Europe backpacking trip advise
 

I have been planning to backpack europe in the months of march and april 2012, I have flight tickets booked in and out of paris, arriving on 27th feb and leaving on 28th april. I am planning to visit france, spain, italy, switzerland, germany, czech, netherlands and belgium. Do you think it is too much for the time? Or should i visit 2-3 countries in depth.

I am from india and have a budget of 5000 euros including everything. Is it doable? or should i reschedule my travel time down to a month.

Thank you everyone for all the help. :)

Some more information.

I am interested in meeting new people and getting a lot of memorable experiences. Along with this i have interest in art and film. It would be interesting if possible to explore some of the local cinema and films of europe.

I would be traveling alone and this is my first time abroad though i have backpacked a lot in india.

What kind of weather should i encounter during the trip?

here is a rough itinerary that i had put together but it can be totally reworked.

FLY IN
3 nights in PARIS
3 nights in MADRID
2 nights in VALENCIA
3 nights in BARCELONA
2 nights in NICE + CANNES
2 nights in MILAN
2 nights in VENICE
3 nights in ROME
3 nights in FLORENCE
1 night in BERN
4 nights in INTERLAKEN
2 nights in ZURICH
2 nights in FRANKFURT
2 nights in MUNICH
2 nights in PRAGUE
3 nights in BERLIN
2 nights in HAMBURG
2 nights in COLOGNE
5 nights in AMSTERDAM + NETHERLANDS ( i have to be at amsterdam for 20th APRIL and am planning to explore surrounding netherlands on a bicycle)
3 nights BRUGES
2 nights in PARIS
FLY BACK


THANK YOU

You are going to chew up a lot of time and money moving about.

ritwiksauntra: That is a really REALLY difficult plan. You will spend more time on buses/trains than actually IN some of those cities. 2 nights will net you barely one full day in a city <i>maybe</i> 1.5 days if two cities are very close to each other.

I'd cut several cities out of your plan - which to cut are really your personal preference.

If traveling that much by train, presumably as it is the best way for going to cities and for a single traveler is also a good place to meet others from all over the world - are you under 26 years old and thus able to buy a Global Eurail Youthpass, which if you went to even half your places would still be a bargain as in most countries (save Italy, Spain and TGV trains in France) lets you hop on any train any time - a 2nd class pass - if over 25 then it is only available in first class, which has immense bene3fits IME of years of traveling round Europe on trains - for great info on European trains I always point out these IMO fantastic sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com - lots of great objective info on those sites and not just the typical Add to Cart button.

If you want to check whether your budget is okay, check for the costs of transportation and hotels.

Places like Prague and Berlin are much cheaper than for example any place in Switzerland.

Thank you for your replies guys. I would be 23 years old during the travel so was considering a pass. I have the same fear that this might be too much to do in 2 months. When I look at europe it is pretty tempting to include all I can. Would you suggest exploring just like France Belgium Spain Netherlands and Italy would be good for this trip? Or should I visit all thee countries but just remove some cities?

I was considering a eurorail pass for sure and I am planning to live exclusively in hostels or couch surf.

Also what kind of weather would I experience there? Enters? Summers? What kind of clothes would I need to pack?

Even though I have done 21 city's in 21 days in 5 country's, slow down a little you are covering a lot of real estate.

We have found Switzerland to be very expensive.

Amsterdam on April 20th is a special time for some, if you have any questions ask me.

Would there be any events going on in amsterdam around April 20th? Also what kind of weather should I expect in the months of march and April? Will it be too cold?

yes at various coffee shops, http://coffeeshopdirect.info/index.p...96fdbaa70f655e
You will be there in early spring you could see snow as well as summer like days, dress in layers. Too cold no, but I live in NE USA.

i have revised my itinerary, kindly have a look and give feedback. thankyou :)

date city
27-Feb-2014 reach paris
28-Feb-2014 paris
01-Mar-2014 paris
02-Mar-2014 paris to bordeaux
03-Mar-2014 bordeaux
04-Mar-2014 bordeaux
05-Mar-2014 bordeaux
06-Mar-2014 bordeaux to madrid
07-Mar-2014 reach madrid
08-Mar-2014 madrid
09-Mar-2014 madrid
10-Mar-2014 madrid
11-Mar-2014 madrid
12-Mar-2014 madrid to valencia
13-Mar-2014 valencia
14-Mar-2014 valencia
15-Mar-2014 valencia
16-Mar-2014 valencia to barcelona
17-Mar-2014 barcelona
18-Mar-2014 barcelona
19-Mar-2014 barcelona
20-Mar-2014 barcelona
21-Mar-2014 barcelona to nice
22-Mar-2014 nice
23-Mar-2014 nice
24-Mar-2014 nice to venice
25-Mar-2014 venice
26-Mar-2014 venice
27-Mar-2014 venice to rome
28-Mar-2014 rome
29-Mar-2014 rome
30-Mar-2014 rome
31-Mar-2014 rome
01-Apr-2014 rome to florence
02-Apr-2014 florence
03-Apr-2014 florence
04-Apr-2014 florence
05-Apr-2014 florence to munich
06-Apr-2014 munich
07-Apr-2014 munich
08-Apr-2014 munich
09-Apr-2014 munich to prague
10-Apr-2014 prague
11-Apr-2014 prague
12-Apr-2014 prague
13-Apr-2014 prague
14-Apr-2014 prague to berlin
15-Apr-2014 berlin
16-Apr-2014 berlin
17-Apr-2014 berlin
18-Apr-2014 berlin to amsterdam
19-Apr-2014 amsterdam
20-Apr-2014 amsterdam
21-Apr-2014 amsterdam
22-Apr-2014 amsterdam
23-Apr-2014 amsterdam
24-Apr-2014 amsterdam to paris
25-Apr-2014 paris
26-Apr-2014 paris
27-Apr-2014 paris
28-Apr-2014 leave from paris

That is so much better. I'd consider changing it just a bit and not separate your Paris stay. Head straight on to Bordeaux and leave a full week in Paris at the end.

OK - so you are spending late winter and early spring in europe. If you are south of the alps the weather may be pleasant - north and you can still get full winter - including substantial snow. (You can even get snow in Italy then but its much less likely).

You need to consider that much of the trip is off season - which means many sights will be open shorter hours than during the summer.

Also your budget seems on the low side to me - sights and trekking from one city to another can be expensive. (My younger D did a trip of about 5.5 weeks 2 summers ago and spend about $8000 plus air fare - and she was sharing a room with two other young women, did essentially no shopping and minimal nightlife in student clubs and cafes.)

If airfare and trainpass costs come out of the 5000 € (thank you Treesa) then you are looking at something around 50 € per day to spend on hotels, food, local transportation, and entrance costs. This sounds awfully low... Maybe cut the trip in half and enjoy it more?

Have a good trip!

((B))

as for budget, after paying for flight and rail pass and reservations and hostel stay, i am left with 2118 euros, that is a little over 30 euros a day for food and sightseeing.

I am planning to look for couch surfing hosts so that might bring down my hostel cost substantially.

any idea how is air bob? is it reliable?

air bnb*

Get a copy of Let's Go Europe - a wealth of info for your type of travel.

Any reason you're not going to Nice after Bordeaux instead of visiting Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona in between

@Fredandgingermad. Because there are no comfortable train connections between barcelona and Venice and I really want to visit Spain. It just made sense on the map to visit the Spanish cities before nice.

You probably can make it on €30 a day for food/sightseeing. But you will have to be very frugal. Some museums will eat up half of your daily budget. But then on some days you may not pay admission to get inside anything so it will average out. But there won't be many/any restaurant meals. Lots of picnics/sandwiches/crepes from sidewalk stands. And forget about soft drinks. Drink mostly water and inexpensive wines - soft drinks are expensive and usually small servings.

Plus you have to account for any transport not covered by a rail pass - like buses, trams, metro, etc.

So you will have to watch your pennies for sure. If it was me, I'd shorten the trip so I had more money per day. As it is you will have NO cushion for emergencies.