In the Summer of 2004 my friend and I will be backpacking through Europe. It will be both our first times and we need some help. We have a small budget of about $2000. We Want to hit France, Spain, Italy, Maybe southern Germany, and Switzerland. I know to hit the big cities but what else. Can anyone offer some advice. Maybe some advice on how to do things cheaply. Good airfares, or good places to stay. Also any particular things we shouldnt miss in that region of Europe.

Also if you have any advice on anything we should know before leaving such as things to pack etc etc etc. Thanks for all the help.
-Yesmar

Might I suggest that you try the Lonely Planet website? It's more for backpackers and younger people. There are also other backpacking websites. Fodors tends to have an older (more fuddy-duddy?) crowd.

That said, maybe you could help us out a bit? - what not to miss "in France, Spain, Italy, and maybe southern Germany, and Switzerland" - wow! that's a pretty broad brush!!!

What are you interested in? Castles? Art? Wild parties? Good food? Water sports? Hiking?

If you could narrow things down a bit, I'm certain you will get quite a number of responses. A lot of really nice and helpful people frequent this forum.

Good luck!

Go to your local book store or library and check out the Rick Steve's guides to the cities you are interested in. Sounds like you might be into seeing Europe "through the back door" and find them very helpful. Good luck in your adventure!

Is that $2,000 budget for EACH of you or for the two of you, together?

You say Summer of 2004.... Exactly how long TOTAL will your trip be? Arrival date? Departure date?

And when you provide some more information to these additional questions, how about starting a new posting altogether, wuth a message header that actually conveys asomething about your question - - lie "Need advice on a multi-country backpacking trip next summer, especially bargain lodging and cheap air fares". As it is, hundreds of people have to click on your question, to see what you are asking.

Just about every question asked here could be filed under "Europe please help". Not much more meaningful than just "Help".

Imagine if every question here was labeled "Help" or "Do you know" or "Please tell me".

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi Yesmar,

If your budget of 2000 is for two people over the summer, I would have to say, it probably can't be done without some serious starvation. ;o)

However, if it is 2000 per person, it would be good to know how many months you are considering summer. If you are thinking two months (say, June and July) your budget would be about $32 a day. Factor in the month of August, and your budget dwindles to $22 a day. Considering that the euro is stronger than the dollar, it goes even less further.

Now, does this budget count your airfare and potential railpass? That would take a very large chunk of that fund.

However, don't despair! I would propose, with that budget, that you do two months. Since your budget is tight, you may want to consider your country choices...

France (esp Paris) and Switzerland will be more expensive in accommodation...could be 15-25 euro a day! Spain and Italy less so, however are you thinking about Florence? Rome? Hostels in those cities can be steeper because of demand.

Would you consider Eastern Europe? In the Czech Republic, lodging can be found for 9 or 10 dollars a night quite easily. Full meals and beer can be had for 4 dollars. As you can see, you could probably party like a rock star with those kinds of prices. And in my opinion, some of the most beautiful places in Europe are to be found in Eastern Europe. Another reason to go: enjoy it now before the euro hits those countries!

So perhaps you can start in Paris (where airfare choices abound) and go to Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and fly out from there? That's a combination of more expensive and cheaper countries. Spain is a possibility if you can fly. Check out ryanair.com for some serious budget flying (but pack light, they will charge for anything over 15 kilos!) I loved Spain, but it was an effort for me to get there.

In addition to the sites mentioned above, check out eurotrip.com. It is truly an excellent resource for backpacking in Europe. The message boards are outstanding, so take the time to read the threads. There are packing forums, hostel forums, transportation forums, etc.

I highly second Statia's recommendation about Rick Steve's "Europe through the Back Door." This book is excellent for first time travelers in Europe and gives all kinds of practical information. I'm not a big fan of his itineraries, but this book is good because it makes you feel confident that you can do it.

Please feel free to ask any further questions...I loved my 4 months in Europe, even with that backpack strapped on me. Of course, that leads to my last bit of advice here...

Pack light, pack light, pack light!

Yes, $2000 each or maybe just a tiny bit more.
want to see europe from europeans view. Not just the tourists attractions. Like everything active and love photography. Cool citys, not Art! but food is ok.

OK, so it will be $2000 for each of you. Cool. But you still have not told us how long your trip will be in total, and what your arrival and departure dates will be.

For others to do some calculations for you, it would be extremely helpful to have the above questions answered.

Yesmar, have you looked through some guidebooks and have a wish list of cities you really want to go to? We can start from there.

Hi, yesmar!

Thanks for providing us with some guidelines! Could you help us out a bit more?

crazymina's point of "pack light, pack light, pack light" is very good advice! Think about hauling your backpack over long distances, up and down stairs, etc. You can always wash some things along the way.

I would repeat BrinhamRocks' question: how long do you want to be travelling? As for the cheapest mode, it's probably the Eurailpass. A youth pass for people under 25 is about $900 for two months. There goes half your budget already! So, it's kind of important to know how long you plan to travel, so we can calculate how far your $2000 will last.

Thanks for your help!

As mentioned above, post on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree & read on Rick Steves website. Guidebooks by same: Lonely Planet & Rick Steves.

How to do it cheaply, move around less, transportation is a big part of the budget, compared to staying longer in one place. Shop from local markets. Attend free activities in various towns you pass through. Wine festivals, school pagents, town fetes, etc. you can find out about.

As far as packing, take a small suitcaes, backpack, whatever, but pack light! You can pick up anything exgra you need in Europe, along the way.

Rick Steves wrote a book last year that was unlike his guidebooks. It's a book about his first trip to Europe with a buddy the summer before college. Even though it took place about 25 years ago, you might get a kick out of some of the "backpacking" stuff that hasn't changed, such as how to maximize your money by eating on the run, sleeping on trains at night, etc.

Come back to this site for more specific info and we'll be glad to try to help.

ok were planning on not going for that long, just a month. June and perhaps the first week in July but no more. Paris and Rome are going to be on the list. We were goint to pass through Limoges because i have friends there. We also wanted to go to Naples. Southern France is also in the plans. Spain would be nice. Barcelona is in the plans however we need more advice on what else to do there. I've heard it's very nice however we dont know where to go. Their was a small town in southern switzerland which i thought would be good for hiking but other than that thats it. Their's not a whole lot in central France, but Northern France and Southern France would be great. Florence, Milan, and Venice!! We also wanted to just visit Monaco. Any other ideas?? Please don't hold back, we'll take any information at all!

If you have 5 weeks or shorter, you have a tough job to fit in all your plans.

Fly into Paris, Paris - 3
Limoges - 1
Toulouse - 1
If you're adding in Barcelona, I suppose you could stick in 3 n here, but that's it for Spain
8 n subtotal
Somewhere in between Barcelona and Nice - 1
Nice - 2/11 days subtotal
Florence - 3
Rome - 3
Naples or Sorrento (personally I'd drop these and use stay somewhere in between Rome and Venice, say Assisi and Ravenna - 2/19 days subtotal
Venice 3
Salzburg 2 / 24 days subtotal
Innsbruck 1
Berner Oberland 3/28 days subtotal
Black Forest area 1
Frankfurt, maybe Rhine 2
Total 31 (fly home from Frankfurt)
Any extra days use to slow this down, because this itinerary is an insane whirlwind that only someone young and energetic could attempt.

You really need to cut your coat to fit your cloth. I did something similar when I was in my early twenties, and frankly, even then I found it a bit much.

On a tight budget, it's important to suss out the cheapest transportation options from place to place. It's possible a railpass is the best deal, but often you will do better buying tickets on a point-to-point basis. Just make sure you get an accurate quote for these point-to-point tickets, as some web sites inflate the prices so that you will buy the railpasses they are selling. In some cases, it might be cheaper to use a low-cost carrier airline rather than take a train. There's also some areas where a bus might be the most economical option, and not take that much longer than a train.

If you are a budget traveler who does not drink, stays in hostels, and mostly eats food purchased at the supermarket, you could probably manage on 50 Euros per day for shelter, food, sightseeing, and local transport. That would mean 1500 Euros for 30 days of travel, and that does not include your airfare or regional transportation. So you might have to scale back.

thanks for all the replies. It really helps out alot. Sue_xx_yy your whole schedual sounds great, however we were thinking less time in Germany. I have a friend in Munich and that was about all we were thinking of doing. The rest sounds good. We definetly want to hit the almalfi coast, and southern Italy (I have family there). And as for spain, what else should we see. I know nothing about spain.

t