College Grads doing Eurotrip
 

Hey y'all my friend and I just graduated from the University of Georgia and we are going to Europe as a sort of celebration. We are 22 and 23 (guy and girl...friends, nothing romantic) and have traveled to South Africa together last summer for a study abroad so we really wanted to do one more trip before we start working and never have this chance again. Ok we are going to leave Atlanta on July 23rd and arrive in either Paris, London, or Stockholm on the 24th. Now since we are fairly young and have never done this type of thing by ourselves, we obviously could use all the help we can get. We have a budget of roughly $4,500 each and will be flying back to Atlanta on either August 13th or the 15th (I want the 15th for obvious reasons).

Our top places to visit are London, Paris, North/Central Italy (Naples and up), and Greece (hopefully things get better). We would also love to see part of Switzerland, Germany, and maybe a little of Scandinavia (one city like Oslo, Stockholm or Copenhagen) and Amsterdam, but I know this is a lot to do in only roughly 21 days. So below are my questions and if anyone can help or provide any other suggestions we would really appreciate it!

1. Out of the places I listed, which would you recommend the most? I'm kind of a history buff and love all things history and she does too but to a lesser extent. I want to find a nice balance between seeing a lot, but also being able to actually enjoy the trip and not running around the entire time and actually seeing less than we would if we just settled for a few days.

2. We are thinking about doing a Greek Island cruise leaving from either Rome or Venice...probably 7 days. Has anyone done this and recommend a specific cruise ship or places to stop at? I did some research and none seem to have cruises that stop in both Athens and Istanbul, so I think it's one or the other and I can't decide which I would like to see more. There are deals out there for like $499 for 7 nights around Greece, one stop in Turkey, and one stop in Croatia. Would anyone recommend this?

3. We would love to stop in London and hopefully see one Olympic event but it's probably going to be extremely crowded. Would y'all recommend just skipping London and the UK in favor of seeing other cities such as Amsterdam and possibly going to Germany instead? I've heard Southern Germany was gorgeous

4. How many days/nights would you recommend per city as a good mix between hitting the major things to see? For example would 2 or 3 days per city work, or is that not enough time? We are fairly young so we can go on less sleep as long as we keep moving haha.

5. For traveling around Europe would you recommend the Eurorail/Eurail/Ryanair? I've looked at ryanair online and it's fairly complex with flights going from certain cities to only other certain cities so you kind of have to connect the dots.

Thank y'all so much and any help/suggestions are GREATLY appreciated by 2 college grads just trying to see Europe before we become real ass people haha :)

You seem to only have three weeks at most so you need to limit your travel. The more you move around, the more expense.

For budget flights in Europe:
www.skyscanner.com
www.whichbudget.com

Scandinavia and Switzerland are very expensive so you might want to drop them if you are on a budget.

The Thorntree forum on Lonely Planet's website caters more to college kids on a budget so you might find it helpful.

You need to prioritize and slash your wish list. There's no way you can see/do even half of what you've listed in the 21-23 days you have available. The good thing about slashing your list is you'll have less research to do in the little time you have.

You're talking about destinations that are, for the most part, quite far apart, and you'll lose the better part of a day getting from one city/hotel to the next. Flying between cities sounds like a time-saver, but trains travel from city center to city center, so you need to compare the overall time (and cost) of flying versus riding trains. Budget airlines often fly into secondary airports where public transportation into the city is less frequent/convenient.

Your budget is tight but works if you share hotel rooms (or small apartments), watch your dining costs very carefully and aren't moving around too much (which costs money). You can't know whether a train pass saves you money until you figure out where you're going. Then you need to compare the cost of a pass versus the cost of all of the point-to-point tickets you'd need.

Some cities offer sightseeing discount cards. If you plan to visit many museums and other sights with entry fees, you should investigate to see whether any of these cards will save you money. Many popular sights in the biggest cities have a ticket reservation system that you either should use (to save time) or must use (to get in). Something else for you to investigate.

I would skip London unless you can get Olympic event tickets and affordable lodging. Have you looked into this?

A short cruise would take some of the planning and research off your back and can be a cheap way to go, but know that you won't have much time to explore any of the port towns.

Here's a place to research trains in Europe:

http://www.bahn.com/i/view/DEU/en/index.shtml

The Lonely Planet guides have excellent sample itineraries for your kind of travel. They take into account budget and travel times. I'd look in their W Europe guide at the bookstore.

Thank you all for your help.

Jean- I definitely got the feeling about doing a little bit of research that we were trying to do too much and would end up doing too little. I think we will try and focus on Paris, North and central Italy, and the Greek Island cruise.

We have a close friend who's family member lives right outside London so we are going to try and see if we could stay with them for 2 or 3 nights while we explore London and Stonehenge and hopefully go see a cheap Olympic game. Definitely a lofty goal and something we need to look into more.

Thank you so much for recommending the discount sightseeing cards...something I didn't even think of!

2 or 3 nights in England, seven nights in Paris, seven nights on a Greek cruise, plus 3 days essentially getting from one place to the other leaves you only a day or two for Italy. (You always need to figure travel time in your itinerary.)

If you enjoy cruising and want to spend your time with the older set, a Greek Island cruise may be just the thing for you. Unfortunately all you get is a snapshot of each island, whisked away back aboard ship before the fun begins.

Greek Islands in the summer are for lazy days on the beach mixed with a little sightseeing, long dinners in tavernas, and nightlife which usually begins after midnight. Late July or early August is exactly the time I would pick for the Greek Islands if I were still in my 20s and wanted to unwind after four years in college. I can't imagine recent college grads preferring a cruise. :-)

My daughter, who toured Europe in her early 20s, would agree with Heimdall. Greece on your own at that age is great fun.

You really must prioritize. You are trying to do too much.

Having done 3 months in Europe at 23 ,, not three weeks, I say SLASH your schedule.

Greek isles,, skip the cruise, fly into Athens hop ferry for an island, Paros, Naxos, Corfu, Santorini,, and Mykonos,, you will have so much FUN and of course there is history..

Paris of course, so much to see, give yourself at least 5 days here.

London would be great but I would not bother going during Olympics, everything price wise will be jacked up ,, ( but museums are still free) it will be crowded, and at this point too late to book cheap Eurostar tickets for those time periods,, too expensive now.

I would totally skip Scandinavia ,, its too far away and its expensive.
Do it another trip( why to young folks thing they will never get over there again, lol )

I would also look at EasyCruise, its a novel way of budget cruising, I am old now and want a certain level of luxury if I cruise, but if ""I was 23 I would absolutely try this idea,, they cruise at night only and are at port all day well into late evenings, you can elect to pay for your meals seperately or eat on shore,, and they have some good itinerarys.

My daughter and son (college grad and college sophomore) did a 3 week tour of Europe last summer. They went to Germany, Greece and Italy and spent a week in each country. I helped some with the itinerary and guidebooks were a GREAT resource on what to see and how to get around. (BTW, they LOVED Santorini when they visited Greece.)

My daughter booked all of their hostels using the website, www.hostels.com. She learned about this website when she did her junior year abroad in Ireland and traveled around Europe on her own. She said it was a great website because she could easily find hostels in her price range, with the amenities she wanted and with a high rating. (Users rate the hostels and she found the reviews helpful in choosing a good hostel.)

Do you have your airline tickets yet? Because if not, buying them this late is going to eat a big hole in your budget.

Forget London this trip. No Olympic tickets to be had, and lodging costs at ridiculous heights.

With so little time I'd do Italy and Greece, you can take a ferry in between, but it will be hot.

Think about renting an apartment in your different places. The good news (for you) is the euro is dropping. An apartment in Paris could be had fairly cheap. I'm not recommending this one but take a look

http://www.parisattitude.com/rent-ap...20.aspx#photos

Southern Germany is beautiful and again an apartment can be a good way to go. Public transportation is a good deal and if you have an apartment your meals will be cheaper.

I would pick 2 or 3 separate places.

Ok, I will offer a different perspective. When I did this many moons ago, I wanted flexibility. Therefore, these are my suggestions:
1) Eurail youth select pass or something similar.
2) Fly into Paris and confine your trip to France, Italy and even Spain (if you think you will get bored). Skip Greece and London. If you had 5 weeks, I would say go for it, but three weeks isn't that much.
3) Don't buy plane tickets due to the lack of flexibility.
4) Hostels, hostels, hostels
5) Backpack
6)If you have to do Greece,I agree with thursday and say Italy and Greece. You could add the Croatian islands and Dubrovnik in, but it will be a push.

Have fun...and take even more time if you can. :)

Justinparis, what do you know about easyCruise? It was sold to Hellenic Seaways back in 2009, and cancelled all its 2010 cruises. As far as I know easyCruise is no more, like the dead parrot in Monty Python. :-(
http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=3694

The dead parrot in Monty Python.....

hahaha that is soo funny Heimdall.... :)

You need to take into consideration specific trivial but vital details for each country. You mentioned the Olympics in London which is a grand event, but each place might have its own events and things that may influence availability, rates and overall experience. For example Greece, especially the islands and the coast towns of mainland is very busy and crowded (and hot) towards the end of July and till 3rd week of August. I guess Italy might be similar too. This leaves you with not much flexibility, especially if on a budget. You need to do lots of prebooking on accommodation and some ferry tickets. Around 15th of August it's one of the greatest bank and religious Greek holidays so you need to plan carefully around those dates.Similar stuff might happen on other countries too.
I agree that a cruise might be fine if you want to unwind and you are after the cruise experience its self. It is not a good idea to explore the destinations them selves though. And do not skip the idea of Athens. It worths 2-3 full days at least!
I too think you need to prioritize, no time to include all those destinations in 3 weeks!

Sorry its closed, its still has a web site and I had looked into it myself, thought it looked like a great concept,,what a shame it closed!

Justinparis, easyCruise sounded like a good idea, but didn't work out in practice, and that's why it failed. Traditional cruisers didn't like the "bare bones" concept, with no inclusive meals, entertainment, or even housekeeping. Budget travellers would rather take ferries, which are cheaper and offer more flexibility. In short, easyJet had all the disadvantages of a cruise, but none of the advantages.

I'm a great admirer of Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who started the very successful easyJet company. Unfortunately his other easyGroup ventures have never matched that success.