jasper02

I'm going to be taking my 20 year old niece on a trip to Europe as a graduation gift, but I'm unsure as to the best way to go. I've been looking into river cruises and group tours but what I would really like to do is travel around by ourselves. However, I can honestly say I'm intimidated by (if not down right afraid of...) traveling around a foreign country when I don't speak the language or know anything about the transportation system. For my first (and possibly only) trip to Europe, does anyone have any suggestions on the safest and best way to go? I'm interested in France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland (I realize I won't be able to see all, but I'd like to try and visit at least two or three).

Envierges

What a lovely gift for a very fortunate niece. You don't mention the time of year you plan to travel or the number of days you plan to spend or the amount of money in Euros you plan to allot for this. All three variables will affect the answers you get from posters. Too, on the basis of what you've read in guidebooks, if you could prioritize your want-to-sees, that would help.

Good luck!

bilboburgler

very easy, use the train, many (but not all) ticket staff will speak English or work with you to understand what you want. Start by reading seat61.com then look at timetables on bahn.de or get overviews of transport options on rome2rio.

The train system is extremely advanced in the countries you mention.

silviatodd

I would suggest you to dig some details online before making a choice. So that you can get some clear idea about the locations you are planning to take your niece. Happy journey to both !!

jasper02

You’re correct, I did leave out some info....I’m looking to spend no more than $2500 per person (not necessarily including airfare from the US) and we would be going sometime next summer between May and August. Like I said, I really would prefer to go it alone, but don’t know how to plan for transportation etc along the way. I’m thinking maybe 3 or 4 nights in Switzerland, 2 or 3 Austria, 3 or 4 in Germany, 2 in Amsterdam and 2 or 3 in France (give or take). I realize this is sort of all over that map and but I don’t mind spending the time traveling between locations. I’m thinking Switzerland won’t be a problem because of the Glacier and Bernina express, but beyond that I’m clueless.

Traveler_Nick

If you can go May to August go May or June. The later you wait the higher season it becomes. Larger crowds. More expensive lodging.

You can't say four days Germany three days France. Both are large countries with a list of cities to see.

Buy yourself an European guidebook and start thinking about your interests. Try to narrow down your choices. It's a waste of time and money bouncing around like a bunny. Every time you move you lose a day. You'll spend money on transport. The hotel room still needs to be paid.

Traveling with in Europe isn't a problem. But you need to define things. Paris/Berlin will give a different answer then Berlin/Hamburg

Envierges

This is tough and will require much more planning. $2500 translates to about 2000 Euros per person. Figuring 14 days, about 143 Euros per person per day. That isn't a lot of money for food, shelter, transportation, admissions. You also have 4 countries and only one city mentioned. Where in Austria, France, Switzerland, Germany?

As others have mentioned, besides figuring out exactly where you want to go, to do this yourself you will have to do a lot more research on transportation costs and shelter costs.

thursdaysd

Your budget is on the low side for those countries but not impossible. Of course, moving around costs money.

I suggest you start by reading "Europe Through the Back Door" by Rick Steves and Rough Guides' "First Time Europe". Then move on to the glossy guidebooks with lots of pictures to decide where you want to go (borrow them from the library or hang out at Barnes and Noble). Then we can help you work on an itinerary.

I am a big fan of train travel, and for the countries you list cheap flights are probably not worth the bother.

Sassafrass

Just naming countries for a night or two is not helpful to you. To help narrow down, make a short list, not of countries, but of specific sights or places or things of personal interest that you have thought about seeing in Europe. Perhaps they are major sights like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame in Paris, or great art museums or works of art like the Sistine Chapel, or hiking in the alps or biking along a canal. Perhaps it is a city like London or Paris. You get the idea. Get input from your niece.

It looks as if you are planning about 12 to 14 days. Pick 3 or 4 places (not countries) or things between you. That is it. Focus on those and what is near them. That is your trip! Allow at least a half day of travel between cities.

You say you do not mind spending time going from place to place, but how about thinking of it as wasting costly sightseeing time in train stations and airports or looking out windows rather than walking through lovely old cities admiring the architecture or having lunch at a cafe on a lively street in Paris. Which makes sense? A city like Paris has hundreds of possibilities and takes time. Don't shortchange one place to waste time rushing to another.

So you feel less scattered, lay out a temporary itinerary. Never count days twice. Do not count travel days as sightseeing days. Do not count bits of days. You need 2 nights to give one full day in a place. Example.
Day 1, arrive Paris, allow for jet lag, (4 nights, 3 days, minimum, could be more)
(day trip to Versailles or? If more time)
Day 2, 3, 4, Paris
Day 5, Travel to Switzerland (where?) (3 nights, 2 days)
Day 6 & 7, Switzerland ?
Day 8, travel to ? Salzburg? Vienna?
Day 9, 10, etc.
Day 11, travel to ?

airfare: buy tickets only after you have nailed down your itinerary. Get multi-city, into one city and home from another.

xcountry

[QUOTE=Sassafrass;16718153] ...but how about thinking of it as wasting costly sightseeing time in train stations and airports or looking out windows rather than walking through lovely old cities admiring the architecture or having lunch at a cafe on a lively street in Paris. Which makes sense?/QUOTE]

To each their own but I cannot imagine a bigger waste of time than time in cafes and restaurants. Give me the train station and train windows anytime.

On the psychological side I find first time visitors often worry that they will get confused/lost, or even worse, look confused/lost while appearing somewhat dumb. Don't worry about it. Lots of people will look more confused/lost/dumb than you will. And thousands of people in Europe are paid to take care of you.

Gardyloo

I'll throw out an alternative scenario, just for the variety.

Fly to a major airport like CDG in Paris, and pick up a rental car. For two weeks in May (this year, I assume next year will be comparable) an automatic transmission car will cost around $450 - $600. There's NO WAY you can move two of you around Europe on trains (plus taxis from train stations to hotels, etc.) for two weeks at that cost. Costs out of other airports (e.g. Frankfurt, Munich) will be comparable.

Pare your list of destinations down so that you don't spend your time hopscotching around the continent. Whether you're flying, taking a train or driving, the time spent between destinations is always longer than you think.

Stay outside the big cities (there are many small towns or villages) and use public transportation to get in and out. Not only will you save lots of money on lodging, but you'll be able to spend some time in rural or suburban areas that are just as interesting, sometimes more so.

Spend more time outside the cities than in them. Use the flexibility the car gives you to drive down country roads, explore little villages, stay at country inns...

Things not to worry about:

- Driving. It's easy and if you use a GPS or have a good road atlas, not challenging on the navigation front.
- Language. English is the universal tongue of the day. Road signs and almost everything a tourist will encounter - menus, direction signs - will be multilingual or graphical.

Just a suggestion.

BigRuss

First of all, is this for 2019? If so, you need to save more money and be ready to spend more than 5000 total. The notion that your 2500 per person won't "necessarily" include flights is fanciful - if it includes flights you're going to be severely limited on what you can spend while in Europe. If this is for 2018, you're late to the planning.

Second, no matter how small you think European countries are, they're actually not. France's closest US comparable is Texas. Germany would fit between Montana (#4) and New Mexico (#5) on a list of US states.

Third, this is your niece's gift - have her plan the itinerary.

bilboburgler

cars/trains
if you are going city centre to city centre then trains win hands down on time and convenience and nearly always on money
if you are going countryside to countryside then the car wins
is a good rule of thumb

KTtravel

I would recommend picking up one of Rick Steves' guidebooks. He has lots of good information for first time travelers. Now, many people on this board prefer other guidebooks but Rick's books have practical tips for quick trips and I have found them very helpful.

I think you do need to narrow down your top priorities as it sounds like you plan to be away about two weeks. Which two or three places interest you the most? Do you plan to visit cities or mostly stay in the countryside? What are your main interests? Museum hopping? Hiking? Shopping? Fine dining?

suze

Looks like you are planning 12-16 days on the ground?

Here is a trip I did with a friend & with zero advanced planning other than the plane ticket and hotels in each city:

Fly into Geneva, train 1 hour out to Lac Leman and stay in Lausanne, Vevey, or Montreux for 5 days.
Train to Venice, spend 5 days.
Train from Venice, thru Milan, transferring to an overnight train in a private cabin, to Paris.
5 days in Paris. Fly home from Paris

It was a fabulous trip! We just planned what we'd do in each location as we went along, using guidebooks we'd brought with us plus information and maps picked up along the way. We bought tickets from the train station the day of or day before travel. We picked hotels that were central in each place so we were able to walk everywhere.

That gives you a taste of Switzerland, Italy, and France.

suze

ps - I don't speak any language other than English. You can learn about the transportation systems by reading guidebooks, asking for help from your hotel front desk, and/or staying in a central location within each city, so you are able to just use a street map and walk to most of the places you are interested in.

isabel

Your budget is not luxury but very doable (assuming it does not include airfare from US). $5000 divided by 16 days is $312 or €255 per day for the two of you. It is very easy to get decent hotels for under €100 a night. Switzerland is the most expensive, you might consider skipping that one (there are great Alps in other countries with cheaper prices). I just recently booked hotels for my trip to Germany, Austria and Greece for this summer and the average nightly price is €90 for a double per night. If you are willing to have some 'picnic' or 'street food' meals (in other words not every meal in a sit down wait serve restaurant) than you can easily get by for about €50 a day. A lot of what there is to 'do' in Europe is free - follow guide book walking tours around towns and cities, visit churches many of which are free, etc. But don't skimp on admissions - if you want to do a certain site that charges admission you should do it, in the end it will be a small portion of the total cost.

So that leaves transportation (trains) between destinations. For that reason alone it makes sense to limit the number of places. But the other reason is to limit the amount of time in transit relative to amount of time in a place. In most cases 3 nights is a good amount of time. Many large cities can occupy you for weeks, and lots of tiny villages really only 'require' one night. But for a first trip where you want to get an overview and are not sure what you want to see, 3 nights per stop works well.

Fly open jaw into the first city and home fro the last to avoid time/money in backtracking.

Book your trains early for substantial savings. I've been using the site www.trainline.eu which is very user friendly and sells tickets for various countries for the same price as those countries train sites.

A fast paced but doable itinerary might be - fly into Paris, 4 nights, train to Belgium (I'd go with Brugge or Ghent or Antwerp) for 2-3 nights, train to Amsterdam for 3 nights, train to somewhere in the Rhine valley for 3 nights and train to Munich for 2-3 nights - fly home from there (you can do a day trip to Salzburg from Munich if you 'need' to include another country - you can also do a day trip to some substantial mountains from Munich).

PalenQ

As biblo says trains are easy to use and most train personnel speak passable English usually. Book your long-distance trains far in advance to snag limited nnumber of discounted tickets and save a bundle over walk-up fares and have every train set before leaving home - just have to show up. www.seat61.com has an avalanche of great advice on booking your own discounted tickets online; general train info - BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. If taking enough longish train rides investigate railpasses - especially for Switzerlabnd.

thursdaysd

Not sure when suze's trip was, but these days I would not try winging it without reservations during the summer, especially on a tight budget. And for somewhere like Paris, probably not at all.

PalenQ

Yes winging it is harder than before internet booking - pre-booking also save money and guarantees you a hotel or hostel in your price range. You also save a lot of time by getting off train and heading for your accommodation right away. If wanting flexibility you could try booking online as you go along.