Backpacking Europe
 

One day I'd love to backpack around Europe, definately wanting to visit Spain, France, Italy and maybe Greece.
Has anyone every done this? How did you devise your itinerary? What is the minimum time frame I can do this in?

I would suggest that you post your questions on the Lonely Planet forum (Thorn Tree), or some other backpacker website in order to get better answers.

Fodorites are usually past the age for backpacking and what grabs their attention are questions on the quality of Spanish cheese, Bohemian wine, and which Italian region offers the best "Italian" cooking. :)

Good luck!

There's not a lot of recent backpackers here. Also post at lonelyplanet.com and eurotrip.com amongst other web sites.

"Fodorites are usually past the age for backpacking"

Huh? What age is that -- 90? I know lots of people in their 50's and 60's who still backpack Europe.

Please don't chase away those who aren't into luxury hotels. Many here can give great advice on hostels and other "backpacker" accomodations. And what difference does it make how one is transporting their "luggage" when we all may have similar intrests in Europe.

But madamepetunia, I really don't get your question. What is the minimum time frame?? Well in two weeks you can backpack a region or two. In two months you can backpack a whole lot more. In two years you can cover quite a lot of it. In two lifetimes you could nearly cover it all. There is no minimum we can even suggest until we know what specifically you want to cover. You've mentioned four countries. If you're only interested in hitting a destination or two in each, then maybe you could cover a lot in two months.

How to devise the itinerary? Read and search. Decide what your interests are. Decide which countries or areas appeal to you the most. Decide how much time you have and how much money you have. Then you can begin the itinerary.

I think that travelers here are on a bell curve when it comes to budgets. Some are at the low end of the spending range, and others are at the high end of the spending range. Then, of course, most are distributed somewhere in the middle (if that is defined as 2* to 4* hotel level travel).

It's also possible to economize on one thing (say lodging) and spend a lot on another thing (say theatre). It's quite possible to have a suitcase and stay in hostels, or have a backpack and stay in a 5-star hotel.

Still, for lots of helpful info on low-to-medium-budget travel, I recommend these sites and their associated forums:

http://www.eurotrip.com
http://www.guideforeurope.com
http://www.lonelyplanet.com
http://www.ricksteves.com
http://www.bugeurope.com