Backpacking. through europe
 

My girlfriend and I are going backpacking through europe this spring and I'm a little worried about our budget and our time in each city. We will be there for 67 days of which 4 are considered travel days. Our budget is $13000-$15000 USD for everything except for travel. All train tickets, plane tickets have been paid for and reserved. Also take into consideration that the euro and USD are almost neck in neck. Which is the best exchange rate in years!
We plan on small breakfasts and lunch, tasting local street foods for snacks in between meals occasionally , and a good dinner most evenings. We will stay in hostels most of the time. But in places where we stay for 4 days and longer, I've found apartments on airbnb to be cheaper, and much nicer (especially in places like Paris).

Our itinerary is as follows:
Stay
Milan arrive. 2 days
Annecy Fr. 2 days
Nice Fr. 2 days
Barcelona. 4 days
Paris. 6 days
Bayuex Fr. 1 day
Brussels. 2 days
Amsterdam. 2 days
Berlin. 4 days
Prague. 4 days
Karlovy Vary. 2 days
Munich. 2 days
Füssen. 2 days
Salzburg. 2 days
Hallstatt. 1 day
Vienna. 3 days
Venice. 3 days
Florence. 5 days
Rome. 5 days
Naples. 1 day
Sorrento. 3 days
Tropea. 4 days
Final travel day, fly home the next day


Any thoughts????

It is hard to comment because we don't know why you chose the places you did. I would merge some of that string of 2 nights stays into some longer stays somewhere. You will need to find a convenient laundry at some point and will need time to do that or have it done.

Counting your 'days' it appears those are actually nights you are sleeping in each destination. If so, you will have significantly less time in each than you think. For example - all of your '2day' stop will only have 1 to 1.5 days free time. Same w/ all the other stops.

1 night = a few hours sightseeing time, 3 nights + 2 days (or 2.5 days the destinations are near each other)

I'd cut several of the 1 & 2 night stays and spend more time in the ones you keep.

If you've paid for plane tickets and train tickets then there's not much to comment on with your itinerary since it is now fixed. I see several places where you're traveling long distances and missing a lot of worthwhile stuff in between (Milan to Annecy, then to Nice, then to Barcelona then to Paris) but too late to change that. I think your budget is fine so I'm not sure what else to comment on. You often will pay less for a good lunch than for a good dinner (lots of lunch specials) so you may want to think about dining in restaurants at lunch and eating cheaper food for dinner but you'll figure that out as you go along. Hope you have a great trip. :)

I worded that wrong. The flights are paid, so is a 2 month train pass. I've researched the train reservations to verify additional costs, but havent made any reservations yet.

Fly home from where?
Why did you not start in Paris and fly home from Rome.

I think you are hopping around a bit too much, even if that is your style, and including some places that waste a lot of time and I don't know why they are of such importance to you. For example, Annecy, France. Why are you going there for 2 days in between Italy and Nice? Wastes a lot of time, I just don't get it. I would cut that out and cut out 2 nights in Karlovy Vary, also. It's not on the way from Prague to Munich, so I don't know why you want to go to a spa town that much. Bus is the best way to get from PRague to Munich, although I think you can by train. But it won't go through Karlovy Vary, it goes through Plzen and Regensburg.

Just be aware that AirBnB is illegal in some places, and I really don't see how you could rent an apt. in Paris for less than a hostel costs. At least not many hostels I've seen, which charge around 30 euro a person per night (Paris hostels are a bit expensive compared to some cities). I suppose maybe you can find somethign on Airbnb for 50 euro a night, and I have seen hostels charging more like 50-60 euro per person a night, which I think is outrageous (that would be a private room, of course). And I presume you will have to make arrangements far in advance, that won't be able to be cancelled without losing your money, and you'll pay deposits. I just don't see how it is worth it myself, but if you do, it may be possible, of course, just think of the issues of no changes, money deposits, etc.

I love Barcelona but it is a bit out of the way of your itinerary. There is a direct train now between it and Paris, though.

I also like Bayeux for WWII history but would not go there to stay one night inbetween Paris and Brussels, if that's your plan.

Since you've only booked your flights . . . I'd keep the general framework but scrap the detailed itinerary. Look at the actual time it takes to move - not just the train journey, but checking out/getting to the station, the train, getting to the next hotel -- could on at least half a day ever time and some of your longer journeys will eat up almost an entire day.

You are traveling too far too often IMO . . .

For lots of great info on European trains and passes - such as the mandatory supplements/reservations fee in France, Spain and Italy, etc here are some great sources: www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com. and with that many train trips a pass is a no-brainer!

You may want to add Bruges into Belgium and cut a day from Brussels, a big modern city that underwhelms many - Bruges is a gem - especially at night for couples strolling around - most old-world city IMO north of the Alps - take a train from there to Amsterdam via Antwerp.

We came up with a solution for the abundance of 2 day trips by getting rid of 2 cities. This is what we have:


Overnight stays
Milan arrive. 2 nights
Annecy Fr. 2 nights
Nice Fr. 3 nights
Barcelona. 5 nights
Paris. 6 nights
Bayuex Fr. 1 night
Brussels. 2 nights
Amsterdam. 2 nights
Berlin. 5 nights
Prague. 5 nights
Karlovy Vary. 3 nights
Füssen. 2 nights
Hallstatt. 1 night
Vienna. 3 nights
Venice. 3 nights
Florence. 5 nights
Rome. 5 nights
Naples. 1 nights
Sorrento. 3 nights
Tropea. 5 nights
Final travel day by train to Milan, fly home the next day

Not much better frankly.

As I mentioned -- 2 night nets you 1 day and maybe a few hours, 1 night = about half a day.

So just looking at the beginning of your trip: You will have 1.5 probably jet lagged days in Milan, 1 day in Annecy (curious why), 2 days and a bit in Nice . . .

Then this bit: Bayuex a bit over half a day, Brussels 1 day and maybe a few hours, Amsterdam - the same - 1+ day

Barcelona/Paris look OK - a little rushed but certainly doable. Berlin/Prague/Karlovy Vary/Füssen OK. Venice/Florence/Rome - OK-ish.

The rest - not so much.

Have a look especially at those 1-night stays. It takes 6-7 hours to get to Hallstatt from Füssen to Hallstatt, and about 4 hours to get from there to Vienna. Is it really worth the long trip to spend a few hours in Hallstatt?

Yes try to do more longer stays in a place and then if you want do day trips to other gems - like Hallstatt from Salzburg - relocating inevitably takes a lot of time packing up, de-packing, etc. Base cities make a lot of sense - especially if you have a flexi railpass - use the long distance travel days for your 5- 15 unlimited travel days to be used over a two-month period any time you want and then if styaing in Paris, etc a few days use none or if taking short trips use none - chose the 5, 10 or 15 longest most expensive days for your unlimited days on a pass. That said with your travel plans a 2-consecutive-month pass is probably the best deal. Which one do you have?

I have the 2 month consecutive

You have two identical/dueling threads going (different titles but same info)

People posting to one won't necessarily see the other

I would drop Annecy and take the Thello train from Milan to Nice. Your pass won't be good on this train, but they are offering discounted tickets for 15€ which is almost the cost of seat reservations in Italy (10€ and is mandatory on all fast trains).

https://www.thello.com/


In Europe, sometimes the budget airlines are better options than the trains (faster and can be quite cheap). You might want to look at that for some of your longer distances.

I wouldn't put Tropea at the end as it's too far from Milan. If there are transport problems, you could miss your flight.

I would drop the night in Naples and add it to Sorrento. One night somewhere only gives you a few hours on arrival day and a few hours the next day (you will likely have to check out of your hotel by 10 or so). If you want to see a bit of Naples, after you check out in Sorrento and take the Circumvesuviana (not included on a pass) to Naples, you can store your luggage in the Naples train station.

I would reverse your entire Italy portion so you end in either Venice or Florence and aren't far from your Milan flight.

In Italy, convents and monasteries can be good deals, but in places where you are staying long enough, you might want an apartment (won't be hostel prices though). You do need to factor in laundry time about once a week unless you manage to find apartments that have washers.

I too would drop Annecy, nice as it is, for two more days in the French Riviera - so so much to do there besides beaches, which are great too for a day or two.

I see you've posted new/different itinerary on your other thread. This is getting very confusing . . .

Naples. 1 nights
Sorrento. 3 nights

easy to combine these into one base - the CircumVesuviana train costs just a few euros Sorrento to Naples each way though it takes over an hour - boats may be faster but the time saved packing up and relocating would take as much or more time. Plus Naples has a rather dicey reputation so be sure of where you go at night whereas you just waltz carefree around Sorrento's main drag.

>>>I see you've posted new/different itinerary on your other thread. This is getting very confusing . . .<<<

Yes. Here's the OP's other thread.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment