Europe Trip Ideas...Realistic or Not?
 

Ok! So in less than a year I am planning on doing my first ever Euro trip with a few recent college grads like myself. I have no goals other than spending the most amount of time there as possible, and spend as little as money as I can. I am looking for advice between the 3 trip ideas that I have in my head. Everything has to end in Italy, cause one of my friends going is full Italian and has been wanting to go "home" since he was conceived . So basic understandings as to why I picked these Places and trips. As you will see, Zurich or Madrid are the cheapest flights from LAX to Europe, thus creating two places I will arrive in (remember college student). I want to try and hit as many different countries as I can but not feel rushed. I am hoping for about a 3-4 week trip.
Trip 1= Fly into Zurich spend a week heading East into Southern Germany for a few days/week, come back to Zurich go into West Switzerland and then head South into Italy hitting many of the main places (Milan, Florence) on the way to Rome.
Trip 2= (recent suggestion from a friend really wanting to see Croatia)
We fly into Zurich then, like before, head East into Southern Germany but this time keep going and make our way into Austria, through Slovenia and then arrive in Croatia before catching a boat across into Italy.
Trip 3=Fly into Madrid, spend sometime in the city before heading directly to the coast. My friends obsession with Ibiza will coast us a night or two but catch the ferry back to Barcelona from there backpack/hitch hiking/anything that takes us along the coast of Mediterranean through Southern France and into Italy and Rome that way. (is this realistic for a 3/4week trip?
I have two concerns. One is of the first two and if we are backpacking this, the alps come into play right? haha...we are all in good shape but that seems ridiculous for the most experienced climber and thats not what this trip is for.
Second of all, the third trip, we just cover so many miles that it would come out to having to cover 50 miles a day. Are there any rails that go through these areas that might be able to help speed things up?
All are pretty intense ideas to do on a limited budget but I want to see as many things as I can because I dont know when/if I will ever get to do this again. There are Pros/Cons about each trip but any suggestions, ideas, concerns, tips are extremely appreciated :)

Thanks for everyones help!

Hi ra,

>the third trip, we just cover so many miles that it would come out to having to cover 50 miles a day. ....<

You could throw darts at a map. :)

May I suggest that you and your friends do some homework with various guidebooks, find out where you would like to go and come back for help in making your itinerary better?

((I))

I think that is a great point. I personally dont really care what I see. I have places I would like to go but nothing that blows me away. Like I stated, Rome is the one place I would really like to see, thus why all the trips end there but everything else is just to say that I want to go there and explore and enjoy getting lost. :)

P.S. Getting my college friends to do any type of research for this would be asking them to write a paper haha..I am just determined to make this trip incredible.

be like*

Just a couple of comments on hitching:

If there are more than two of you, you will have to split up for any chance of rides. This can lead to varied results, particularly arrival times. Not as big an issue now in the age of texting.

Usually slowest form of travel, so place a value on your limited time in Europe and decide if hitching is "worth it."

There are good train, ferry, flight connections to all locations in your possible itineraries. Cover "50 miles a day"? Do you mean 500? I like your trip #2 and think you should work on refining that one.

Good luck from a hitcher of a "few" years back, but I had three months and also relied on trains for long hauls.

Thanks Town. I was considering splitting up for the rides but wasn't real worried about meeting up later. I got the 50 miles a day from a map. I did the trail and it added up to close to 1500/1600 miles total, and divided it by 30 days..comes out to about 50 but lets be honest..50 miles a day is not that realistic. Trip 2 is growing on me as well just not sure if catching the boat trip from Croatia to Italy would be financially cheap but it sounds like it would be that fun. Any places you would recommend seeing?

Ditto what ira said.


Besides that:

Check whichbudget.com for cheap intra-Europe flights.
Few "college kids" travel by thumb these days when €30 can get you from one side of Europe to the other by plane.

You can go almost anywhere in Europe from Ibiza by non-stop flights. No need to backtrack to BCN.

Italy can be the most expensive place of the ones you have in mind, Croatia and Germany much less so. Check how far your budget will take you.

Hiking across Spain in summer heat is more streneous than the Alps. You don't actually think about hiking, do you?

Spain has great low-budget train fares (if you book far in advance) or cheap intercity buses.

Railpasses could be a good solution, especially if you are a student. But they are not always the cheapest solution, so you need to check them against prices for point-to-point (discount) fares.
And, yes, rails go anywhere you plan to go. Except Ibiza ;)

With the sometimes random pricing system of low-budget airlines, the shortest way is not always the cheapest to travel.
If you were in Ibiza, it could be much cheaper (just an example) to fly 2hrs to Berlin, spend a few days there, and fly south again to Milan than to ferry (is this a verb after all?) back to BCN and train thru Southern France to No. Italy.

There are lots of regional train and buses in Europe that provide great transportation at budget prices. I would use those, hitch hiking with a group probably won't work. A majority of European cars are very tiny.

With a budget, I wouldn't step foot in Switzerland, things are incredibly expensive there. Germany and Austria have much better prices. Italy is also more expensive, but not as bad at Switzerland.

I'd personally look into Berlin, Munich/Bavaria, and the Austrian Alps as destinations based off what you said in your post as what you initially wanted to do.

I just realized something. Are you planning on hiking this trip? I would not recommend that unless you plan on staying in one country the whole time.

A ferry won't be that cheap, but it won't be expensive either. If you can't afford a ferry you might have to reconsider this trip. Planes there are not cheap(around $1000) and add in food/lodging/siteseeing/transportation and the horrible exchange rate you are going to spend a lot. Most young people say 50 euro ($70ish) per day is the bare minimum required to travel through Europe without any transportation costs.

Cowboy,
Thanks for the website, I will look at those inner flights and see if I cant find something cheaper. Did not even consider the summer heat, but that is a great point. The ferry back to Barcelona was just an impulse of me considering that to be the cheapest but thanks for opening up the idea of flying elsewhere, I would love to make it 3+ countries, but figured it would be way too expensive.

Lindy, good tip on the trains, public transportation is a mystery me living in LA. :) Good tips on the pricing, the flights to Switzerland are dirt cheap but maybe they make up for it, with high consumer goods. Unfortunately, the group wants Italy most of all and I am going to take one for the team and say okay to it, we just might not stay as long as previously thought. Like before though, Trip 2 has received the most praise, your Munich/Bavaria/Austria idea, falls right in line with that.

Thanks for both of your guys input!

I, too would vote for #2. Croatia can be cheap, at least for food and transport, as can Montenegro, and Albania would be even cheaper (see http://tinyurl.com/3muv25k ). I'd get out of Switzerland fast, because of the expense - Austria is cheaper and the mountains are still very good. Nothing says you can't look at the Alps without climbing them, lol.

You can make this happen. I would not be too concerned about the number of places you can go. Just make sure you go. Ususally more countries mean more costs (for the travel). But that doesn't mean you can't do just that - it just means a lot more planning. Check out Lonely Planet for budget ideas. Their Thorn Tree is like this (forum) site only geared to a younger and cheaper (less expensive) crowd. More of a back packer thing than Fodor's. To stay cheap usually means to stay out of the Eurozone or to the eastern portions at any rate. Go places where the dollar is stronger and like others have said, Germany can be done fairly cheaply (compared to Switzerland and Italy) as can Prague, Istanbul or various other places. Depends on what you are willing to do.

Do your homework and save up as much as you can.

Thursdays,
Great Article! thanks for your vote too! That is truly the most difficult part I have yet to come across, basically just what to do.

Joe,
Thanks for your advice on the sight. I will probably re-post this over there as soon as I can. I want to do Eastern Europe at some point however, I don't think this will be the trip that, that happens. Italy is a must but I am considering boycotting Switzerland, from everyones advice on here says that it is a place to avoid if you are on a budget.

Thanks Guys!

hitch-hiking I think is a thing of the past in Europe for the same reasons it is in the U.S. so I would strongly consider using the fantastic rail system and if you are under 26 you qualify for the bargain IMO Eurail Youthpass - either a Global Pass good in a zillion countries or the Eurail Select Youthpass good in 3, 4 or 5 countries of your chosing and thus much cheaper. Check out these fantastic IMO sites to help plan a European rail trip - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com. Passes cannot be used by Europeans so are not sold in Europe. You may also want to mix in some cheap flights so scour them at sources like www.whichbudget.com, which tells you which low-cost airlines link various plances. www.easyjet.com and www.ryanair.com are two that fly extensive routes and can be dirt cheap (but watch the add-on charges like for luggage and even reserved seating.

If you really want to go from place to place on foot, there are areas where you can do that, but they are small areas. You aren't going to hike, or hitchhike, across any of theese countries and have a good time doing it.

While deciding what you are interested in is important, it sounds to me like you need to first decide exactly how much you can spend for transportation and lodging, and then go from there. Unless you are moving from place to place by walking (and people that take walking vacations usually do it because they love the scenery in a specific area), then every time you move from one place to another is going to cost you money (and time). A railpass might get you from place to place, but the passes are not cheap, and cost more the more days of travel you have on them, and the more countries that are included. A single country rail pass will likely be much cheaper, given an equal number of travel days, than a multi-country pass.

Zurich and Madrid are far enough Italy that any money you save by going through these airports is likely to be eaten up by travel costs getting to and from these locations, if you must go to Italy. Take a hard look at flight costs and recalculate based upon an open jaw itinerary that takes you where you actually want to go.

If Italy is an absoulte must, I wouldn't go any further north than Switzerland, or possibly Bavaria. Between that area and Italy (with southern France and Austria as other possible destinations as an alternative), you could cover a fair bit of ground, with very diverse terrain and culture, without breaking the bank.

I think you're already off on the wrong foot by assuming that Zurich or Madrid are your cheapest entry points. Considering that you can't get fares more than 330 days out,you can't really check what the fares at this point will be, but in checking the fares from LAX to Europe this summer, I found that Frankfurt (as I suspected) is considerably cheaper (hundreds of $$) to fly into from LAX than either Zurich or Madrid. I used FareCompare.com to check prices.

Thanks for the flight links Palen, they look great and I will check them as soon as I get off work today.

TWK, thanks for your input, I have been worrying about the money costs quite a bit but thank you for the idea of not getting to far north and sticking to places I know I want to go. I have been consumed with the bug of going as many places I can instead of places I truly want to see.

Hazel,
I tried that as well but I have been using Kayak for the last 4 months or so looking at this trip and I like it because it estimates the prices and what they will be year round and helps predict what they will be and so forth. Obviously, this is just a prediction but that is where I have been getting my data from. Thank you for your tip on Frankfurt. I just tried it on Kayak and it came up with some promising results, not overwhelmingly cheaper but will help save some money rather than Zurich. You have to remember though, I am flying in one city and ultimately flying out of Rome, so it is more worrying about the flight there than the flight home.

thanks for your guys help :)

P.S. Everyone has had some really awesome sights!

You might check fares to Budapest as well, which would get you closer to Croatia (and don't forget Slovenia).

I did the same kind of trip a couple years ago and here are my tips/suggestions:

1. Look into the currency conversion between the swiss franc and the euro. We went from spending time in Italy and Austria to Switzerland and felt constrained by the increased amount of money we were spending. This may effect how long you stay there.

2. Consider over-night trains- they may be a little more $ but serve as a hotel/hostel and as transportation for longer routes. We took an over night train from Venice to Vienna and didn't have to waste a day traveling. There were 3 of us so we split a private cabin perfectly (I think there's room for 4).

3. Definitely make sure Cinque Terre (Italian coast northwest of Florence) is on your itinerary. I would suggest staying there in one of the towns for 2 nights so that you have a full day to hike between the towns and enjoy it. There's a local train that runs between each town (5 in a row) so if you follow the trail in one direction you can take the train back... or if you don't want to hike just hop on the train. We stayed in Montorosso Del Mar and I'd go back there in a heartbeat.

4. When it comes to watching what you spend with food, I'd recommend visiting local markets or grocery stores and buying stuff there to take with you, especially bottled water! We would buy a couple mini sandwiches and fruit to take on the go and it relieved us of $$ pressure when we wanted to enjoy local dining experiences and have nicer sit-down meals.

5. As far as hiking/the alps goes, depending on where you go, you can visit and experience the alps without going on rigorous hikes. I'm pretty sure you can take the funiculars up and then hike down in different places which is what I did. Some are ski resorts in the winter so maybe some of the ski lifts are still in operation for summertime visitors? (I'd say the hiking was equivalent to Runyon Canyon or even Fryman Canyon in LA) But this is just from my p.o.v. and I'm not a big hiker- I just wanted to let you know that there are ways to experience the beautiful alps in which you don't have to be an expert athlete. (unless you WANT to make it a hiking trip, that is...)

6. Check out Rick Steves- he had great money, time, and hassle saving advice... and tends to focus on more "off the beaten path" traveling which I, myself, appreciate but really depends on personal preference.

Have a great trip!

Oh yeah, and bring a journal to document your adventures and fun things that happen along the way- you'll want to revisit the memories later :)

"especially bottled water" - there is absolutely NO reason to buy bottled water in western and central Europe. The tap water is perfectly safe to drink. Not only is it an unnecessary expense, but you are adding to proliferation of plastic waste.

Thursdaysd, thank you for the clarification.

Hitchhiking? I wouldn't recommend it. This isn't the 70s anymore.
Even then it wasn't fun and especially if you only have 3 weeks.

In about 4,000 KM of driving in Europe the last couple of years I never saw one hitchhiker.

I see hitchikers around here (SW France) in the summer, standing forlornly by autoroute entrances. Not nearly the numbers there used to be. Aside from the practical aspects I already mentioned, it can be dangerous, of course.

Certainly in Germany, hitch-hiking is being superseded by car-share websites like Mitfahrgelegenhiet, where people post their journey details and others can link up to offer rides for a share of the fuel cost.

Nowadays it is very rare to see hitchers in Europe.

That should be http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/

Everyone keeps saying Italy is more expensive than other countries - I just have NOT found that to be true. Can be, doesn't have to be. I do agree Switzerland is considerably more expensive but other than that - Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Croatia - they can all be done for roughly the same per day. If seeing Switzerland is important to you fly in there but only spend a few days, otherwise skip it.

My number one money saving suggestion is one you may not like - PLAN ahead. Yes, it restricts you in some ways, you can't be as spontaneous BUT - you get the cheapest (and best value for the money) lodgings and the cheapest transportation when you reserve in advance.

The cheap flights can be dirt cheap if you book them when they first become available - usually about 6 months ahead. But they rise considerably as the travel date gets closer.

Trains and buses can usually be booked just a few days ahead when you are already over there. In most countries, definitely Italy, there are numerous trains between the same destinations but they take different amounts of time and are different prices. For example you can take a train from Naples to Rome that takes one hour or a train that takes two hours, and the two hour train will be about half the price. So when you get to each city look at the schedules and pick (and book) the train that is the best price to your next destination. Buses can be even cheaper, but not necessarily, and do somewhat different routes. You just need to check both. You can get an idea of schedules and prices on line but not usually worth booking ahead. Trains and buses in Europe are amazing compared to the US. They go absolutely everywhere and are affordable. Within cities walk or take the metro or city bus. Taxis eat up a lot of money (usually).

For lodging look at guest houses, pensiones, B&Bs, and especially 1 and 2 star hotels. They are usually not at all sketchy and can be as cheap, or cheaper, than youth hostals. You can find good value lodging but it does take time. You just need to spend time on line looking and checking reviews on trip advisor. In cities consider location, you might spend a few euro more for a city center hotel but will save on the cost of the metro if you can walk everywhere. The good value places fill up months in advance for high season so waiting till you get to a city to find lodging means you will spend more (not to mention wasting time).

Travel light - carry on size bag/backpack. You really don't need sleeping bags, etc and if you bring that kind of stuff you'll pay baggage fees if you fly, and they are a pain on trains/buses.

Buy food at grocery stores (well they call them grocery stores/supermarkets, but they are, at least in cities, much smaller than you are used to in America)and eat picnics. This is my number one money saver. Sit down restaurants with table service is what most people want on vacation but it adds up fast. There are 'cafeteria' style restaurants all over Italy that have very good food and are much cheaper for when you do want a restaurant meal (vs a picnic). Refill your water bottle from the tap (or public fountains in some cities - Rome for example). Don't buy soda -it costs more than wine.

Wow! Great responses everyone!
Thursday..I just began looking at Budapest so thank you for the tip. P.S. great to know about the tap-water..that will be a nice change from LA.

Cookie,
Thank you for all of your advice. By what everyone has said, I am considering just dropping Switzerland all together. besides Chateau de Chillon I dont really care about going there and that is extremely West as is. I was already planning on going to supermarkets but your hiking tips and Rick Steves are great tips and I will look at them today! :)

MJDH,
Thanks for the website, that is quite interesting (and smart) that people are starting to coordinate that. From what everyone on here says though is that it is a waste of time to hitch-hike and I would be better off just buying a rail pass especially if there is 2-4 people.

Isabel,
Thanks for your tip on Switzerland, like I said above this is the kind of information I was hoping for when I sent out the post, so thank you! :) I had already considered the overnight trains, but I am happy to hear that buses are another reliable form of transportation! I love picnicking so that sounds perfect and I am more of a wine guy, than soda haha so I should fit in quite well :)

Thanks everyone!

Any place Rick Steves recommends immediately becomes the beaten path, trampled by hordes of Steves-ites. Example: the Cinque Terre. I like his philosphy of travel, and he's very good for practical information like the location of laundromats, but he's just too popular now.

I loved Croatia and vote for any itinerary that includes it. Though there's plenty to see in the way of museums, ruins, etc., it's a relaxed, enjoy-the-scenery-and-the-beach place to travel.

Very good advice from isabel and Cookie (mostly). Do look at the Thorn Tree on Lonely Planet's web site. It's more for your style of travel.

I have been looking at Rick Steves for nearly 45 minutes now and am loving every minute of it. This looks like a phenomenal website! I will continue looking through it! I think Croatia looks like a gem in Eastern Europe, that is one place I would love to go! :)

for folks your age and travel style I would highly rrecommend taking a copy of Let's Go Europe along with you - a wealth of info aimed at young folk with objective coverage - tells the warts and all - like on nightlife and especially budget accommodation like hostels, youth hotels, pensions, B&Bs etc - in any large bookstore or Amazon.com, etc. The coverage of hostels and youth hotels is especially awesome! Use the internet addresses and or phone number to call ahead and book your next low-budget accommodation rather than arriving in a city to find hostels full and only expensive hotels as an alternative.

Also Europe's myriad of overnight trains can save on a night's hotel costs and relocate you over long distances whilst you snore.