ChristinaWilkes

I am looking to take 26 days and travel to Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. Im interested in must see sights, safety and hostel information, I also need in for about the rail ways and if I should get a pass before I go over seas?

vjpblovesitaly

www.trenitalia.com is the website for Italy's rail system. I don't know if it is for the whole country or not. There is another rail system called Circumvesuviana which operates near Naples as far as I know.

My understanding is a "pass" is a waste of money and point to point tickets are better.

Do you have any guidebooks yet? You can probably get free ones at the library until you are ready to commit to buying one if you decide to.

suze

4 countries in only 26 days is a fairly ambitious itinerary, especially because you are including the Greek islands.

Must see sights you can find in any guidebook for each country or an overview one that covers all of Europe.

Safety is simply common sense. Make sure you safeguard your passport, cash, ATM card. Don't get drunk. Don't get too far off the beaten path. Don't go off with stangers.

You can find information about hostels online on the hostel websites or The Thorn Tree over at Lonely Planet, which caters more to a backpacker crowd (not alot of hostel-staying types here on Fodor's).

To figure the value (or not) or a rail pass is simply a math equasion. You need to map out your itinerary and compare the cost of point-to-point tickets compared to the various passes available.

ira

ditto suze

adrienne

You can click on the word "destinations" at the top of the screen and find the most popular sights for each of the countries you plan to visit.

Doing 4 countries in 26 days means that you won't have time for more than a small sampling of what each country offers so you need to plan an exact itinerary to cover this much ground.

Staying in hostels intimates you're on a tight budget. The more you move around, the more expensive the trip will cost. If you want to limit your expenses and maximize your time, choose one or two countries and see them in more depth.

suze

I'd skip Greece this trip. That would allow you 1 week in each of 3 countries plus 5 days-worth of 'extra' time that will be consumed moving place to place.

kybourbon

I agree about dropping Greece. You really don't have as much time as you think you do once you factor in getting to and from cities.

You might be better off flying between some locations depending on which places you decide to visit. Europe has many budget airlines.
www.whichbudget.com
www.skyscanner.net

AlessandraZoe

Agree you should drop Greece because the islands complicate matters. You can still add another country (or two) in the 26 days that fit much better with your Spain, France, Italy itinerary. For example, Switzerland works great!

Knowing what I know now, I'd visit four major cities in those 26 days using an open jaw flight plan (flight in your start city; exit your last), and then fill in big "must see" stops getting TO those four cities.

Rail pass may be to your advantage; I'm neither pro nor con. It depends on your routing. As others advise, compare your stop to stop price(s) against a pass. And as I've also learned, cheap European airfare should also be considered into the mix.

Safety, smafety. Keep a level head and do common sense things (my husband has no high tech security--he just makes sure that his credit cards are never all together in one pocket, he wears pants with very deep pockets, and everything from cards to cash are bound in rubber bands that add drag should a pickpocket try to get into his pants. Learn the con artist routines ahead of time (distraction is the general name of the game) so that nothing surprises you. We have never felt unsafe at any time in Europe; but then again, I don't think any of us are out walking alone at 3 a.m., either.

My daughter stays in hostels all the time. Tripadvisor.com has a rating service, but there are many other ones she uses too. Right now she's staying in a Budapest hostel that she ranks with any of our better B&B stays--and she found it because other people ranked it so on various websites. No matter what level of accomodation you choose, it's always good to remember that location is worth extra $$$. Your time is also $$$--you will have paid a lot to fly to Europe plus pay for transport in between. Don't stay a zillion miles outside of a city you intend to tour day after day.

Good luck!

janisj

is your trip 26 days in total? If so you really only have 24 days 'on the ground'. Then at least one day you may be in a jetlagged fog. Then subtract at least 1/2 day and often a whole day when you move from place to place. So even if you went to just one city in each country, that nets you about 5-ish free days per country.

And each city/location you add increases the travel and decreases the free time.

example: Just Madrid/Barcelona, Paris, Athens/some Islands, Rome/Venice/Florence = less than 2 days sightseeing time in each place. And even to manage that you'd need to fly between some of those destinations.

Two countries - say 2 places in Spain and 3 or 4 in Italy would fill your 26 days nicely.

Or that and <i>maybe</i> a couple of days in Paris. Still rushed a bit but doable.

spaarne

Europe is a big place. Agree that dropping Greece is a good idea. Select cities rather than countries and plan on several days in each, maybe more in Paris and Rome. Get guide books from your library or on-line. Used five year old editions are fine since the big stuff like Notre Dame Cathedral doesn't move around. For an illustrated introduction to train travel see http://tinyurl.com/eym5b. For personal help with passes see B.E.T.S. at http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/. Call and talk with Byron or Linda for expert help. Tickets and reservations are cheaper when you buy them in Europe. Rail passes cost more in Europe.

mariha2912

OP did not mention Greek islands specificaly, but Greece in general. Greek mainland has plenty of must sees, and major cities such as Athens and Thessaloniki are connected with many European cities on cheap flights. Train system is not up to much in Greece, but it works on some particular routes. Bus system is fairly cheap and good on mainland. I agree 4 countries in 26 days is far too much, but which country to drop depends on specifics. If one is interested on ancient sites for example , Greece is a much on my opinion. If visiting eg March, islands are not an ideal destination anyway. If a Greek island is a must and one is traveling in season, there are some direct flights on the islands from abroad, and of course one can always connect from Italy to Corfu. Advice depends on the details.

suze

I agree everyone has their own reasons to pick whatever countries they want to visit. That part of the question WE really can't answer for Christina here. One place is not "better" than the other, it's just about your personal interests.

Not to sound flip but at this stage guidebooks really are the place to start. Get them from the library or buy one overview Europe book see what looks interesting to YOU. My "must see sights" may not be yours. Like I'm not big on famous museums but love seeing castles or historic homes.

imo any place on your final list needs to be allowed at least "3 days" to cover transportation time getting there and give you a couple days to look around.

ChristinaWilkes

Thank you, I just logged back on after my first post. Glad for all, the feed back, I have already dropped Greece, it was just too much too little time... Looking into flights vs. Rail pass for transportation. The web sites are all great resources, thanks again!!!

Nlingenfel

I went to Spain and Portugal, alone. Used normal European city safety precautions. Felt very safe. Due to my location in the US had to fly back to Madrid to get home in a reasonable amount of time. It really ruins just about a whole day. Their bus system in Spain was great, would look into taking bus's through Spain and into France. I am a 69 year old female, budget travler.

AlessandraZoe

I'm so excited for you, Christina. Wish I could have done this at your age. Sounds like you've made some progress.

Anyway, I talked to my daughter today and she said to check out www.hostelworld.com for your stays. She always cross references with other websites and guidebooks for her hostel stays throughout Europe (she's in a study-abroad program at Paris right now), but she thought that specific website was on target.

She also said that really good hostels can be wonderfully social--and she's not a "let's party all night" kind of person, so I'm assuming "wonderfully social" means an atmosphere that is congenial and helpful. Some of them create group dinners, etc.

She also mentioned that she is still checking rail fare versus air fare constantly as she plans. So far, she's done much better with cheapo airfare; then again, she has been concentrating on major cities.

Her only financial snag has been less-than-generous carry-on allowances with $$$ checked bag fares. She was really mad that her last stay at an 18-Euro-a-night really nice hostel was more or less obliterated by a 30-euro checked luggage charge on EasyJet.

She knows how to pack precisly, tightly, and lightly, so the fact that she could not avoid the extra charge made her mad. Then again, out of seven flights in a two-week's worth of travel, this was the only luggage charge she had. Plus, on this specific trip, she really needed all those types of clothes because of extreme weather variances, so she came to the realization that she mentally just needs to amortize those 30 Euros over her 12 days of traveling.

Again, have so much fun planning and travelling.

spaarne

A good source for rail schedules and details throughout Europe is the German Rail site, http://tinyurl.com/c9jp54.

It would probably pay to join Hosteling International, http://www.hihostels.com/. HI has clean and orderly hostels throughout Europe. There are also many other hostels which are not members of HI.

Night trains are a good way to save time and money on a major trip around Europe. The supplement for a bunk is about what a hostel room costs.

Popeye_cafe

This is just a suggestion that I know alot of people use here in Greece.. it is couch surfing.. there are lots of hosts all over the world, but even in the small area that I live in here called Nafplio there are a number of hosts...it means that you can organise your trip and know that you are not going to be spending money on accomdation .. and you will probably also have a local tour guide !