.
We are off to our final destination, our longest ride yet- 15 hours, but we know it will be worth it.
Transylvania, Romania
A hidden gem.
“I’ve crossed oceans of time to find you” – Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Technically, we have not crossed any physical oceans in our virtual journey to Romania, however we have metaphorically crossed oceans of time to reach our final destination in this whirlwind virtual European tour.
In this part of our virtual adventure we will be viewing Bran Castle, a national monument and landmark in Romania. Many people often refer to this as the home of Dracula (the title novel character and the historical person), however it is well known that Bram Stoker knew nothing about the castle, and Vlad the Impaler likely never stepped foot in the castle either.
And with that, our virtual Eastern European adventure has come to an end!
Our Explore from Home: European Adventure only gives you a taste of the places you can visit in our beautiful vast world. When the time is right and you are ready to feed your hunger for travel and adventure, trust an experienced CAA Travel Agent to make it happen! Contact a travel agent online or call 1-800-263-7272.
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