collegetraveler

Hello! My friend and I are graduating college early to backpack through Europe during March and April, 2015, before we start grad school the following Fall. Is this a good idea or would we be better off backpacking closer to summer? This is a rough itinerary: Ireland for one week (we want to experience St. Patty's day in Ireland),Spain for one week, Italy for three weeks (Experience Easter at the Vatican), Germany for one week, and then go back home. .We were planning on buying a round trip ticket from the U.S. to Ireland and back to the U.S. We also plan on getting a Eurail ticket to travel. Neither of us have ever backpacked or been to Europe before so any advice would be EXTREMELY appreciated!! My biggest concern is if this time of year isn't going to have great weather or if there's not going to be a lot of tourist attractions and events taking place since this isn't the busy tourist time of year.. Thanks in advance for any advice!

janisj

Just a couple of quick notes -- it ain't St. Patty's day. Patty is a girl's name. It is St Patrick's Day -- or at worst St Paddy's Day. Never Patty.

>>We were planning on buying a round trip ticket from the U.S. to Ireland and back to the U.S.<<

I'd definitely look into Open Jaw - like flying in to Ireland and home from Italy or Germany.

Hans

What do you want? If you mainly want to visit museums and sights without big crowds, then it's great if you don't travel in the season. If you want to sit down outside in a lively place until midnight, then you need warmer temperatures.

March and April isn't summer. In Germany for example the April is known as the month with proverbial changing weather, rain in the morning, sun in the afternoon and snow the next day. Spain and Italy will be better but still personally I'd prefer to go in May and the beginnng of June.

As for tourist attractions or events, I think the things worth visiting normally aren't organized by the tourist office to fit to the tourist season. It's things like St.Patrick's Day which happen at a certain moment in the year and aren't repeated in the summer to fit tourist season.

PalenQ

You will be disappointed with the celebration of St Paddy's day in Ireland - it is more of a religious holiday to the Patron Saint of Ireland than the all-out green beer party that began I believe with the Irish emigrants in Boston and has slowly morphed to Ireland but I would not go out of my way just to experience St Paddy's Day in Ireland or you may be very disappointed.

About that Eurail ticket to travel - that would be a Eurailpass - and if you are under 26 a Eurail Youthpass - a good deal for wide-ranging travel and in many countries you can still just hop on any train anytime - in a few countries you must make seat reservations at an additional fee before boarding. Great sources of info IME about European trains, passes, etc - www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com. And get a copy of Let's Go Europe - the so-called Bible for Americans your age backpacking around Europe.

And think about taking overnight trains too - saves travel time and the cost of a night in a hostel or hotel and there are young folks from all over the world taking night trains - sometimes quite a nice thing.

Southam

More tools, for no-frills airlines: www.skyscanner.com and www.whichbudget.com Most of the cheap airlines, and some of the inter-city rail routes, offer deep discounts for tickets purchased well in advance. But you do forfeit flexibility for the sake of saving money. Your budgets will stretch further if you are not constantly on the move. Try to settle into a location and then do day trips.

bvlenci

I believe Let's Go has bit the dust, alas!

I'm not sure even a Youth Eurail pass is worth the price anymore. There are so many special discounts for advance purchase, and Smart fares for cross-border trains. Cheap flights are usually best for longer distances. I would be surprised if you'd save money with any kind of pass. You certainly wouldn't save money in Italy, where almost all long-distance trains require a reservation that costs €10 per train, and where you can get cheap tickets (buying well in advance) on most routes for as little as €19 INCLUDING the reservation. Trains in Spain are also very cheap, and I've heard that in France, they limit the number of rail pass tickets they'll honor on any one train.

You definitely should try to fly open jaws, also called a multi-city ticket, flying into Ireland and returning from Germany. You would want to fly from Ireland to Spain and from Spain to Italy, and depending on where you want to go in Germany, probably from Italy to Germany. However, if you want to go to Munich, I would advise the train, because the trip through the Alps is spectacular.

It can be pretty cold and wet in Spain and Italy in April, also. We once got snowed on, on May 1st, in Avila, and snow in April is not unknown here in Italy, either.

If you spend only one week in a country, you should pick at a maximum two cities to visit in that country. It would be even better to stay in one place and make day trips.

bigtyke

If you get a Eurail Pass, fight the urge to take the train all the time because it is 'free'. I met lots of 'backpackers' who spent too much time on trains and not enough actually seeing Europe.

As mentioned, get the open jaw plane ticket.

If you plan on staying in hostels, also look into other inexpensive accommodations. In Germany, there are many smaller places to stay that are as inexpensive as hostels.

longhorn55

If you plan to stay in hostels, which is probably the best place to meet people your age to socialize with, then I'd recommend looking at and perhaps booking through HostelWorld.com. My college-aged children have used that website many times to book their European hostels and they tell me they like it because the reviews of the hostels are really accurate. So, you can find a hostel that "parties" or one that is more subdued. And remember, that hostels are not just big dorm rooms anymore. Most of them offer private, ensuite rooms. (Those are the kind my kids always get.)

PalenQ

I'm not sure even a Youth Eurail pass is worth the price anymore. There are so many special discounts for advance purchase, and Smart fares for cross-border trains>

can;t judge efficacy of a pass on price of discounted tickets along - the cheap tickets are sold in limited numbers so must be booked months in advance to guarantee and then typically cannot be changed nor refunded - your itinerary is set in stone - fine for some but younger folk may want more serendipity to say travel with others they meet, go to some hot spot there hear about, etc.

And a 10-day in 2 month EurailYouth Flexipass costs $530 or $53 a day and that's about 39 euros a day - discounted tickets may not even be that cheap always and rarely cheaper and then they have all those restrictions - the pass still allows you to change your plans en route and hop any train anytime. So do not judge the efficacy of a pass in price alone (and not to mention all the time it takes to nail down a series of 10 discounted tickets - a reasonable amount of train trips in a 2-month period - and if you can't get them all and have to pay full price for a few - you're more than the cost of the pass perhaps.

PalenQ

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/boo...Go+Europe+2013

Well you can still buy 2013 Let's Go Europe apparently.

PalenQ

Libraries often have used book sales and in my local there are inevitably a slew of slightly old Let's Go series and other guides - buy em for a few bucks, rip out essential pages and throw them out as you go - gives me several aspects on each place - night to read in hotel if you do not have online access.

ParisAmsterdam

Since you have the time available I'd delay and do April-May rather than March-April.

thursdaysd

And start in Spain and finish in Ireland. You might look for a copy of "Europe Through the Back Door", too.

iris1745

Happy to see you didn't mention Bosnia again. Lots of serious problems in the news the last few days.

PalenQ

Hard to imagine that the Winter Olympics - not that long ago - were staged in Bosnia! (Sarajevo - capital of Bosnia and Hertzogevena (SP?)>

suze

People live in Europe year-round. The events and happenings don't take place only in certain months of the year. You don't need to worry about that part.

bvlenci

[[ And a 10-day in 2 month EurailYouth Flexipass costs $530 or $53 a day and that's about 39 euros a day - discounted tickets may not even be that cheap always and rarely cheaper and then they have all those restrictions ]]

In Italy, you can get tickets on fast trains for €19 or €29, even on long-distance routes, if you purchase far enough in advance. The Eurail pass doesn't cover the entire cost of the fast trains; you'd have to buy a €10 seat reservation for each train, i.e., if you change trains along the way, that's €20. So your €39 becomes at least €49. You don't even really have the option of taking slow trains in most routes; you're stuck with the fast trains and, since all the seats are reserved, your flexibility goes out the window, too.

I just don't know any circumstance under which any Eurail pass would pay for itself in Italy. If you get one, get just enough days for the countries where it will be worth its cost.

Ireland has a limited rail network; buses are usually the best way to get around there.

Germany has relatively expensive trains, so a pass may pay for itself there, but they also have all sorts of special fares. You could do a little research and see if a country pass just for Germany might be worthwhile. I believe most trains don't have mandatory reservations, so the pass would also preserve your flexibility. However, when I used the train in Germany (some time ago) the trains were often pretty full, so a reservation was often advisable, if not obligatory.

There is lots of useful train travel information, by country, on the website www.seat61.com .

bvlenci

I'm glad Let's Go still exists, if only in .pdf form. I just downloaded a few sections of the Spain and Portugal book.

rosetravels

If you are hoping to save money, you can often save more by moving around less. I much prefer staying longer and really getting to know places.

Another way to save money might be to rent an apartment for both of you. Plus you'll often have more space than in a hostel.

With 6 weeks I would visit Italy for a month and then Spain for 2 weeks (perhaps Barcelona) flying into Italy, flying to Spain, then flying home from Spain. Or, 3 and 3.

Germany and Ireland are both more expensive to visit and you'll have more money in future years. You'll have more trips to Europe and if you start by taking a more 'slow travel' approach, you'll be excited to return!

PalenQ

I just don't know any circumstance under which any Eurail pass would pay for itself in Italy>

Good point but if you wanted to not have to lock yourself into a certain train weeks in advance and wanted to chose trains to take once in a city then full-fare on Italian trains can be really expensive - it really boils down to whether you want any sponteneity or flexibility or can set things in stone weeks in advance. When I was a young backpacker on trains in the Neanderthal Age I met folks several times and changed by travel plans to travel with them, etc.

But no doubt in Italy and France and some other countries the deep discounts will be the cheapest way if you do not want flexibility. If you do the railpass, not just for Italy of course, comes into play.