brwatts

So I am in the middle of planning a whirlwind tour of Europe later this August.

So far here is the itinerary:

US>Reykjvaik
Reykjvaik>Oslo
Oslo>Dublin/Wicklow
Dublin>Amsterdam
Amsterdam>Berlin
Berlin>Prague
Prague>Santorini
Santorini>Rome>Venice
Venice>Bern
Bern>Paris
Paris>Madrid

The budget is $4500-$5000 for everything (transportation/hostels/food/sightseeing/nightlife)

I've already secured airline/hostels from the leg of the trip that goes from reykjavik to dublin so that part of the trip is planned. I'm struggling with the most inexpensive way to do the rest of the trip. I'm NOT buying a rail pass. I plan to do a mixture of flying and trains. Any advice on when to book plane tickets? Best places to fly into/out of? Any suggestions for alternative routes that might save money (For example: Prague>Budapest>Santorini (not staying in Budapest but perhaps this alt route is less expensive, etc.).

Help!!

Thank you!

janisj

You say a 'whirlwind' tour which would indicate short/quick. How long do you actually have for this 'tour' of most of western Europe? Unless it it 2+ months why bother? I'm not being rude -- I honestly mean why spend the money to dash around to 13 different places in 11 countries.

Just the transport will eat up most of your budget.

sparkchaser

12 cities in how many days? Most Fodorites will tell you that you're stuffing too many cities into too few days but it's your trip and if you want to visit 12 cities in ___ days, then I am going to work hard to make your hairbrained scheme work.

$5000 is only 3700 Euro. For thirty days, that comes out to be about 120 Euro per day which is supposed to include "transportation/hostels/food/sightseeing/nightlife". Even sleeping on the streets, this is a tight budget.

If you can fly with just a carryon, look at the discount carriers (Ryan Air, easyJet, Vueling, Nikki, WizzAir, etc.)

You can get train tickets very inexpensively if you book far enough in advance. The amount of time that you can order in advance varies from rail network to rail network so you might want to pick up a guidebook or two and see what they say.

brwatts

At this point it is about 6 weeks that we have to travel. I'm budgeting $60 for food/fun. The housing/transportation is not included in this. We plan to do some couch surfing in some places where we can. Other than that, planning to do inexpensive hostels.

Do either of you suggest a more reasonable itinerary? The only cities we're not willing to sacrifice would be Santorini (I know it is the most expensive to get there).

I am open to any suggestions! I have already scoured the web for flight deals with the above-mentioned carriers.

I'm mostly curious about alternative routes that might be more cost-effective. For example, instead of looking from trains from amsterdam to berlin maybe it is more cost-effective to look from trains from amsterdam to another city and then that other city to berlin…

Anyway, thank you again!

janisj

OK -- I am just not following you . .

First you post >>The budget is $4500-$5000 for <u>everything</u> (transportation/hostels/food/sightseeing/nightlife)<<

then it is >>I'm budgeting $60 for food/fun. The <u>housing/transportation is not included</u> in this.<<

So are you budgeting $2500 for food/fun, and $2000-$2500 for transportation and hostels?

brwatts

Haha, I am sorry if that seemed a bit unclear.

The total budget is $4500-$5000

Breakdown:
$3000 for food/fun/sightseeing coming out to about $60 a day for those two expenses (getting city passes where it is more cost effective to do so and planning on doing a lot of walking, getting food from markets, etc.).

$1500-$2000 for transportation and accommodations. Planning to couch surf where we can.

I'm hoping to roughly spend around $1200 total for transportation--this is a very liberal rounding as I like to budget much higher than I'll actually end up needing (I've booked a flight from my hometown in the midwest that will get me from home to reykjavik to oslo for $650 and also will be redeeming 34,000 travel points--about $340 cash worth from my travel credit card which will help cut down on expenses and may free up some of what I've budgeted for transportation to be able to put it to other things) and leave the rest for accommodations (again planning to do some couch surfing) as well as any other unexpected costs.

I'm starting to wonder if it would be smarter to cut out one or two of those cities and go to a greek isle that is a bit closer and easier to access from prague or rome (as I will be going from prague to greek isle then from greek isle to rome).

Again, I'm open to any suggestions for a revision that might be smarter than what I've dreamed up. Thank you!