LaurenHilary

In 10 days, I leave for Prague, where I'll be spending my fall semester. I'm hoping to travel almost every weekend, and I've started to put together a destinations list:

Vienna
Copenhagen
Paris
Berlin/ Munich
Budapest
Florence/ Italian Riviera/ Rome/ Venice
Barcelona/ Grenada/ Madrid
Stockholm
Zurich, Interlaken
London

I'm looking for suggestions/ itineraries from people who have traveled to these places on a budget. I've put aside a decent amount of money for the trip, but I'd love to hear what you guys have liked so that I know where to splurge and where to save. I'm looking for hotels/ restaurants/ airlines/ attractions that you've loved and would recommend (I'm not opposed to staying in hostels, but I'd rather do lower-cost hotels when possible).

For my first trip, I'm going to be going to the Italian Riviera (second weekend of September), so any suggestions for where to go specifically would also be greatly appreciated!

adrienne

For budget accommodations and meals get copies of Let's Go guide books and use their recommendations. Also join the Lonely Planet thorntree forum where there are more young people who backpack and who are on tight budgets.

In terms of sightseeing, what other people like/love may not be what you will like so you need to read about sights in each city and decide what appeals to you. Also if people have traveled a lot many things may no longer appeal to them. For instance, I don't care if I never see another archeological museum or castle/palace but I would never give the advise not to see these things to a first time traveler. I also would not visit a concentration camp but many people do this and enjoy seeing the camps. Sightseeing is very subjective.

It will cost you quite a bit of money to go to all the places on your list and most of them require flying as they're far away from Prague. You should decide the priority of your trips in case you ran out of money before you can complete your list.

In Paris I can suggest Hotel St-Andre-des-Arts in the 6th or a but farther away is Hotel Port Royal in the southern end of the 5th.

http://www.123france.co.uk/en/0/hote..._en/index.html

http://www.hotelportroyal.fr/

LaurenHilary

Hotel Port Royal looks fantastic... thank you!

All of your information is very helpful, and I'm going to pick up the Let's Go guide books today. I know that it's still high season in much of Europe, so it seems somewhat inevitable that prices will be higher for the beginning of the trip... I just want to budget effectively and try to spend more money on the experiences vs. the accommodations.

Kristinelaine

It is good advice to prioritize your list, since some of your destinations will surely require air trips. You might prioritize by how close the places are to Prague and whether you can get there and back and see much in a weekend. Sometimes we Americans are misled into thinking everything in Europe is very close and then are surprised with the actual distances between places there. Better to realize that ahead of time for your planning purposes. (One other thought is to be aware of cheap bus trips between cities and the cheaper airlines.)

Kristinelaine

Another thing to keep in mind is that cities east of Prague are generally going to be cheaper than those west of Prague (just in general, there probably are exceptions). In your current list only Budapest is east of Prague. (I guess Vienna might be slightly east, but mostly south of Prague, and would be more expensive than Prague.) Don't skip Poland -- esp. Krakow, Zakopane, for example. And there are fine places within the Czech Republic that will be closer and not so expensive. After you get there, and meet other students, you may all figure out the best places to go while you're there "studying"!! LOL

adrienne

Kristinelaine has given you some good info. Krakow is wonderful - so wonderful that I'm going back again next month (I was there last year). It's like Prague used to be before tourism spoiled it.

Click on my name and scroll down to see my trip report of the Czech Republic and Krakow from last year. You should definitely see some other towns in the CR, especially Kutna Hora, Cesky Krumlov, and Telc (with the most beautiful town square of any place I've been). I have prices for accommodations and in a couple of places the prices were $25 with a substantial breakfast. In the trip report are photos you can look at (lots of photos with each country in a different tab).

After you've researched a bit come back and ask specific questions.

LaurenHilary

Adrienne, your tips for Krakow are AMAZING! I've added that to my list and will try to get there sooner rather than later. Your time in Prague also sounds wonderful and is making me really excited, as I'm living right near Praha 6.

adrienne

I'll have more tips after I visit Krakow again next month! I'm doing almost an entire day in the Jewish Quarter including the Schindler Museum which had not opened when I was last there.

Send me an email and I'll give you my Krakow notes (click on my name to get my email).