Backpacking Europe (3-4 Weeks)
 

Hello, there! I am in the very early stages of planning a backpacking trip to Europe for September 2016. I've been to Europe before on 3 separate occasions (Germany, Spain, Italy), however, I've never planned a trip quite like this one in regard to backpacking and moving place-to-place. I developed the itinerary for this trip from my "wish-list", with the focus being picturesque cities that have old towns/altstadts and towns that have had their history well preserved. Falling in love with photos of the following cities inspired me to take this trip: Rothenburg-Cesky Krumlov-Salzburg-Hallstatt-Basel-Strasbourg-Colmar-Bruges.

Before I get to my itinerary, a little blurb about my travel style: I'm in my mid-20s, will be traveling with my good friend. What I love about travel is not so much the tourist sights (though of course those can be fun), but what really inspires me is to just take in the atmosphere, the food, the people, the language, the culture. Just being there, experiencing life around me in a place entirely new. With that being said, I'm going in with the understanding that I will not be in some of these places long enough to see everything, and I'm okay with that. I do have plans to return to Europe in the future, so I can always come back to places to do as an entirely separate trip if I find myself wishing I had more time.


Day 1: Arrive Frankfurt > Rothenburg ODT
Day 2: Rothenburg ODT
Day 3: Travel to Prague (6 hours via train)
Day 4: Prague
Day 5: Prague
Day 6: Travel to Cesky Krumlov (2 hours via shuttle)
Day 7: Cesky Krumlov
Day 8: Travel to Vienna (4 hours via shuttle)
Day 9: Vienna
Day 10: Vienna
Day 11: Travel to Salzburg (2 hours via train)
Day 12: Salzburg (Daytrip Hallstatt)
Day 13: Salzburg
Day 14: Travel to Zurich > Interlaken
Day 15: Interlaken
Day 16: Interlaken (Daytrip Lauterbrunnen/Wengen)
Day 17: Interlaken (Daytrip Lucerne)
Day 18: Travel to Basel (2 hours via train)
Day 19: Basel
Day 20: Basel
Day 21: Travel to Strasbourg (3 hours via train)
Day 22: Strasbourg (Daytrip to Colmar)
Day 23: Strasbourg (Daytrip Baden Baden)
Day 24: Travel to Paris (6 hours via train)
Day 25: Paris
Day 26: Paris
Day 27: Travel to Bruges (2.5 hours via train)
Day 28: Bruges
Day 29: Bruges
Day 30: Fly Brussels > Chicago


A Few Things...

(1) NOTE: Paris is just a "stopover" to leisurely explore as we would be stopping in Paris anyway to make a train connection on the way to Bruges Belgium, so I figured it would be worth it to stay a few nights. In the future I intend to return to Paris for a separate trip, so by no means am I expecting to cram all there is to see/do in Paris in just a couple days.

(2) I'm (reluctantly) considering cutting out Vienna and saving it for another time. I would love to see it, but I worry that I won't be there long enough to do it even just a little justice. Thoughts?

(3) Multiple currencies! What would be the best way to handle this? Normally when I've gone to Europe, I've exchanged my spending money to Euros in cash before leaving, with my debit and credit cards as backup. My mind is having a hard time figuring out how to handle changing currency (3 times!) throughout my trip.

(4) I realize going to Bruges really strays geographically from the rest of my itinerary... but I just have my heart set on going. If it really is completely not feasible to include it, I will certainly consider your advice in cutting it out, though with a very sad heart ;)

Sorry this was so lengthy and detailed, but I figured it would help if you knew upfront as much as possible. If you've taken the time to read this, I greatly appreciate any and all feedback you have. Like I said, I'm new to the backpacking thing, so I'm open to suggestions. Thank you so much!

Seems you are going by train - excellent if so - consider taking overnight trains at times - save on the cost of a hotel and daytime travel time and if so you are traveling about everyday - lots of times from bases - great - but you seem to be using the train a lot so some kind of railpass may be a great deal - especially since your trip involves several different countries.

You do not mentionyour age but if under 26 you can get a Eurail Youthpass in either 2nd class or 1st class at a nice discount over the same passes for adults.

Anyway for lots of great info to plan a European rail trip check IMO these superb sources: www.budgeteuropetravel.com - download their free online and superb IMO European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of suggested rail itineraries in various areas; www.ricksteves.com - a wealth of info about rail travel and other things; www.seat61.com - specializes in explaining discounted tickets you can buy online - but those tickets are sold in limited numbers so much be booked weeks or months ahead to get and are typically non-refundable and non-changeable and are really best for someone taking a handful of trips - for multiple train journeys a pass can be better than several discounted tickets which can also be a pain to book sometimes.

For Switzerland a Swiss Pass has much more benefits than a Eurailpass, depending on what you are doing but most of your trips previsioned are covered by Eurail too - but if taking many mountain trains that are not like in the Jungfrau Region the Swiss Pass could be bettetr - it is also cheaper per day and there is also a Youthpass I believe.

Maybe a combo of a Eurail Select Pass and Global Eurail Flexipass and a Swiss Pass could be your ticket to ride - but really your itinerary is best off probably with a one-month Global Eurailpass since you are traveling around a lot most days even from bases (which I usually do and love it - taking the train sans luggage from bases to nearby gems.

Your itinerary looks pretty sweet but Basel two days - well if you have friends and only two days in Paris - put a day or two more in Paris - Basel one full day unless day tripping and Bruges is awesome but again boring for some after a while - a good base to day trip from there to Gent or Antwerp or scrub Bruges and just head for Amsterdam, certainly one of the most interesting and awesome cities in Europe, especially if young.

Thanks so much for your detailed reply regarding the train travel! I've often wondered whether it would be cheaper to do point-to-point or a pass. I'll take a look at the resources you provided to help me decide how to best go about booking my tickets.

I also appreciate the advice regarding how to allocate my days with my itinerary. I'll make those changes you recommended so that I can add on days to one of the larger cities, such as Paris or Vienna (if I keep Vienna on).

Thanks so much again, it's greatly appreciated! Even though this trip is still 18 months away, I'm already really excited and eager to learn everything I can prior to my departure :)

After a lot of consideration, I've made some changes!

(1) Dropped Vienna - I'm sure it's really lovely but best saved for another trip when I can devote more time to it

(2) Basing in Colmar instead of Strasbourg (day trip to Strasbourg, then a day spent touring some wine country, possible day trip to Freiburg unless there's another nearby German town that's recommended?)

(3) Will take day trip to Basel (instead of basing there) en route to Colmar

(4) One day less in Bruges, to make my trip exactly 25 days. Will consider day trip to Ghent/Antwerp if time allows.


Day 1: Depart Flight from Chicago
Day 2: Arrive Frankfurt > Rothenburg ODT
Day 3: Rothenburg ODT
Day 4: Travel to Prague (6 hours via train)
Day 5: Prague
Day 6: Prague
Day 7: Travel to Cesky Krumlov (2 hours via shuttle)
Day 8: Cesky Krumlov
Day 9: Travel to Salzburg (3 hours via shuttle)
Day 10: Salzburg (Daytrip Hallstatt)
Day 11: Salzburg
Day 12: Travel to Zurich > Interlaken
Day 13: Interlaken
Day 14: Interlaken (Daytrip Lauterbrunnen/Wengen)
Day 15: Interlaken (Daytrip Lucerne)
Day 16: Travel to Basel for Day Trip > Arrive Late Evening in Colmar
Day 17: Colmar (and/or Strasbourg)
Day 18: Colmar (Alsace Region Wine Tour)
Day 19: Colmar (and/or Freiburg)
Day 20: Travel to Paris (3 hours via high-speed train)
Day 21: Paris
Day 22: Paris
Day 23: Travel to Bruges (2.5 hours via train)
Day 24: Bruges
Day 25: Fly Brussels > Chicago > Drive Home

Oh, and I now realize I never responded back to you regarding the Youth Rail Pass - I will be 26 years of age when I depart on this trip, so I may have just missed the cutoff.

Any suggestions for the best way to handle all the changes in currency?

For your currency, just use ATM's as you go along.