wanttohavefun

I am needing advice and suggections. My 18 year old son and I are wanting to plan a backpack trip across Europe. What do you think our route should be and where to stay to save money. Maybe two to four weeks.

PalenQ

You need to give a little more info - like what are you interests - what countries - when are you going - going by train?

IMO anyone going like this first time should strongly consider the fantastic rail system - zillions of trains going everywhere all the time - overnight trains to quickly relocated and save on a hotel cost - cars are a liability in many European cities that have restricted their use many times by making city centres off limits to private vehicles - parking can be hard and really expensive - many hotels do not offer parking, etc. and if traveling enough consider one of the zillions of types of railpasses - a Saverpass is for two or more people traveling on one pass and a cheaper rate than two solo passes.

So strongly IMO consider the train and here are some great sites IMO for planning a European rail journey -

PalenQ

Oops hit submit button before finishing! Great sites for planning a European rail extravaganza- www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com (check out their free online European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of sample rail itineraries to help answer your OP question about various routes to take in dozens of countries - http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/si...s/rg011210.pdf

StCirq

Europe is huge, and your question is WAY too vague to answer. You need to get out the guidebooks and maps and do some preliminary research. Even if you get answers, they'll all be different and won't help you until you've mapped out some sort of plan based on what interest YOU.

wanttohavefun

I know we want to go to Paris and Rome and maybe somewhere in Germany. Just trying to find out the best way to do it all. Someonw even suggested that I fly from Paris to Rome.

adrienne

It's good that you've focused your trip to Paris, Rome and maybe Germany. You could fly into Paris, take a train to Munich and see something of Bavaria and then take a train to Rome. Fly home from Rome.

However, I can't believe you would bypass Venice! Don't you want to see other places in Italy in addition to Rome?

If you leave out everything between Paris and Rome then you either sit on a train for 12 to 13 hours or fly.

PalenQ

There are overnight trains between Paris and Rome (or will be soon after a brief hiatus) - that can save time and money of a night in a hotel and also give you son the experience of an overnight train, as so many European youth often do.

there are also overnight trains from Rome or Florence or Venice to Munich and from Munich to Paris.

Russ

"I know we want to go to Paris and Rome and maybe somewhere in Germany. Just trying to find out the best way to do it all. Someonw even suggested that I fly from Paris to Rome."

That sounds doable in 3 weeks. And your transport costs should be very reasonable.

Paris and Rome: probably 5 nights each. "where to stay to save money." Not Paris or Rome!! But there are some budget options. Check hostelworld.com (hostels and cheaper apartments and B&B listings.) Go there, but remember as you plan the other 10 days or so that there are many interesting and CHEAPER places besides the major cities. Some suggestions:

Germany's Mosel River and the Middle Rhine Valley: You could easily spend 5-7 days here. Castles, hiking & biking, river cruises, wineries, and interesting historical sites:

Mosel: http://www.mosel-reisefuehrer.de/mos...ightsengl.html
Trier (Ancient Roman settlement, only about 3 hours by train from Paris), Bernkastel, and Cochem are great spots. Cool falconry show at Cochem's castle:

http://www.falknerei-reichsburg-cochem.de/fotobuch.htm

Burg Eltz near Cochem: www.burg-eltz.de

Rhine: http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.d...php?id=318&L=3
Braubach (Marksburg Castle) Bacharach, Boppard, and St. Goar (Rheinfels Castle) are top spots.

North of the Middle Rhine area:
WWII museum in Remagen: www.bruecke-remagen.de
Beautiful Linz: walled town w/ towers, cobblestones, half-timbered buildings: http://www.gut-fruehscheid.de/linz-a..._c1000_800.jpg
Cologne: massive Gothic cathedral and good museums.

Costs in this area will be low. I've rented a 2-BR apartment for under 50€/night and a one-room apartment in St. Goar for two for 25€. Both Rhine and Mosel are cluttered with B&B's and hostels too. St. Goar's hostel is an an old villa with an amazing view, directly beneath the castle - Base rate for bed and Breakfast there is 15.50€. A 3-day train pass for two that hits most of the places I mentioned is 40€ - or get a 1-day pass for 20€ - or get a 1-day pass that covers a larger area for 25€ for two:

http://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets-and...twork-tickets/

Coverage - see green VRM area on this map: http://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data...reckennetz.pdf

1-day pass for expanded area:
http://www.vrminfo.de/en/tickets-and...-pfalz-ticket/

Long distance travel:

Paris to Rhine/Mosel: get adv. sale tickets at reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en - expect to pay under 100€ for two.

Rhine/Mosel to Rome: Fly from Frankfurt Hahn airport on Ryanair. You can find fares for 40-70€ each. If you're going to Florence, Venice, or Pisa or somewhere else in Italy too, you can also fly there cheaply on Ryanair from Frankfurt Hahn, a short bus ride from the Rhine/Mosel towns.

bilboburgler

Start in Santiago dC, then cross to Barcelona, up to Bescancon, get onto the Danube to Vienna, then Budapest and into the Black sea at the Romanian Delta. I think its about 3 months work, but there are good paths, and reasonable hostels along the way.

Opps sorry just noticed the 2 to 4 weeks.

Zeebruge to Brugges, Luxembourg, Trier, Strasbourg should be about 4 weeks, I would tend to follow the rivers as much as possible though the Harz mountains are pretty nice. The is a book called Pilgrim Snail who walked this as part of Canterbury to Santiago and it gives you a flavour of what ti expect.

PalenQ

between Rome and Germany lies both Switzerland and Austria - I would suggest a stay in the Swiss Alps like in the fabulous Interlaken-Jungfrau Region - the essence of the Alpine wonderland picture etched in your minds' eyes - glaciers, snow-capped peaks, toy-like mountain trains, thrilling aerial cableways, hiking paths for all energies and just a thrilling atmosphere - stay in a place like Grindelwald where there are many folks your son's age. Right on a main rail route from Italy to Germany.

PalenQ

Backpacking implies budtget travel and budget accommodations and IMO the very best resource for budget hotels, hostels, youth hotels, etc is the guidebook Let's Go Europe - long IMO the very best source of cheap accommodations lisitng and crititiquing zillions for every large city.