Me and my partner live in the UK but haven't really seen much of Europe. We want to go travelling but I think we'd prefer to do it in parts (Eg, Europe, then a year or so later America, then a year or so later Asia etc) and have saved up a few thousand pounds to start our first leg of our journey

We are vegetarian but love to try new foods. We enjoy music, reading and viewing filming locations (Especially if we're fans of the movie/tv show!) We like to see natural beauty and historical landmarks rather than museums etc but wouldn't mind a mixture.

We haven't really given ourselves a time limit yet, but would hope to at least spend a couple of days in each place - so we can get a better feel for the places we are visiting rather than feeling like we are rushing through everything.

We're new to this and would appreciate any information anyone can give us;
How much you recommend us to limit ourselves per day to spend (including food, accommodation, travel etc)
Whether you would recommend Hostels, AirBnB, CouchSurfing or a mixture of the lot.
Trains/Planes/Buses - what would be cheapest and most convenient.
How much time would you recommend us having for this trip (whether it be weeks or months)
Examples of travel itineraries, we wouldn't want to keep going back on ourselves etc.
Anything else you think might help/be relevant.

We would want to visit all the major landmarks/cities - but we are on a budget. I think our goal is to visit each European country on this trip, obviously some places we know we will only be there for a day just to visit a specific place, others we could possibly be there for up to a week. We just want to experience what this world has to offer, at the end of the day - you only live once!

Thanks in advance!

To visit every country in europe and see all the major landmarks you are talking about a trip that is several months long. (There are 52 countries in europe.)

Unless you have that much time off and quite a large budget it's just not doable. And you will probably have to tent camp in the outskirts, travel by cheap buses and eat food from markets or prepared things from supermarkets. Also you need to consider the cost of entry to these major sights - most are not free and many are fairly pricey.

I suggest you think realistically about how much time you have available and how many thousands of euros you will have to spend then focus on taking smaller bites that will give you a chance to see more of each place - and not cost more than the downpayment of a house.

You need to make some decisions before most of your questions can be answered. Look at some guidebooks, watch some videos, think about what interests you. The Fodors website has lots of information at the "Destinations" link at the top of every page. Make a list of what appeals to you most, then prioritize that list because you likely won't be able to see/do everything on it in one trip.

What you can get for your euro varies widely between countries, between places within each country, as well as the time of year. You need to know exactly how much you want to spend on the entire trip. A "few thousand pounds" to my mind could be anything between 2,000 and 5,000.

No one can tell you what form of transportation is cheapest and most convenient without knowing the itinerary.

I just noticed that you tagged your post "Austria, France, Italy, Netherlands." Assuming you want to see more than one city/place in each country, that's already a long list for a couple who are "on a budget."

Will you be willing to rent a car during this trip? That's really the best way to see small towns, except in the Netherlands, which has a very dense system of public transportation.

One idea, without a car, would be to take the Eurostar to Paris, visit the city for a while, then take a train to Amsterdam. Travel around the Netherlands by bus and train for part of the trip. The tourist offices in the Netherlands are very good at giving you directions using public transportation.

After your time in the Netherlands, take a train of cheap flight to Austria. Whether you want to rent a car there would depend on what you want to see. The major towns are well connected, and even some of the smaller towns can be seen using public transportation. Getting to Italy would be fairly easy by train. Verona is on a direct train line from Innsbruck, for example, and the train ride through the Alps is very scenic.

In Italy, the train is both cheaper and faster than driving if you're traveling between major cities such as Torino (Turin), Milan, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples, and Salerno. All of these cities are connected by high-speed trains. If you want to visit small rural villages, you may have to consider renting a car. There are a number of smaller places easily visited by train, boat, or bus, though. You'd have to have a better idea of your itinerary to get specific advice.

Most European countries have train tickets that are highly discounted for advance purchase of tickets; the Eurostar also costs a lot less if you buy the tickets well in advance. I can tell you that in Italy, where I live, there are excellent discounts on the high speed reserved trains if you buy tickets 120 days in advance, and especially if you can manage to travel at the less popular times of day. These tickets are for a specific train at a specific time, so don't buy tickets if you're not sure of your travel plans, because the discounted tickets can't be exchanged for other tickets without paying the full price, and can't be exchanged at all on the day of travel. For the low-cost regional trains, used mostly by commuters and students, there is no reason to buy the tickets until you get to Italy. You can see the timetables on http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en . You have to use the Italian names of the major cities: Torino, Milano, Venezia, Firenze, Roma, and Napoli, for example.

For other countries, and for the international portions of the trip, you should ask about train discounts when you've a better idea of the places you want to visit.

If your trip ends in Italy, you can probably fly back to the UK on a budget airline.

There are other possible itineraries between these countries, of course. Torino and Milan are well-connected to southern France by train. So you could start in Rome (or some other Italian city), work your way up into southern France, visit Paris, then the Netherlands, then fly to Austria and fly home from there.

I use www.skyscanner.net to find good air travel bargains. You can even put in the name of a country rather than a city to see the cheapest places to depart from, and plan to end your trip near that airport. Most budget airlines have strict limits on luggage, but for a trip like this, you should travel very light anyway, even if it means having to do laundry en route.

For finding film locations, you should Google specific favorite films or TV series set in the countries you want to visit. You'll usually find a page with details about the filming sites. Then you can decide which ones you really want to see. If you post a list of places, someone here can probably tell you how best to get to the places.

As Jean said, it's impossible to tell you at this early stage in your plans how much you'll need for meals and hotels, as it varies so widely from one place to another. A hotel room that costs €50 in the rural area where I live in Italy might cost three times that much in Rome.

Thanks for the mix of information.

I am not particularly bothered about actually paying to enter these land marks; eg Eifel tower etc, I would just like to physically SEE these landmarks.

I am also not bothered about the time it takes, as I have been saving for this sole purpose and will be leaving my job in order for us to do this trip.

My apologies, I sent that before I had finished writing..

I have saved enough to get by whilst away, but to also keep me going until I find work when I return to the UK. I have over £15,000 but obviously not all of this is intended for the trip. When I said budget I meant I didn't want to do this trip first class, I want to stay in the cheap places, travel the cheap way so we can get further on the money that we do decide to take.

We want to backpack the EU, yes it might take us weeks, months or even a year. But it's what we want to do. I came here to ask for help, not for judgement. I did say "we are new to this", hence why I am here asking everyone in this community who clearly have more of an understanding of it that me or my partner do.

We have already decided that we will stick to a budget per day, including food travel and lodging, if this means skipping a few meals or sleeping on a train/bus journey in order for us to not go over our budget in the more expensive countries then that's what we're willing to do.

Again, thanks for any information in advance

Another note; I meant EU countries, not every country in Europe. My apologies on the typing error there.

Well if you look at the student travel guides - which try to provide suggestions for the cheapest way of doing things - they generally give about 50 euros per day per person as the minimum necessary for basic travel (hostels, cheap buses, picnics etc). So for a couple 100 euros per day - so about 3000 euros per month of travel (including travel between cities). Have a look at the Let's Go Student guides in your local library - and perhaps that will help you build a budget from the ground up.

My 19 year old DD and 2 friends spent almost 6 weeks 2 summers ago - when the euro was much higher versus the dollar and it cost her almost US$8K. Yes, it would have been possible for them to spend less - but free is not going to happen.

>>Another note; I meant EU countries, not every country in Europe.<<

Not counting the UK that would be <B>27</B> countries. You really REALLY need to focus . . .

<i>But it's what we want to do. I came here to ask for help, not for judgement</i>

Dear Jane: If you think you can avoid judgment as part of the information you're seeking, you're in the wrong place. So here's a bit of judgment to chew on (or ignore).

Until you do an enormous amount of the "homework", bookstores, libraries, travel videos, maps, etc. There's is little that we can do for you, other than bare "judgment"....

For advice that is meaningful and practical, please come back after you have an appreciable amount of research to contribute to your very own trip plans.

Most of the posters on Fodors (including me and all those above) have done their own preliminary research before seeking help on specific items. Yes, it's work, but the joys of travel are greatly enhanced by what you put into it.

Hope to see you back here someday.

If it were my trip (and I envy you the time, money and youth to do it), and had decided to do this, I'd take the ferry to Rotterdam. Then I'd get down to Antwerp, then to Paris, then fly to Barcelona or Madrid, then bus or train to Lisbon, then maybe fly to Venice. . . and go around Europe in a counterclockwise contracting spiral so that you've covered all the countries you want without backtracking.

Flying might make the most sense--both time wise and economically if you pack light enough so that the carrier does not rob you in luggage costs.

One thing you're going to find, though, is that there are an awful lot of very interesting things to do in Europe. So don't be surprised if you get to, say, Paris, and decide you want to stay and see a bit more of it rather than rushing right off to Spain.

So I think the advice above to get some good guidebooks and read up beforehand on what's where will save you a lot of trouble and expense in the long run. I'd hate for you to get to Lisbon and meet someone who persuades you (based on your interests) that you really should have seen, say, Amboise, France.


Also, while there are some things that need only to be seen--the Eiffel Tower is a great example--there are others than you need to get inside of to appreciate, and that will probably cost money.

Good luck with this.

<I think our goal is to visit each European country on this trip>

<want to backpack the EU, yes it might take us weeks, months or even a year.>

A year is a long time to be on the road, and the budget for a one week OR one month OR one year trip... obviously very different things!

Take that 15,000 pounds and divide by 365 (days in a year) and that's only 41 GBP or 57 euro per day. Not really enough even for a backpacking styled trip. And used every bit of your savings.

Do you really want to do all 50+ countries on this one single trip?

Hi Jane,
I havebeenaregular onFodors for over 20 years and I am going to award you my personal prize for the most vague question ever posted!

Now, how canyouexpect us to give you list of all hostels or campgrounds in every city or town in Europe only to have you reply with, we aren't interested ingoing to X?

If youcanat least put in the effort to decide whereyou want to go, you can get expert help here.

You willget out of you trip exactly what you put into it, so start now!

Buon viaggio

I shall just leave this here.

Like I said I am new to this, I didn't ask for someone to plan my trip for me. I just asked for advice.
I wasn't expecting any of you to do anything, just a friendly nudge in the right direction would have been appreciated. Yes my post might have been vague, but I didn't know where to begin.. Hence the quest for help.

Clearly I wasted my time.

Thank you to the couple of individuals that actually took their time to give advice, I really appreciate it

Pretty thin skinned. You DO need at least an outline of what you'd like to do (NOT "see everything no matter how long it takes.
Get a map--put some pins in it where you want to go and connect the "dots". What else can we tell you? Once you have some places in mind, a LOT--and even more, how much it might cost to stay/see/enjoy those places.

Do you actually want us to tell you where to go/the best things in <u>26</u> countries. Sorry we disappointed you but there aren't even any 700 page books that could cover all that. <i>You</i> need to do a little bit of the leg work, read up.

Your questions are mostly unanswerable -- except to repeat that you need to get some guide books and read up. From your OP:

>><blue>How much you recommend us to limit ourselves per day to spend (including food, accommodation, travel etc)</blue><<

Every country has a different standard of living and different costs of travel.

>><blue>Trains/Planes/Buses - what would be cheapest and most convenient.</blue><<

Depends on WHERE

>><blue>How much time would you recommend us having for this trip (whether it be weeks or months)</blue><<

To visit every EU country would take months and months unless you just want to touch each country and not visit different places in each country (or unless you want to get in the Guinness Book of World Records hitting the most countries in the fewest days)

>><blue>Examples of travel itineraries, we wouldn't want to keep going back on ourselves etc.</blue><<

For TWENTY-SIX countries???? How can anyone give you an itinerary for that?

>><blue>We would want to visit all the major landmarks/cities - but we are on a budget. I think our goal is to visit each <strike>European</strike> <B>EU </B> country on this trip, obviously some places we know we will only be there for a day just to visit a specific place, others we could possibly be there for up to a week</blue><<

There are (literally) thousands of 'Major sites' -- hundreds in some countries alone

Janey, I think the best advice we can give you is that you need to figure out your timeline and finances first. Where to go is the easier part. Planning a backpacking for one week, one month, or one year are entirely different undertakings. I do think what I posted about money is very important - take your travel fund amount & divide it by the number of days you plan to be gone. That will begin to give you an idea of what you can afford, how long you can afford to travel on your current savings.

You say you have 15K pounds total. But this is your life savings. How much do you have to keep in reserve to live on until you get re-established at home. (We have no idea of where you live, your cost of living, your income level, etc. We keep 3 months basic expenditure in our day to day banking - and for us this is about US$20K - but we live in NYC, are paying for a large apt, running 2 cars etc. I assume it will be less for you - but have no clue what.)

Assuming that you need to keep 5K pounds in the bank that leaves you 10K to spend. 10K pounds is about 13,700 euros - at the moment. At a VERY basic cost of 100 euros per day for the 2 of you, this is 137 days or 19 weeks. This is a very long time to be on the road.

But for us to help you, you need to run your numbers as above and give us:

How long you can afford to be on the road, what your interests are (only big cities or also small towns and countryside, what weather you like or dislike - Spain in midsummer is hellishly hot - if you want beaches or mountains, hiking or other outdoor activities, etc).

Or you may have a look at the Let's Go guides and decide than 50 euros per day won;t work for you - you can spend more or need to spend less - and this limit yourself to the cheapest countries.

You really have to provide SOME information before anyone can help you.

Wow. This is a joke, right? Or maybe a test?

Regardless, me thinks you aren't getting the answer you would prefer: "Yes, it can be done. Yes it can be done cheaply, quickly, and efficiently. You can see ALL of the EU countries on your budget and also visit all of the major landmarks."

But, you're not going to get that answer here. And because we won't provide that answer, we're getting accused of judging you? And you have offered little substance to back up your reasoning and rebuff our suggestions; and, therefore coming back saying posters are "judging" you? Technically, no judgment from what I can see...just hard questions that from what I can tell, YOU don't WANT to answer!

I have to ask--another question you may accuse me(us) for judging: WHY do you want to do it this way? And why are you limiting it to "just the EU?" What, poor ol’ Switzerland doesn't stand a chance? Poor Switzerland.

Posters here would absolutely LOVE to help you. We post on here because we LOVE to travel. But, YOU have to do some work here and need to look at the hard realities about what is truly feasible on your budget...and for whatever time frame. Bucket List travel "checking off spots from the list" is only done in the movies, truly. And unless the TARDIS somehow materializes (I get first dibs, sorry), you really need to do some homework first.