JennaMWong

Hello! I'm 19 and I have the opportunity to go to Europe for 3-4 weeks this summer. I'll be traveling with a friend or a parent. I'm trying to make it as inexpensive as possible, so I'll be staying in hostels and traveling between counties by train at nights or air if cheap enough.

I want to thoroughly see the cities so I've decided to only go to three, but there are so many things I want to see in each that I can't seem to cross one out.

Aside travel/bed expenses, how much should I budget per day for food and various expenses(museums, entertainment, etc.)? Which cities would you choose?

FHurdle

It's much easier to visit London, Paris, Rome or vice versa. Barcelona is a bit out of the way.

If you book your tickets in advance you can take day trains. The Eurostar can be booked in advance for about $66. You can book Paris-Munich in advance for 59 Euros. And Munich-Venice for 49 Euros. If you have a full month, go ahead and burn some days traveling so you can get a decent nights sleep and not throw your system out of whack. You can do a Paris-Rome night train but I think it's just a way to spend money.

FHurdle

I realize that in my answer above that I mention Munich and Venice. You need not spend much time in these cities, but it is likely to be cheaper and more pleasant to get to Rome this way than to take an overnight train from Paris. Of course, if you hate staying in a town for just a night or two, scratch my advice and pick either Rome or Barcelona and get there as best you can! I would not miss London or Paris.

Robert2533

Based simply on your age, and your limited time, and the fact that it will be in the summer, you just might want to restrict your adventures to Paris and Barcelona. London is great, but Iberia is much better during the summer months. Rome can be overwhelmed with tourist. Keep it simple. You'll be back at least a dozen times in the next 20 years.

kimhe

Barcelona with the tapas, nightlife, spectacular architecture, medieval old town and city beaches is hard to beat in the summer time.

I can recommend to stay in great value Hostal Orleans with all hotel amenities, excellent location on the edge of the vibrant El Born district and ten minutes walking to the Barceloneta beach.

Hostal Orleans: http://www.hostalorleans.com/index.php?lang=en
More info and reviews: http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/hostal-orleans.en.html

El Born district: http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.c...s/el-born.html

Updated info about Barcelona: http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/

flanneruk

The only one of these four it's possible to see in a week is Barcelona.

Personally, I get bored there after about three days if I haven't got work to do, though I've always suspected it might be quite a nice place, as second division provincial towns go, to live in for six months. But it's got lots of beaches around it, which some might find a bonus, and a remarkable number of enjoyable beachside restaurants.

None of Europe's three real cities can really be visited properly in a lifetime (possibly the single major discovery I've made over the past half-century, much of it spent trying to do just that). I suspect trying to cram all three into four weeks would be the outdoors equivalent of spending more than a couple of hours in a museum, where your head starts threatening to explode if you don't stop fast. I'd limit myself to just two of them, chucking in Barcelona for light relief and a bit of beachbumming.

Rome is unbearable to sightsee in properly during July and August, if that's when you're planning to travel.

KaneCarter

In general, most tourist attractions in Paris do not require advance reservations (nor do they take it). If you want to avoid queueing and save some time though, I'd say look into getting Paris Museum Pass (www.parismuseumpass.com/en/home.php ) which is valid for many of the major sights in Paris including Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Versailles etc but unfortunately not Eiffel Tower. The pass allows access usually through a separate queue and it moves along quickly. The only place where special fast access is not available is the tower of Notre Dame, where access is limited that there's only a number of people allowed at any time at the tower level.

However, I've found, if there's exhibition at the Grand Palais that interests you (I've just checked - there's a special Warhol exhibition during your trip : http://www.rmn.fr/Warhol-s-Wide-world ) it's advisable to buy ticket online which has time allocation to it. Queues at Grand Palais is notoriously long and at the last exhibition re Picasso, when my friends and I couldn't get tickets online (they were sold out), we ended up queueing for over 3 hours despite being there early in the morning! Therefore Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais is perhaps one place where it is smart to buy ticket in advance (http://rmn.fnacspectacles.com/place-...RHOL-WARHO.htm ).