Hey everyone! I’m a 22m landing in Budapest in early June with 2ish weeks for my first solo travel trip. My plan is to hop around Eastern Europe before I meet a couple friends in Mostar in Bosnia to start a month-long trek west to the Croatian coast. As a college student, I plan on being very frugal during my two solo weeks, and only staying in hostels. I’m making this post to get opinions/tips/suggestions on my solo itinerary, and to get some questions answered! I'm very open to having my plan changed quite a bit. Find my itinerary below, followed by questions.

My (flexible) itinerary

• Budapest - 3 nights

• Ljubljana - 3 nights (with day trip(s) to Lake Bled and maybe another Slovenian area/city TBD)

• Rijeka - 1 night

• Zadar - 2 nights

• Split - 2 nights (with a day trip to an island?)

• Saravejo - 3 nights

• Mostar - 1 night

Some info about my thinking behind the itinerary: I know I don’t plan to have more than 2 days in each Croatian city, and not more than 3 days in any single city, but I’m doing my best to balance the amount of time I have with places I want to see. I also know I’ll be spending a lot of time in transit, but luckily it’s a pretty small geographical area I’ve picked out. Would love some opinions on this.

I was considering going to more places in Hungary, but they feel sort of out of the way of my geographical route.

As far as flexibility goes, I’m happy to scrap the night in Mostar and make that a day trip after an overnight train ride from Saravejo, and move that night to another city for more time. Additionally, I’m not super hype about Rijeka. Mostly have it on there as a convenient pit stop to break up the bus ride all the way down to Zadar, and maybe as an opportunity to see Plitvice National Park!

My many questions follow. Thanks in advance for your answers to any/all of these!

• Is a SIM card necessary for solo travel in the above areas?
• Based on suggestions from this subreddit, I plan on bussing between most of my destinations, with maybe 1-2 overnight train rides. I’m interested to know what people’s experiences have been like on public transit in the Balkans.
• Furthermore, how expensive are busses between these locations? Is it necessary to buy bus tickets in advance? Is it generally pretty clear which bus to get on at a station?
• What museums should I not overlook in these cities?
• What cities in the area have awesome street art? I’m a big fan of it!
• Since I’m going in early/mid June and it’s the start of summer, is it necessary to book a hostel in advance for each location I’m staying in? I plan to book for at least Budapest and Sarajevo this week.
• Do hostels in these countries tend to have big enough lockers for storing my big backpack for the whole day? I really don’t want to lug around camping items with me everyday of my solo travel. (I plan on bringing a lock.)
• My Dad suggested I look into student travel cards like ISIC. Do many hostels/restaurants/museums in my travel area accept those? And are they actually worthwhile?
• What hostels do y’all suggest? Seems hard to go wrong in Budapest, but still could use some extra suggestions.
• What’s the cheapest way to get to/from Budapest airport and Budapest proper?
• What’s the cheapest way to get to Hvar and Mljet from mainland Croatia? Also, if I only have time for one of those islands, which should I choose (also amongst others)?
• How reliable/cheap (comparatively to busses) are rideshares in this area? I’ve seen people suggest blablacar.
• And one question about trekking if anyone here has done much of it: what sort of food is available for resupplying in tiny towns in Bosnia and Croatia?

Thanks for all your help everyone! I’m so freaking excited!!!!!