Hello! I am planning a Europe backpacking trip. I'm going alone and I need some help. Its kinda last minute thing. I'm hoping to leave July 30th and be there for 3 weeks. When I travel, I don't like to do the touristy type things, I like to find the local places and really get to know what the locals experience. Heres my plan:

Fly from the USA to Spain, go through a small part of France (To see some friends), go up to Ireland, to Scottland, to the Netherlands (to see some friends), to Germany, Switzerland, then through Italy where I will fly back to the USA.

I understand that this is a lot of places in a little time which is why I need help. I need some advance on what to cut, what to visit, or how long I should stay in each city. I currently have 34 total places that I would like to see. Clearly, I know that its a lot of places so how would you go about this? What are the best places that I can really connect with the local people? What are the best places to learn more about culture?

Also, I'm debating on taking a rolling suitcase or a backpack. Which one do you think would be better?

Thanks in advance!

Hi, Welcome!

First, we're going to need some more information. You have not actually provided your interests and.. honestly, just stating that you want to experience "culture" and not "do touristy things" is not enough.

34 places (cities? towns?) Or is it 34 attractions and landmarks? Regardless, 34 places in 21 days.... TOO much! You have listed entire countries in your plan. Where exactly are you going? Why? If you do not want to do touristy things... why are you going and what are you planning to see while in each (country!) you have listed. Certainly there are reasons you want to go to each place.

If your route you described is what you are currently planning, you are backtracking.

Plan on flying into one city and out of another at the end. Keep in mind that your flight to and from will eat at least 2 - 2.5 days from your travel if they have not already been figured in. Also, keep in mind transit from location to location will eat up time spent sightseeing.

You need to go back to the drawing board in a major way and scale back. You are planning this way last minute during HIGH season. You may have difficulty with lodging in some places considering your travel dates.

Your luggage is your preference. Not sure if you pack light but your mode of travel may impact how much you bring. If you plan on using trains, use luggage that you can lift up trains easily.

Since you are new here, please note that you are limited to posts to only 2 or so per 24 hours. Use this time to do some additional research.

Ifusing trains get a rolling backpack - one that converts to a backpack or one on which you can use wheels to roll the pack around. Trains are best for s single person traveling long distances - www.bahn.de/en for schedules of all European trains and booking for ones involving Germany - book other trains thru web sites of national train systems - also consider a Eurailpass - for lots on trains check www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

I don't see how anyone could possibly give you advice on how long to stay "in each city," as you haven't told us which cities you want to visit.

But whatever they may be, this plan is entirely unrealistic as it stands.

You haven't given us much to go on except that you want to connect with local people (highly unlikely if you're traveling at breakneck speed, and frankly rather unrealistic in any event) and you want to "learn about culture" (well, what aspects of culture? Have you studied European history? Do you plan to visit festivals and local events? Museums? Do you speak any European languages? Have an interest in architecture, or painting, or music, or folklore, or.....?). Culture will be all around you. If you want to learn about it and understand it, though, that's on you - books, videos, etc., but again, if you're just zooming through a bunch of countries, you can't expect much more than glimpses of culture here and there.

Agree that it's back to the drawing board. Alternatively, just get on the plane and see what happens, but shed any "expectations."

And get a copy of Let's Go Europe - the backpackers guide to Europe with great rundown on hostels and cheaper hotels, nightlife, etc.

https://letsgo.com/

It is hard to give advice on such a vague post.

Reduce the number of countries you want to see, certainly drop Ireland and Scotland as they are the real outliers on this trip and expensive to get to. Switzerland is expensive.
You are going at peak holiday time for all of Europe. Accomodation may be hard to find, hostels get booked up just as hotels do. It depends on where you want to stay and how you want to stay.
Consider flying out of Germany instead of Italy, so you do Spain, spend some time with your friends in France and the Netherlands and spend time in Germany. Consider an Interrail ticket.

Interrail tickets or passes are only for European residents - Americans have to use the Eurailpass. If under 30 you can use the bargain Eurail Youthpass.

Ah OK, but it could still be worth OP's while looking into it.

Why if only Europeans can use it. From Interrail site: " An Interrail Pass can only be used by European citizens and official residents. Non-European citizens can use a Eurail Pass instead, available from Eurail.com. If you aren't a European citizen, but you can prove that you live in Europe, you can use an Interrail Pass.

If they had been say going to school in Europe or legally living in Europe for some reason and can prove it, then you can use an Inter-Rail Pass.

If you stay in hostels you can be flexible in your travels - like us oldsters were with cheap (then) Eurailpasses. Hostels - there are all sorts plus the 'official' HI (Hostelling International) ones - from youth hotels that always have bars and cafes for nighttime chat. Some may offer private rooms. Let's Go tells it all. But with a railpass and using hostels you could radically change your tentative schedule - you can reserve hostels by phone easily.

For HI-hostel you can buy an international guest card at your first hostel - there are several hostel booking sights too like Hostelling.com.

Hostels to me were fun when I was young and hotels isolating - hostels have large communal gathering areas whereyou will meet folks your age from all over the world!

Perhaps you are not as young as i think but backpackers are usually younger folk..

You don't TMK have to have a hostel cards to use the zillions of non-HI Hostels or Youth Hotels.

>>If you stay in hostels you can be flexible in your travels <<

>>But with a railpass and using hostels you could radically change your tentative schedule - you can reserve hostels by phone easily.<<


Maybe you haven't stayed in any hostels recently. It ain't like the 'good old days' when you could just show up or book a short notice. The good ones tend to book up pretty far ahead -as far or farther ahead than hotels.

How would I go about this?

1. I'd get a big map of Europe and mark all the spots I wanted to go (34 of them)
2. Study the map with the dots and make your own opinion of what looks like a logical route, and what are outlliers. (eg far out of the way).
3. Decide on travel budget. Do you have an open wallet to afford flights back and forth across Europe (esp to Ireland/Scotland as they are far away from the rest of your points)
4. I'd write down some of my important travel parameters or "rules" to guide me.
eg minimum stay in each location. 1 night, 2 nights, or 3, etc.
amount of time each travel day I'd be ok to be in transit. - is it 1hr per day (which limits you to a base and day trips), or 4 hrs, or a full day? Generally speaking, transitioning from one place to another can eat up a full day, as you need to pack up, check out, get to train/bus/airport, then the actual transit time, and the reverse on the other end, including figuring out a new language, city, bus/transit system, etc.

5. Then I'd figure out how long it takes from points 1 to 2 to.... to 34. www.rome2rio is a good site for this. And see what fits & follows your "rules (#4)
6. Come to your own conclusion on how many places you can visit in the 20 or so days you have, factoring in arrival and departure days.
If your rules are no less than 2 nights in each place, then it'll make it clear that means max 10 or so different destinations.
7. Start removing your dots from your map of stuff that doesn't fit.
8. Come back here with an itinerary you think fits in your plan for 3 weeks, including a few options you want input on, and we can give feedback.

You have two fixed points from what I see. France and the Netherlands. I'd cut everything else out and concentrate. It's not like France alone can't keep you occupied.

Adding to the excellent information and wise opinions you've been given

If this were my trip in August, I'd make Ireland, Scotland and Britain and Wales the major stop OR I'd do the Alps of Switz, Bavaria, the Dolomites of the Tyrol, (Austria and Italy) and maybe into the Julian Alps of Slovenia OR I'd try France, Belgium and the Netherlands OR I'd combine Spain with Portugal and maybe French Basque country. Being partial to Germany's summer music festivals, I'd stay there the whole three weeks. No way would I do the whole plan you've suggested. If you don't speak any of the languages of these countries, what is your plan for meeting people? If you're avoiding tourist areas you're going to limit the number of English speakers you meet. The US and Europe are pretty similar in size. Would you try to "do" the US in three weeks? And mile per mile (or kilometer per kilometer) there's a lot more to see in Europe.

I would add that in a single day or a few hours there's no way you can experience local culture. You might happen to chance on a local festival or a religious procession, but observing it is not experiencing it. What would usually happen is that you'd arrive in time for lunch, get checked into your hostel, pay a quick visit to the tourist office to get a map and find out if there are any cultural activities on that evening. Then you'd take a walk around the town, see its 500-year-old church and the famous mechanical clock in the town hall tower. You'd get lost at least once. You'd browse a few shops to see what sorts of unusual or interesting things they sell. Then you'd realize it's time for dinner, and that you'll have to get up early the next morning to get to the next destination.

I've made flying visits like this in my day, and it's perfectly fine. But I don't expect to experience the culture. And I really couldn't bear to do that every day for three weeks.

If you're traveling by train, you'll mostly be stopping in cities, not small towns or villages. To get to villages or rural areas, you'd often have to use buses. The bus schedules for very small towns are usually arranged to take people to a larger town in the morning (for school, or doctor's visits, or shopping) and back to the small town in the evening. If you arrive in a city by train, you may have to wait hours to get to another town by bus. When you get there, you may find that the only bus that will take you to a train station leaves at 7 in the morning, so in order to see anything of the town, you'd have ro pass two nights there.

If you really want to get around the countryside by public transportation, the Netherlands and Switzerland would be your best options. Both are expensive destinations, though.