We are a married couple from India who are thinking of backpacking across Europe during the months of Oct - Nov - Dec - Jan in 2014? Want your opinion if this is a bad/good idea? We are on an extremely tight budget. We've never backpacked ever!

Our very tentative schedule is pasted below – (This could easily be rescheduled

Mumbai –> Sweden –> Norway –> Switzerland –> France –> Spain –> Italy –> Greece –> Turkey –> Delhi

Date wise schedule -

Sweden, 2nd Oct – 12th Oct, 2014, Stockholm

Norway, 13th Oct – 25th Oct, 2014, Oslo

Switzerland, 26th Oct – 16th Nov, 2013, Geneva, Zurich, Jungfrau, Bern

France, 17th Nov – 1st Dec, 2014, Lille, Paris,

Spain, 2nd Dec – 16th Dec, 2014, Barcelona, Madrid

Italy, 16th Dec – 3rd Jan, 2015, Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Vatican

Greece, 4th Jan – 14th Jan, 2015

Turkey, 15th Jan – 31st Jan, 2015, Istanbul, Antalya

Is this doable (hope it is!!) or totally ludicrous? Do suggest the cities/places that we must visit. All your other inputs with regards to the accommodation, clothes, visa, euro rail passes, backpacks and shoes would be hugely appreciated. And if you happen to be in our place of stay, drop us a line, we would be happy to meet you and perhaps give you an Indian culinary experience. Also, does it make more sense to visit Europe in Aug - Sept - Oct - Nov?

Check our blog : http://travelopes.wordpress.com/2013...journeybegins/

It all depends on what you mean by backacking:

1. Walking from city to city with all of your travel gear in a backpack. I would not recommend this for Winter.

2. Carrying all your travel gear in a backpack instead of a suitcase and relying on public transportation, aircraft, and cars for transportation between cities. Sure, why not. Just be prepared for cold weather, colder weather, crazy cold weather, and wet and cold.


That being said, the weather differences between Scandinavia and Spain/Italy/Greece/Turkey will be fairly large so plan accordingly.

I think your first priority would be to check the maximum number of days you can stay within the Schengen zone. For US or Canadian citizens, it's usually 90 days out of 180 without a visa... not sure for Indian nationals as you will need to apply for a visa. And secondly (and this is based solely on the experience of an Indian colleague), you will need to prove more than adequate financial capability, to obtain a visa.

Good luck!

Thanks JoyC & sparkchaser!

By backpacking we mean "Carrying all your travel gear in a backpack instead of a suitcase and relying on public transportation, aircraft, and cars for transportation between cities" Wondering what crazy cold would be like? I mean would we be holed up into a room all day or we could still walk around?

JoyC - Rules for Indians are the same - 90 days out of 180. But thanks for bringing up the financial part. We will have to think through that!

I think that if you prepare for -6 to 8 then you'll be in good shape because I doubt temperatures will get that low. I'd definitely prepare for cold, rainy days.

If the rules for Indians are the same then you have from October 2nd to December 30th in Schengen, which means all your countries except Turkey. So you will have to rethink your plans.

Oh btw you do need a visa, as Indian citizens according to the websites I just looked at. You need to check that out before you make any other plans. No visa and you won't even get on the plane, never mind into Europe.

http://www.letstravelzine.com/scheng...orindians.html

http://www.india.diplo.de/Vertretung...engenvisa.html

All the countries on your list, except Turkey, are in the Schengen zone, so you will need to shorten that part of your trip by a couple of weeks: http://www.axa-schengen.com/en/schengen-countries

Recently I've noticed quite a few posts on travel forums from Indians planning to travel to Europe during winter. Ironically, that is a popular time for Europeans to travel to India because of the beautiful weather there that time of year. If you want to experience the snow and cold of Scandinavia and the Alps, winter would be a good time to go. Otherwise I would wait until later in the year and escape some of the extreme heat of India.

Also in order to get a Schengen visa, you need to have a firm travel plan with every night's accommodation booked in advance. This will limit your ability to be flexible and change your itinerary if bad weather etc intervenes or you wish to seek a milder climate (say in Southern Europe).

The above doesn't apply if you already hold - or can get - a multi-entry Schengen visa valid a year or more. Then you will be able to travel just like a non-visa national for 90-in-180 days.

Note though that your current plan, as I said earlier, is more than 90 days in Schengen, so will need to be changed, no matter what visa you get.

I think winter is a perfectly good time to travel in Europe. The regular season of museum exhibits, theater, music, etc. is in effect. Crowds likely less than summer (although consider where yu will be for Christmas and New Years as there are in some places higher prices and minimum stay requirements). Read some other threads here, plan to dress in layers, put aside part of your travel budget to purchase a couple of items of warmer clothes if not in India before you leave then to buy along the way. Consider also some smaller cities, especially those with universities where budget sightseeing and entertainment and cultural events make them a good trade off from the the usual big cities. And consider apartments where you could stay a week or more, use as a base and have a living room where you could relax if you want a break from the cold (although hotels and small hotels often have lounges that could serve the same purpose).

I disagree with Laurie-Ann, I don't think these months are a good choice for somebody on an extremely thin budget and coming from a warm climate.

Go in late spring or in the fall. At that time of the year you see a lot more for your money and you save a lot more of that money.

Why? Because evenings are long, late daylight and warm temperatures make it easy to stay out, eat on a park bench, food that you bought cheaply in stores, and maximizing your sightseeing rather than having to look for somewhere to go inside as early as 4:30PM every day when it gets dark and even colder than it was during the day.

In those seasons you can get by with a lot less to carry and wear - two of everything, you wear one while the other dries, you wash nightly in the sink and by morning it's dry (if you bought the right kind of garments to take with you).

In winter, with all the coats and scarves and heavy boots and gloves and hats you need if you want to do all the walking you say you want to do - forget it, you'll be like exhausted pack mules. And if it snows or rains and you get wet, any fun soon evaporates if your money runs out and you have no more dry clothes to change into.

I hope you'll reconsider - it's a big commitment for you to make this trip, so you have to make sure it will work out just fine.

I don't think it's a good idea either, and don't understand why someone would do that. What was the reason for picking these months. And why go for four months if the budget is so tight and you've never done this before? What if you hate it, just seems like a big investment based on little experience.

From India, you wouldn't even have the right clothes for winter, so would have to invest a lot for that reason if you go in December-January, in particular. Jan is usually the coldest month. At least you are ending up in the more southern places, that at least makes sense. But it sounds like an awful big investment of time and money to visit places in winter when they may not be at their best, and one will have to invest a lot in clothing. And just packing in general, everything will take up more room and weight for winter clothing.

I wouldn't do this at all if you've never traveled for that long. I'd plan something more modest for the first trip, and to me, even a month is a considerable length of time to travel, but certainly two is pretty long. I understand India is far away, but still. I agree with Michel, I'd go in Spring or summer or early Fall. The alternative August through November would be at least better.

Winter in europe is fine if youare used to and don't mind cold eather. I love it and despise heat. But if you are from a plce that is ery hot most of the time temps below freezing maybe unbearable. And getting a winter wardrobe (yes, you will need it) will be expensive.

Also Scand and Switz are VERY expensive - even for super budget travel (dorm room beds in hostels and sandwiches from the local market).

Have you looked at prices and workedwith a lot of moving around in quite a few thousands of $

A few exciting days for hiking in snow or skiing, staying in a lovely place with a fire going, drinking something hot and looking out at a beautiful snowfall is romantic. However, being bogged down with clothes while toting a backpack around to sight see in winter, might get old after a few days.

So, a winter vacation to enjoy snow is one thing. A vacation to sight see and enjoy the culture is another thing.

If you said you hate warm weather, absolutely love cold and damp, can't wait bundle up in hats, boots, gloves, etc. then have to remove everything each time you go inside where it is warm, and you have plenty of money to stop often for hot soup, drinks, etc. to warm up, and you would rather be inside in museums more than walking and seeing architecture outside, or you want to hike and ski, then I would say "go for it."

However, your plan is especially iffy because you have not done it before and do not realize how uncomfortable (even miserable) it can be to be cold day after day. Also, there is absolutely no need to use a backpack when you are taking trains, planes, etc. With a limited budget, go in warmer weather, so you will not need such warm clothing and can enjoy longer hours of day light and walking in the evenings, sitting outside at cafes, etc. Shorten the trip if you need to.

Also, light weight wheeled luggage is nice for traveling from place to place by train, no need to burden you back with a backpack.

I'm going to take a wild guess that you are among the gazillion Indian honeymooners who get/got married during the "auspicious" season in India and have been fed a steady diet of Indian movies featuring romantic views of European scenery. It seems to be a big trend these days. Excuse me if I'm wrong.

I think it's a terrible idea, to be frank. The thought of hauling heavy packs around on public transportation in Europe in wet, gray, bleak, freezing weather would hold no appeal to me, and I would assume even less for anyone coming from India who isn't even familiar with Europe or cold weather.

I'd have a big re-think.

Wool socks and very good hiking boots.

Before going any further with this plan do look at:

1) average temperatures - and lows at night - and figure out what clothing you will have to buy for this trip (heavy coat, scarf, hat, gloves, winter/snow boots, warm sweaters and pants (wool or cord) all for both of you. (Running around euope in winter without heavy pants is madness.)

2) Cost out some of the basics - places to stay, entry to major sights, basic meals, local transportation (you won;t want to be walking miles outdoors and metro/tram costs can add up - and do a zero-based budget to see how many thousands of euros this will cost you - esp in Scand and Switz - which can be shockingly expensive - even for a New Yorker.

Received wisdom is that a basic backpacker budget for W. Europe is a minimum of 50E per day per person. That is for staying in hostels, eating supermarket food and the odd museum entry or beer. It does not include travel costs between places.

So when you say, 'extremely tight budget', how extreme? If it is lower thann 50E per day each, forget about it.