It's good that you are already thinking about this trip. You will need to do a lot of reading of guidebooks and on the internet to decide: 1) when to go, 2) where to go, 3) how to go, 4) what to see and do and 5) how much you can do on your budget.

My children (aged 20 and 23) planned a 3-week tour through part of Europe last summer (with a little technical assistance from me) and here is what I learned from their trip-planning experience:

1. Trains are good for intra-country travel, but if you plan to go long distances and don't have a lot of time, it's better just to fly. This would probably be a good idea for you since you want to go to 3 different countries in only 2 weeks. They found fairly good deals on flights without having to resort to discount airlines. But I'd check out the budget airlines too.

2. Staying in hostels is the way to go. They swear by Hostels.com for booking hostels because this website provides a lot of good information about the hostels and there are user reviews which they found informative. As soon as you have a set itinerary, look at booking your hostels because the best hostels fill up quickly. Also, most hostels offer private rooms in addition to dorms. My kids spent the extra money on private rooms and thought it was money well-spent.

3. I'm not sure what you mean by not backpacking in Europe. That's how everybody your age travels in Europe. Surely you don't plan to drag a suitcase around for 2 weeks?

Check budget flights between the cities on either skyscanner.com or whichbudget.com. If you fly Venice/Paris, look at Easy Jet which flies from Venice Marco Polo to Paris Orly. If you want an overnight train between Paris/Venice, Thello.com which can be booked on Trenitalia if departing from Italy.

I would book an open jaw ticket into Venice and home from Dublin as I like to fly the most distance on the way over. It's possible you might find really cheap flights on Aer Lingus from the states to Dublin. If so, you might want to use budget airlines from there for the rest of your trip.

Sounds like a great trip! The lonely planet has great guides for this type of trip and if you google thorntree you will find another great chat board with many more people your age.

I would suggest starting in Dublin (I personally like London and Edinburgh more but that's just a personal opinion) as it is english speaking and gives you a good intro to Europe and a chance to get comfortable in your own language before heading for Paris etc.

Have a great time!

Hi J,

My advice to a newbie from the US with 2 weeks is
Fly into London - 1 week
Take the train to Paris - 1 week.
Fly home.

Enjoy the experience for the rest of your life.

the thorntree forum at lonelyplanet.com is a good site for youthful adventurers.

Enjoy your visit.

I think the term "backpacking" is being used to mean a particular kind of travel and time period, rather than simply taking a backpack instead of a suitcase. It sounds like that means traveling around a lot without reservations and getting a railpass, moving every few days. Perhaps.

Lots of people actually do travel to Europe for several weeks and "drag around" suitcases with them. I do it all the time.

I prefer to do one country and do it well. I don't like wasting time packing and running to airports. The day you arrive is lost due to jet lag. Figure four full days in Paris, then out to Normandy for WWII which is very moving on one day and another for a tour, then to Mt. St. Michael and leave the next day,(check out whatever else is in that area that might interest you). Get a guide book of France and see what things there are you want to do and add up the days. So far, with the above, you're on day 9.
Ditto for Italy. Arrive in Rome and spend 3 FULL days there then on to Venice,Florence and a day trip to Pompeii, and two days in Naples and back to Rome for home. That's 12 days right there.

<< Venice, Paris, and possibly Dublin >>

I would fly between each city. It would be easier to go from London to Paris by train but don't choose a city because of the ease of getting to the next place. 3 cities in 2 weeks is the maximum that I would recommend, especially as they are not close to each other.

<< How much will it cost per person >>

Asking this question is like me asking you how much my vacation will cost. Who can tell. First it depends on airfare to Europe and it's too early to determine that. Plus other transportation.

Then it depends on where you stay - small hotels/pensions, hostels, more upscale hotels.

Then it depends on how much and where you eat.

Then it depends on what you buy.

Are you on a strict budget? Take the amount of money you have to spend and live on it just like grown up do in their every day life. Get copies of Lonely Planet and Let's Go guide books (free at your library) and start reading about how to travel on a budget.

<< Any specific locations that aren't extremely touristy that are must sees? >>

Guide books also give you this information. In Venice, visit Torcello - most tourists do not go there. In fact, most tourists don't go much farther than St. Mark's Square. Any place else in Venice has few people around.

In Paris there are lots and lots of places where there are few tourists. The lesser known museums and churches and parks. Areas away from the river. Everyone flocks to Notre Dame de Paris but few people go to St-Sulpice, not far away, or any of the other churches in the area.

When to go - the earlier the better to avoid crowds and heat.

Assuming you are on a student type budget you need to get some Let's Go Student guides and the Thorn Tree section of the Lonely Planet web site. Use this to plot out now what your expenses will be. Once you have figured a tight budget - add 50%. (Who knows what the euro will do versus the dollar, inflation is a permanent fixture and something unexpected always comes up.)

You do;t want to find yoursefles inthe posiiton of some young women my daughter encountered last summer - who had spent all their money and had several days left before their flight - with no way to pay for hostels or food.) Make sure you have an ATM card linked to a checking account with money that you don;t plan on spending - but have if access to if necessary.)

We had a family trip to Germany last year, and my 2 daughters (22 and 20) stayed an extra 10 days. They were very disappointed in Venice. According to them, there were a lot of mask shops and other cheap touristy things which didn't interest them. The people were not as nice as Germany or Austria, and it was more expensive then they would have liked. The language barrier didn't help, they have decent German skills. The effort to get their just wasn't worth it (in their opinion, I thought it was nifty 20 yrs ago when I was there).

They loved Salzburg, lots to do, and the Salzburg pass made it affordable. Amsterdam is another option if you like art and wandering through a beautiful mellow city.

Just don't try to stuff too much in. If you only have 2 weeks you don't want to spend a lot of it traveling between countries.

Have fun, and remember: ice cream settles all disagreements!

Unlike Bdokeefe's daughters, my daughter (23) who went to Venice last summer on her own after the 3-week tour with her brother, absolutely loved it. She said she was so glad that she added that extra trip to her itinerary especially since she was there during the Biennial Arts Festival (of which she was unaware when she booked the trip). She, too, speaks only English and German and did not have any problem communicating in Venice.

The moral of this story is three-fold: 1) Don't rely on just one account of a destination, accommodation, attraction, etc. Read, read, read before you decide where you want to go. My daughter and Bdokeefe's daughters had different, yet equally valid, experiences and opinions on Venice, 2) One person's trash is another one's treasure. Choose where you want to go based on YOUR interests--not my daughters, nor Bdokeefe's daughters nor your next-door-neighbor's daughter, and 3) Try to find out what's going on where you are going. You might want to plan your trip to include a music, arts, or film festival or you may want to skip it entirely because of the crowds.