My younger sister and I are planning to go to Europe for our first time. This will also be our first time traveling alone.

We're going to go for about 40 days. We plan to hit about 8 countries from early June until mid July. We're planning about five days in each country. We plan to visit: London, Britain; Paris, Amiens, Pierrefonds, France; Barcelona, Madrid, Spain; Vienna, Austria; Zurich, Switzerland (which we're using as more of a waystation on the way to Prague); Prague, Czech Republic; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and ending with Venice, Florence, Rome, Italy.

Is this itinerary realistic? Is there anything that you would recommend that we see? Any advice for two young girls hosteling their way around Europe? Anything we need to bring that you found necessary? What kind of Budget is realistic?

Any advice would be wonderful. I'm getting lost in the sheer amount of details. Help!

Thirteen places in forty days is a lot of places. Once you take out the time travelling from place to place - travelling will eat up about ten or twelve days - then you are running short of time to actually see things.

A suggestion - get a map of Europe and stick pins in the places that you intend visiting. Then work out how you will get from place to place - train or discount airlines. You can also then start looking at travel costs, and costs for hostels or whatever.

Another suggestion - you will receive comments on this forum like "how can we suggest what you shpould see if we don't know what you like". Don't be put off by the apparent rudeness - people do like to help.

And another suggestion - allow for at least a few days where you have nothing planned. You need time out, doing nothing, catching up with the laundry.

You can travel pretty light at that time of year - try and minimise the luggage.

While you might think that you are getting lost in the detail, planning is half the fun.

When you say you're hosteling that means that you're on a tight budget. Moving around so much and so far is going to eat into your money. How much money will you have by the time you leave for your trip? Many of the places you've chosen are expensive. Just the price for hostels (average around E25 per night) will cost you E1,000 each ($1,400). Food will run you at least $25 per day (and that's on the low end if you don't drink much or want desserts). You're going during peak vacation time so costs will be higher than in off season.

I would focus more on one area (France and Italy or Austria and Czech Republic) plus Switzerland and cut out a couple of countries. 5 days between major cities is not nearly enough. Get copies of Let's Go guide books, which are great for budget travel, and really read them.

Have fun you crazy kids! (I mean that in the best spirit, truly).

I think both Peter and Adrienne have given good advice. Adrienne gave you some realistic prices, but as she says, they are on the low end.

Hostels vary greatly according to country and city. My kids have spent as little as about $10 a day each (in Poland) for a 3 bed dorm room to as much as 47 euro each (for a 6 bed dorm) in Copenhagen (Amsterdam??), for example. You are traveling in fairly high season so expect to pay on the higher end in many places.

Check out www.hostelworld.com if you haven't already. Also, try www.hostels.com. Pay attention to the reviews which tell you a LOT about the place such as the type of clientele : Is this a heavy party hostel; do they have any planned activities which help you make friends and may be discounted; do they have a kitchen (preparing some of your own food is cheaper); air conditioning, laundry, etc. Think about paying a bit more for a well-located hostel - it will save you time and money so you don't have to use transport all the time to get around.

Also, as the others say, moving around a lot involves money, sometimes lots. Look at rail prices, air prices, bus prices before booking a hostel or deciding on a country/city if your budget is important to you. Make sure you factor in airport transfers if you are using cheapo airlines because they are usually far outside of big city boundaries. I know my kids chose many places based on their cheapness and had a wonderful time. As well, there were some destinations on their wish list that were musts, so they were prepared to spend more if needed.

Now, go get some books: my kids like the "Let's Go Spain (or whatever) ...." series or "Rough Guide..." Lonely Planet is also good and they have a great forum on their website.

Most of all, I love your sense of adventure! Keep your usual good head on your shoulders and have a wonderful time.

PS: Forgot to add: My youngest generally allowed about 20 euro per day for food, bare minimum, including one alcoholic drink. This wasn't fancy food. Clubs, bars are of course more money.

My 19 year old and 2 friends did almost 6 weeks in europe last summer and she spent about $8000 plus air fare to and fro New York. The budget included either trains or low cost airlines between cities - and the girls stayed in budget hotels in a triple room - often no more than a hostel.

Things you need to realize:

1)Many places, esp budget places (hostels, hotels, stores and restaurants do not AC - even if the temp is 100
2) Soft drinks/water come in very small bottles - so buy your own large ones in markets
3)Ice is not routinely provided
4)Portions are much smaller than in the US - so sharing courses/meals often isn;t realistic
5)A lot of sights are free but the ones that charge can be expensive - often $20 too $25 and up
6) Bargains on trains and air fare are usually on tickets bought far in advance - except for short distances walk-up fares are usually much higher
7)Beer or wine in student type clubs/pubs is typically reasonable - but any sort of hard liquor or mixed drink is usually very expensive

You should be on the thorntree forum - that's the place for people who hostel and have a very low budget.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa

I second the Tris Mailletz http://www.lestroismailletz.fr/ as a wonderful way to spend a high energy evening. We have visited the upstairs bar many times for a drink and to listen to the piano and singers, and gone to the show in the cellar once. Be aware that the show downstairs does not start until 11:00 and goes on until around 5:00 in the morning. The acts when we went were superb, and just right for the ambiance. The energy gets people up dancing on the center table.

We will be going again in May. Really fun, IME.

Whoop! I posted this on the wrong thread. Sorry about that!

That will teach me to leave my computer, have dinner and a glass or two of wine and then come back to expect to remember what I was doing.

Sigh ---- I must have "what's his name's disease ---"

How old are you and your sister? My sister and I did a similar trip (about 30 days) in 2007 and had a magnificent time! We were 21 and 27. She had just graduated from college and I was about to get married. You may get some ideas of what to expect from our blog, but keep in mind that it is 4 years old and many details have changed. It is http://www.1month2sisters4countries.blogspot.com/. It is in reverse chronological order, but the dates are listed to the right so you can read in order if you want. We went to:

Rome, 5 days
Florence, 3 days
Venice, 3 days
Salzburg, 3 days
Vienna, 3 days
Munich, 2 days
Lucerne, 3 days
Paris, 5 days

The distribution between cities worked pretty well. I would recommend spending at least 3 days in any given city. If you plan on spending less, it usually isn't worth the cost and time for travel to spend less than that anywhere, and all of the cities you listed have enough to keep you busy for three days. Paris, Rome, and London all should have 5 days, in my opinion. I think you should cut out a city or two.

Check out hostel options beforehand, assuming that is your plan. We had the first two weeks of hotels booked and booked the rest at Internet cafes from Europe. That was probably more hassle than the convenience of the flexibility. Personally, after Vienna, I vowed never to stay in a hostel again, but I was 27 and a little old for the hostel experience. We stayed mostly in B&B's, and hotels with shared bathrooms.

Pack light and strategically! We had a carry-on sized suitcase and shoulder bag each and that was plenty. It was great to be able to get on and off trains easily and keep our suitcases with us the entire time.

Eating fruit and cheese from markets can cut down on your food costs. We only had one real meal a day, and that worked fine for us. We usually spent the days in museums and attractions and then had a dinner at night after things closed. We weren't really the party type, so that affected our schedule of course. Go well prepared, but be flexible once you are there.

Do lots of research and have a great time!!! It was definitely a highlight of my life, and my sister's too. Sorry for the random advice. I'm just trying to remember the most valuable tips. Have fun!

Thank you for your advice. To answer a few questions: My sister and I are 21 and 18. We are not drinkers, and have no intention of being out late. We're estimating around $4000 each without including the cost of the long distance train pass(and we don't have to pay for airfair since this trip is our highschool graduation present from our mom). Our general plan is hosteling, but we'r definitely open to doing a B&B or hotel if we can get away with it on our budget. Our general plan was to buy a eurorail ticket each (15 days of travel in 2 months) and then purchase individual metro tickets in cities as we arrived. Food was going to be grocery fare, so no restraunts (or as little as possible).

Thanks for the great responce so far!

I think it's probably doable Kat1132 with your budget. That works out to about $100 a day each. If you're not drinking/clubbing that certainly helps. It won't be luxurious but you will have fun anyway.

For each:
So figure $35-50 average for lodging.
On the low end, maybe $20-30 for food.

That leaves about $30 a day for expenses such as:
admission fees,
local tram or bus fares when you can't walk somewhere
the occasional "emergency" taxi (sometimes you just can't get somewhere on public transport like from a train station into town)
laundry,
personal care items (you probably can't take it all with you from home).
phone service (look into getting a pay as you go phone or are you bringing a computer and using Skype? Some hostels might charge a nominal fee for Internet.

Read and find out what free stuff you can do. Stay in hostels or B&Bs that offer anything free (like free bicycles for the day) or a free tour of the city.

It'll be tight but FUN!

If you are budgeting for your food to mainly come from the grocery store I would recommend Hostels as most have kitchen facilities where as hotels don't. Also most hostels have private room options if you don't want the loud dorm rooms.

I used the Lonely Planet on a shoestring book when traveling through Australia/New Zealand a few years ago. It was fantastic for a tight budget trip, and I know they have a Europe version.

I think that's doable but a little tight. You'll have to do your research but you seem willing to do that. Some hostels will be more expensive than others; you've picked very popular places, though, so I wouldn't expect to find $10/night hostels like soogies's kids did!

My best advice is to think in terms of <i>cities</i>, not countries. Venice, Florence and Rome can't be done very well in five days, even though they're all in Italy (believe me, I know - I've been to all three, and stayed in Italy a grand total of six days! And we took full advantage of all that time). The advice about spending money every time you move isn't quite as relevant if you'll have a rail pass, but it's still a lot of extra time to hop on a train, find a new hostel in an unfamiliar town, get your things settled and find your way around. Not to mention over six weeks, that will get emotionally draining. As someone further up said, on such a long trip, you'll need some errands/down time. So I would cut out a few places, even though I like to travel quickly myself. For example, Spain is pretty out of the way. It's wonderful, but logistically it's tougher. If you're not that attached to Madrid or Barcelona, it's a logical country to cut out. Just an example.

Speaking of the rail pass - are you aware that it does not cover the Eurostar between London and Paris? That (or a plane ticket from London to the continent) will be an extra cost for you.

Grocery stores are a great way to go, and hopefully you'll have some good picnicking weather. London, for example, has tons of parks and squares all over; it's easy to grab a sandwich or some groceries and sit outside. Speaking of London, if you need hostel recommendations, I've stayed at two of the Astor hostels (astorhostels.com) - my stays were a few years ago, but I'd definitely recommend them. (adrienne suggested Thorntree - you'll definitely get more hostel suggestions there. Most of the posters here tend to be older and more on a hotel/b&b budget at minimum.)

It sounds like you know this, but definitely book open-jaw or multi-city flights (into London, out of Rome) - not round trip to/from London. By the way, I think London is a great place to start.

By the way - it does look like you get a discount on the Eurostar with a Eurail pass. But it doesn't cover the entire fare, and it looks like you need to call them to book it. Skype is great for that.

http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisur...d_to_paris.jsp

OK, i don't know why I don't just go to sleep, but here's a stab at a plan. I don't know anything about Amiens or Pierrefonds, but thought since you included them they're probably "musts," so those parts especially are guesses.

London - 5 nights (day 1 will be jet lagged); fly to
Amsterdam - 3 nights; train to
Amiens - 2 nights?, train to
Paris - 5 nights; train to
Pierrefonds - 2 nights?; not sure about train to Barcelona, maybe back to Paris to fly
Barcelona - 4 nights; train to
Madrid - 4 nights; fly to
Vienna - 3 nights; train to
Prague - 3 nights; train to
Venice - 3 nights; train to
Florence - 3 nights; train to
Rome - 5 nights; fly home

That gives you 42 nights at a quick pace. So to stick with your budget/timetable strictly, or to build in some down time, I'd cut out at least one place, probably two.

For a flight from London to Amsterdam (or any other flights), you can fly pretty cheaply on a budget airline like Easyjet or Ryanair. If you do that, make <b>sure</b> you are aware of the luggage restrictions and other fees. The flights are cheap but the fees are where they get you. Also make sure to budget for getting to/from the airports. Alternatively, you could take the Eurostar from London to Paris, train to Amsterdam, and then fly from Amsterdam to Spain or train to Vienna, depending on if/what you cut out.

Is your original plan really in the order you suggested? Just wondering, since Vienna -> Zurich -> Prague doesn't make much sense geographically.