alyssajonesx

I'm looking for any information on planing my trip to Europe, this will be my fisrt time traveling alone, I would appreciate any advice on best ways to book accommodation, names of websites? I'm on a budget like most people. I'm looking to go to Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, Florence, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid.

BigAleinstein

Take a look at some of the previous Fodor's posting about first time travelers and those who want to cram an entire continent into a month.

Start with a map and see how far each city is. Remember you will lose considerable time when you move from city to another.

Look at the cheap airlines like Ryan, Easyjet, and Vueling and be sure to look at their luggage restrictions and steep penalties.

I like booking.com and have had great success with in about 8 countries.

sueciv

I began with reading travel books about the places in which I was interested. Then came here...found out about Kayak, Travelocity, etc. And "played" with destinations...how long, how many stops, if stops, what airports, how long between.

For you? Maybe it would be less expensive or quicker to go to Amsterdam, train to Paris, cheap flight (Ryan etc.) to Madrid, over to Barcelona, flight to Venice, down to Florence, then to Rome and fly out.

As to accommodations? Here, Fodors, dare I say "Frommers" or "Rick Steves" have recommendations. Then, you can sit and read hotel reviews at TripAdvisor.com.

Oh an Alyssa, I LOVE traveling solo. No problem!

Jean

How soon is your trip?

adrienne

- Read about the places you want to visit and take notes.
- Decide what sights/activities you want to do and determine how long you'll need in each location. Allow some extra time for just wandering around or in case you find cool things to do at the last minute. You'll have the time to added things without giving up what you've already planned.
- Find hotels in your budget and in the area you want to stay.

One thing that is a budget killer is moving around a lot. It takes money to travel from place to place.

For 1 month (30 days) you have too many locations. 7 major cities means 4 days per city, not including travel time so you are looking at about 3 to 3.5 days per city. not a lot of time. It will take you time and money to get to train stations or airports in each city.

I use guide books (several different books borrowed from my library) and read trip reports on this forum. There are also threads on lodging.

Have a great trip.

Goldens

When planning you should consider flying open-jaw (into one city and home from another). Do not buy a round-trip ticket to/from the same city. Then you won't have to back-track.

Look at the Eurail website and you can see a map of the European train network. This will give you an idea about the train system. You can also read about various rail passes and see if that would be feasible for you. If you want to learn about the European rail system then a good source is the website called Man in Seat 61.
Train schedules can all be found at the German Rail site, bahn.de. There is an English language option.

Most of the cities that you mentioned have excellent hostels. Look at websites like Famous Hostels and HostelWorld to get an idea of what these are.

Map out where you want to go and how many days. Then you can figure out train/plane and lodging. When planning your days keep in mind that Venice is a very expensive city and it is difficult to find budget rooms.

Good luck with planning and then come back for specifics.

Peter_S_Aus

I would like to apologise on behalf of the Fodor's community for WomBatt's somewhat dismissive comment above.

I imagine that if your questions were asked of WomBatt face to face, then he/she might be more helpful.

KL467

I normally book hotels online or through e-mail. I do not know your budget, but I have stayed at the following:
Paris - http://www.hotelprinceparis.com/ Close to Eiffel Tower
Paris - http://www.hotelleroyal.com/
Florence - http://www.hotelricasoli.it/
Rome - http://www.romehoteldazeglio.it/

I recommend you looking into the Paris Museum Pass. It saved me a lot of time by not having to stand in line. http://en.parismuseumpass.com/

This bike tour was the highlight of one of my trips to Paris: http://www.bikeabouttours.com/

I took a great cooking class that included shopping in the markets, but it may be too expensive: http://www.cooknwithclass.com/

This pizza in Florence was the best I have ever had in my life: http://www.osteriadepeccatori.com/

If you could let us know what your nightly hotel budget is, we could give you recommendations in your price range.

I hope you will love Europe as much as I do!

alyssajonesx

All the info I have been given is very helpful thanks for taking the time to advise me. I really appreciate the site for hostels and hotels that's really what I was aiming to gain thank you
KL467. And yes I understand 7 city's is a lot in a month but I have the option to go over that month If I have to. I was considering getting a Eurail pass(I know I would need flights also) and still am but I know that would take up a lot of my time considering the many places I want to see, I'm from Scotland so I would be starting there to the person who asked. If anyone that has commented would be kind enough to give me anymore information/let me ask them specific questions I would be very greatful. Thanks again.

live42day

Have you looked at Monestary stays in Italy ? We are going in October and staying in a Monestary in Venice, my Sister in law stayed there last month and will join us again in October. They are good locations and reasonable. Just look for the curfew times if you want to stay out late. We are at #114 that has a 1030P curfew, but should not be a problem for us. Some don't have a curfew.
They have them in Florence and Rome as well. Average cost for a single 50 euros and up depending on when you are going.