trojan11

Hi everyone....I wanted to know if anyone could help me with some possible routes to take on my trip to Europe this summer. My buddies and I are flying into Amsterdam around 20th of June and whatever we do we need to end up in italy(Bari, where my friends family lives) and we leave from Rome, middle of August. If anyone knows of any cool routes we can take please let me know...we have a 4-5 country Euro pass and we are thinking of France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy. We want to throw in other countries but are going on a very!!! tight budget. Thanks a lot

adrienne

If your budget is very tight as you state I would bypass Switzerland since it's quite expensive.

Did you actually buy the train pass before you decided where to go? In general Eastern European countries are less expensive than Western European countries so maybe you should focus your itinerary here. If you did buy train pass then this option may not be practical.

What exactly is your budget and how many of you are traveling. Are you planning to stay in hostels or get hotel rooms?

Is there anything that particularly interests you. Are you planning on partying or seeing museums or going to beaches?

You sound pretty young. Have you looked at the Thorntree travel site? There's lots of budget travelers/ backpackers who post there who may be able to help with low cost travel options.

ira

topping

trojan11

We did buy the pass before, I don't know why we did it, I let my friend take care of it. Right now there are just three of us going and we are planning to stay in hostels. Our last month of our trip is going to be in italy because my friends family said they would cover our costs their....so are budget is for the 1st month, roughly around 1000-1500. We definitely want to go party but also see musuems and historical landmarks on the way. If it's possible we wanted to take a visit to Spain but it seems so far out of the way.. Thanks for replying

The_Pixies

I have two suggestions for you. First - get a Budget oriented guidebook like Let's Go Europe and read! Only you can decide the places that interest you. A book will help you decide what is worth your time. Let's Go also has great suggested itineraries for different timeframes.

After that, check out www.eurotrip.com. This is a budget travel oriented site with tons of good information. Fodors is great too, but the people here travel a little more upscale.

adrienne

I'm hoping your budget of 1,000 - 1,500 is Euros, not dollars but you're probably quoting dollars. It's not much of a budget - $33.00 to $50.00 per day for food, sightseeing, lodging, and clubs.

In general northern countries are more expensive than southern countries and cities are more expensive than small towns. If you want to see Spain and it's included in your train pass then that's where you should head (Portugal too). I haven't been to these countries so I can't offer any first-hand advice other than what I've read about. But there's lots of advice here on Spain.

Go to the library and check out Let's Go guide books for Spain and Portugal which is a very good budget travel book. It will tell you what hostels are good, where to eat cheaply and where the action is.

It's been a long time since I've stayed in hostels but sometimes a triple room can be cheaper. An alternative would be camping.

You'll need to do some homework for this trip to get along for the first month on your limited budget. Europe is no longer cheap. I'd advise bringing along jars of peanut butter which is very cheap and filling food and doesn't have to be refrigerated. It's very expensive to buy in Europe.

If you're students or have student IDs bring them along for discounts to museums. Museum (and other sights) admission fees are about $8 to $12 each - a hefty chunk of your daily budget.