tegan414

My friend and I are going to Europe in June with our fathers. We are flying into and out of Frankfurt. The fathers will stay for a week before going back home. My friend and I have Eurail passes and will be spending the next 10-12 days in Europe staying in hostels. Another friend or two may be joining us while we are there. We have no ideas where we want to go yet, but any suggestions would be nice.

LindaSM

There is so much more to know before anyone can make suggestions.If you def will be flying in and out of Frankfurt, end with your last night there so you will be in place for your flight home.
My daughter just came back from study abroad and enjoyed many cities. You might consider going directly to Prague then Vienna, the Munich and back to Frankfurt.
I would suggest a minimum of 3 nights in each place so you have at least 2 full days to visit.
You might also like Budapest. Your money will go farther in Prague and Budapest.
Also you have to figure out what interests you and your friends before anyone can suggest an itinerary that you will enjoy.
Read up and have fun planning.

nytraveler

Sorry - we can't pull a trip out of the air for you.

You have told us nothing about you - what are your interests? do you speak any languages besides english? when people say "europe" what do you picture in your mind? Alps? Castles? Nightlife? Hiking/biking? Canals? Charming old towns? Majestic cathedrals?????

You need to get a couple of guidebooks - the Let's Go Student Guides will be great for advice forr you age group and info on how to live within a budget. Also look at some tour brochures to see which sight/countries speak to you.

If you come back with a little bit of info people can help guide you from there.

Do you already have eurail passes?? (Unfortunate since it may well have been cheaper to buy individual point to point tickets.) In your planning be aware that eurail does NOT list all of the available trains. Go to banh.de to find rail schedules for all of europe - many more trains than eurail lists.

StCirq

No one can help you plan a trip without knowing a LOT more than you've given us. Europe is huge, with dozens of countries, each of them having myriad cultures, languages, cusines, topography, cultural offerings, etc.

Just for starters, before you go and start poring over Let's Go and other guidebooks, which you absolutely must, do not assume a rail pass is going to be the best way to travel. Depending on where and when you go, it may be far cheaper to buy point-to-point tickets. You might start by doing some research on the Man in Seat 61 website. And after you've absorbed that and read a whole lot of guidebooks and narrowed down your places of interest, go to the official websites of those places - they are chock full of useful information.

Fussgaenger

Let's take one worry off the table - the one about speaking other languages. I speak fluent German and passing Spanish but once I'm identified as an American, the Europeans I'm around tend to override the conversation with their superior English. Maybe not the hotel maids and such but let's face it - most Europeans learn English in school and learn it well, and they speak it as a "lingua franca" when the opportunity arises.

You've been to school for 12-13 years and surely had some exposure to European history and probably some European literature. What did you find interesting and worth investigating?

One good thing about Frankfurt is that you're roughly in the heart of Europe. It's not far to Paris, or to Amsterdam, or to Prague, if those places appeal to you. The other thing is that Germany's very "well-rounded" too. From Frankfurt you could look into Roman history if you wanted (Trier, Xanten, Mainz, just for starters.) Medieval European history (knights' castles, middle-ages festivals, old walled towns with towers) as well as WW II museums (Bridge at Remagen museum for example) and memorial sites can be found within a couple of hours of Frankfurt. Hiking and biking are hugely popular in Germany and available almost everywhere.

I agree with NOT jumping on the Eurailpass option yet - with less than 2 weeks you probably won't make good use of it as you probably want to limit your visit to 2, maybe 3 countries max. Within Germany it's possible to get around quite cheaply on day passes like the Happy Weekend Ticket:

http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/pr...d_ticket.shtml

There are also regional day passes like the Bavaria Ticket:
http://www.munich-touristinfo.de/Bavaria-Ticket.htm

justineparis

If you have not yet purchased Eurail pass. DON'T yet.

You have such a short visit.. you may only need 2-3 train rides .. and buying point to point tickets may be cheaper.. and frankly easier.. as many trains being used with Eurail require reservations.. and there are fees for them !

Edward2005

If you get the itch for mountains, my favorite hostel is the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald. $45 a night and it's glorious.

http://www.mountainhostel.com

tegan414

Just to clarify, the trip is one week with the dads and then 10-12 days after that. We are probably going to Switzerland and Austria during the first week. I spent two weeks last summer in Munich, Prague, Innsbruck, and Salzburg, so we will most likely not be going to any of those places. The Eurail passes were already purchased as a Christmas present. We are interested in hiking and other outdoor things but also nightlife.

Sassafrass

Figure out your itinerary and see what your transportation costs will be point to point. With only a week, and considering it does not cover all trains, your Eurail pass may be a big waste of money and you may pay more on top of that.

Some options:
1. Use it anyway and eat the loss.

2. Return it (must NOT be activated) and recoup 85% of the cost. Whether it is a good idea depends on what the pass cost and what your trip will cost for the week.

3. Plan another, longer trip for late Spring or Summer, and use it then. One web site says it must be activated within 11 months of the date on the pass. Another says 6 months. I don't know which is correct, but you can certainly use it later rather than for this week.

4. Trade it in for a different type if you decide to use it later and this one isn't best for your use at that time.

tegan414

The trip is not just one week, it is one week with the dads and then 10-12 more days after that. So it's a total of almost three weeks.

inspiredexplorer

Hiking + outdoors + nightlife and excluding places you've already been and not going too far out of easy train reach is a bit tough, but maybe for your 10-12 day part, look into these combinations:

-split time between hiking the hills of Provence (Gorges de Verdon, Camarague, various villages in the hills) and some partying and urban life on the Côte d'Azur (Nice, Cannes)

-Dolomites in Italy offer great hiking - there are other posters on here with lots of Dolomite specs, so look for those posts. There's likely to be limited nightlife in the mountains, but could pair with some cities in Northern Italy

-if you're ending with fathers in Austria, there's great hiking just over the Austro-Hungarian border, look up the Blue Trail and see if that interests you, and once done with the trail head to Budapest for your nightlife (and more hiking in the Buda Hills and other surrounding areas if you are so inclined)

If you are willing to go further out and fly back to Frankfurt and then to home, it may open up some other options.

StCirq

If France is your focus, or even a big part of your trip, the Eurrail pass will be virtually worthless, as for any long-distance train you'll have to pay a lot extra for a reservation and hope you can snag a seat. So I'd pay attention to Sassafrass's suggestions above. It's too bad you already have the passes.

If nightlife is a big draw, I'd suggest Berlin, Amsterdam, and Ibiza.

justineparis

Hi Tegan.. so your passes are for three weeks and you will use them with your fathers and after. Well.. what is done is done if that is the case.

Berlin and Amsterdam for young people and nightlife( and still many cultural sites there too)

Now.. as we have alerted you,, you must make reservations for some of the longer train rides.. and they have LIMITED amount of them available to pass holders.. so sit down with group , plan your route and start making reservations.

Fussgaenger

"I'd pay attention to Sassafrass's suggestions above. It's too bad you already have the passes."

It's a good suggestion but the pass is scheduled for use with the DADS during the first week, right?

The pass is a PITA to use in France but so what? You've got 10-12 days starting in Austria. Munich is all you've seen in Germany.

I'd start with Bamberg and Nuremberg, both great university towns in northern Bavaria with nice old-world town centers and hostels; they're within an hour of each other:

Bamberg:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamber...ite_bridge.jpg

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/624

http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/bambpubs.htm


Nuremberg:

http://media.belocal.de/120712/1152x768_0,0c.jpg

http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/nurnpubs.htm

Then there's Berlin. And Amsterdam. And in Belgium Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges. Maybe Paris if you can make the pass work there.

Tulips

If you're going to France, keep an eye on the European football championships going on there in June. It will make finding accommodation difficult in the places where the matches are played. On the other hand, it can be a lot of fun to watch matches on big screens in town squares etc.
Not in the Netherlands, though, since they are not taking part

tegan414

We are interested in going to a game or two at the Euro Cup, but we are not sure if we will be able to find a place to stay in a hostel in France during the tournament.

Wekiva

Several have mentioned that they need to start making reservations...but can't you only do that 90 days out? The trip is in June.

StCirq

No, it is now possible to make reservations farther out than 3 months - that all changed about a week ago. Plus there are almost always special schedules starting back in December for spring and summer fares. And then there are the iDTGV trains, which are on different schedules.

Tulips

You can make reservations now for flights, hotels. Some train tickets may only be available 90 days out, but not hotels or flights.

bilboburgler

I'd stay north of the southern alps, just so you don't get fooled into "time on a train"="time in europe", unless you end up chilling with some locals it isn't.

I'd either east, Austria/Hungary/Slovakia would be a good combo or west Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg/Eastern France, you can lob Germany in their to make the whole thing work but leave Switzerland for while you have your dads and their wallets with them.

Reservations for hostels/hotels should be possible now, trains you may have to wait to 90 days. Rather than chase the big tickets $ in France you may prefer to follow other games, the German league is pretty good and not expensive to watch matches.

If you just want to lie by a beach and party the night away Ibiza and Croatia are the place to go. But I'd think you can o that in the US.