himani3089

Hello all,

I will be reaching Prague on 10th april and leaving from Paris on 20th april. I am planning this trip with friends.

I have 10 days to travel: April 10-20
My budget is approx 500-600 Euros and I will prefer lowest prices available. Low cost is definitely a priority for me!

I have planned 4 cities
Prague( 10-12th april),
Berlin ( 12-13th April),
Amsterdam ( 14-15th April),
Brussels( 16th April)
Paris( 17-20th April).
Itinerary is flexible and open to inputs, except for the fact that I am landing in Prague on 10th April and leaving from Paris on 20th April. I feel I am giving too much time to Paris and wont mind adding cities/ modifying schedules that I have planned above. Wallet friendly options are invited so that I could reduce my travel and stay costs. It will be a backpackers trip. I am a nature lover and can see some countryside as well. Please suggest which part of the city should we stay so as to strike a balance between time, fun and costs involved.

Background: I am 26, female, enjoy beer, vegetarian-friendly food, and would love to see some ancient history, nature, modernization, art and a night life lover. I would love to see places where I can explore by foot, enjoy outdoor markets, see nature, museums (preferably not too expensive). I do like the idea of quaint towns and seeing the country-side, though that is not a must. It would be fun to see at least one city with a fun nightlife scene.
I am very keen on doing Bavarian Alps but i am not too sure if it fits my itinerary and I have no idea about the travel and costs.

Dear all, please give suggestions if I could do more in the time planned. You can also give inputs if the itinerary sounds way too hectic. I would also like to know about the cheapest mode of travel in cities and food.
Waiting for your inputs.

Thank you all very much in advance!

traveller1959

A few comments:

>>I do like the idea of quaint towns and seeing the country-side<<

But you have only big (and expensive) cities on your list and no time for towns and countryside!

Then you have a LOT of travelling between cities in your itinerary. This means:

- You have to pay a lot for travelling, even if you get cheap tickets and take cheap means of transport (the cheapest is generally the bus, but for Berlin-Amsterdam you should fly).

- You will lose a considerably amount of precious time at stations and in buses and trains. Around 25% of your total time of ten days will be lost for travelling, especially if you are on a budget and you cannot always take the fastest option.

- You have hardly time in any of the cities you have in your itinerary. It will be a "It's Thurday, It Must Be Belgium"-kind of trip.

Third comment: I doubt if you manage such a trip with your budget. Transport costs alone will eat up the lion's share of your budget. Then you have to pay for accomodation, even if you stay in cheap hostels. Food and drink may be rather inexpensive, if you buy your supplies in grocery stores and avoid regular restaurants.

traveller1959

>>would love to see some ancient history, nature, modernization, art and a night life lover<<

You can do this - except nature - in any of the cities on your itinerary but you would need three or fours days in each city for that. In order to see nature, you have to add a daytrip into the countryside.

If I look again at your time and budget restrictions I would rather suggest to cancel two destinations and spend the larger amount of time in the least expensive cities, Prague and Berlin.

So, the trip would be:

Prague( 10-13th april),
Berlin ( 13-17th April),
Paris( 17-20th April).

From Prague to Berlin, you might get a bus as cheap as €13 (with Eurolines, about 5 hours).

On 17 April, you can catch a flight from Berlin to Paris for €37.46 (Air France, also check Easyjet and Air Berlin).

StCirq

You have 5 big cities in 10 days and have not accounted for ANY travel time between them (or any costs associated with such travel). You won't even begin to see the major sights in these cities, never mind any countryside between them. It's just way too much. Pick two cities and account for the travel time between them and start over. To keep costs down (you have about 50 euros a day, which is a bare minimum if you assume even a hostel is going to be aout 30 euros a night), you'll really have to scrimp on food (sandwiches, water to drink, and street food is about all you'll manage, which is fine), and there will be no money for museums and such.

Check out the Thorntree forum on Lonely Planet to see how others have managed such trips.

AisleSeat

Have you factored in travel time between cities? Unless you are traveling from Amsterdam to Paris on a train and stopping to check out a few highlights of Brussels on the way, I would drop it.

Chances are good that this won't be your only trip to Europe. Pick 3 must-see cities and savor them.

Sassafrass

That is approximately 50-60 euros per day.
Is that for lodging, food, sight seeing, and travel costs between places?
Agree with the idea of Prague and Paris, since those are the bookends of your trip. Add one more convenient, interesting place in between. That is it. No time for more, not enough money to cover more travel, plus you will see and experience more than you would rushing from station to station.

mjs

Agree with everything said above and would also pick Prague/Berlin/Paris for your 10 day trip. Might also want to pick up a Lets Go Europe book, even used on Amazon for more travel tips even if you are not a student.

Whathello

Agree your only way to see something outside train stations and to keep I your very low budget is to cut stops.
Berlin Prague Paris will do great. Check low cost flights like easy jet Ryanair gram wings airberlin to have relatively cheap fares and acceptable travel times. I have done Paris Berlin or Paris Prague for 50 euros.

Berlin and Prague are cheap for lodging Paris is not - cheap in Paris is often basic quality.

Have fun