So me and some friends have decided to spend our summer backpacking across europe and I can't wait. Just wondering if anyone on hear has ever done it, and if anyone has recommendations or advice. Thanks.

How much cash do you have to spend?

What countries are you planning to visit?

I did it and we spend 1200 euros in 30 days.
:)
We used InterRail ticket.
:wink2:

I would defitly check interail, or euro-domino.

if you don't wanne have the stress to search youth hostels in the city you arrive you can search in the internet for youth hostels in the next city you visit in the city you are currently and make a short phone call. I did that usually on the last day I staid in a city before heading to the next.

Of course you can also just go and search, but sometimes youth hostels are full, and then you need to go to a hotel or make the night throught.

I used to travel many times for one month by interrail - unfortunatly I got a bit old and prices changed... if you are still young interrail is for sure cheaper than Eurodomino and more flexible. While travelling I went mostly camping, and not to youth hostels - cheaper, safer, nicer - BUT: a lot of camping sites especially in northern Europe are FAR away from the next train and bus stop. But that goes also for some youth hostels. Try to travel also during the night - you won't see anything anyway, have the day free for sighseeing and an accommodation already ;)

Camping sites in Scandinavia are the best BTW: they don't only have all the kitchen facilities but just everything you need whilst in Scotland it's better to bring everything you need - inclooding gas cookers, but maybe it's better now.

Good luck and lotta fun :cheers:

Camping sites in Scandinavia are the best BTW:
Good to know, the youth hostels there are quite expensive and don't offer that much. In Berlin they have great youth hostels.

The good thing is that in Scandinavian camping sites you can choose if you want to put up your tent or for not too much more money to rent a cottage - it's mostly only bed and table but at least better for stormy and rainy nights and the common facilities are open anyway. French camping sites btw tend to be very uncared, especially toilets can be full of spiders and dust... and I mean FULL!

I'll have somewhere between $2000 and $3000 canadian dollars, so around 2000 euros.

I think the plan is to get a 15 use eurail pass. Were gonna start in the UK where I'm taking a course for a week on the making of urban britain. Then were gonna hit france, spain, italy, switzerland, greece, and germany. Along with what ever other places we find ourselves.

BTW as I agree with küsel on traveling at night is good, there are some tracks one should travel at daylight. Like if you travel between Milano and Zürich there is alot to see.

I´m going in the summer of 2007.

Btw. Does anyone know what you have to pay (for students) to be able to enter the tunnel between France and the UK?

I would take the ferry - more beautiful and romantic ;) And also cheaper. For example is it unfortunatly more expensive to travel by train from Paris to London through the tunnel than by airplane ;)

My train tips (only if you want to avoid busses, they are not in the interrail):
- Take a nighttrain from Zurich to Hamburg (you will not miss a lot, sorry). Spend a day there and another in Copenhagen. Take a nighttrain to Stockholm and go by Silja or Viking line overnight to Turku or Helsinki. Nighttrain to Kemi, over to Boden-Gälivare and take the iron train from Kiruna to Narvik - beautiful landscape though tourisic but only in summer.

- Don't miss Inlandsbanan, the old now touristic inner Swedish train track to Gälivare. Stop inbetween on a lake and enjoy it ;) Same goes for southern Finland! Kuopio, Jyväskylä and Tampere you should visit in this country. If you have the time go to Rauma, north of Turku, an Unesco city.

- Gotthardlinie (Zürich-Milano) is an absolute MUST!!!! Travel through France from Basel to the Bretagne and if you have time to the Loire to take some bicycle trips from one Chateau to the other!

- Go to Greece over Villach - stop in beautiful Bled and Ljubliana and head for Athens to take a ferry to a nice Island ;)

- Take a nighttrain from Geneva to Barcelona - the Talgo is comfortable and Barcelona is great! Unfortunatly the inner Spanish and Portuguese trains are very slow... but you can try to go over to Lisboa.

- Train rides in the UK and especially Ireland are difficult after the privation... but try to get up to Inverness!!

EE I don't know, sorry.

A friend of mine made a EE trip by train, there are good nighttrains, he went to Belgrade Sofia and Bukarest.

Mostly by nighttrains.

"I would take the ferry - more beautiful and romantic And also cheaper. For example is it unfortunatly more expensive to travel by train from Paris to London through the tunnel than by airplane "

But since you only have 30 days, how long does it take from Brussels to London (if you take the ferry)?

I've heard a lot of complaints about the Eurail pass. Fellow travellers were complaining that they have to pay a hefty booking fee for each ticket they book using the pass, so the cost of rail travel skyrockets after a few legs.

How about visiting countries outside the EU? ;)

^^Much cheaper!^^ :yes:
:wink2:

I've heard a lot of complaints about the Eurail pass.
It seems there is a difference between Eurail and Eurorail?

I know from euro domino you don't have to pay anything extra.

- Take a nighttrain from Zurich to Hamburg (you will not miss a lot, sorry). Spend a day there and another in Copenhagen.

I would rather suggest to party the whole night (should be friday or saturday night) in Hamburg and take the first Eurocity train to Copenhagen. You can sleep four hours in the train which should be enough for young people. ;)

Bill Bryson's 'Neither here nor there' is a funny book about backpacking Europe. He did so when he was young (with his side kick Katz) and retraced these steps some 20 years later. Quite a funny read, as Bryson always is.

I would rather suggest to party the whole night (should be friday or saturday night) in Hamburg and take the first Eurocity train to Copenhagen. You can sleep four hours in the train which should be enough for young people. ;)
I don't know what I should recommend more: HH or Copenhagen... although the nightlife and shopping facilities are better in Hamburg. And don't miss the port!!! Copenhagen: don't go to Tivoli, it's a disappointment and only lives by its name and thousands of retired people on one-armed bandits! To to the old town, up the Ronde Torn (or how it is called) to get an overview. I heard you also can visit some breweries, but I never did... There's also some nice clubs, but in summer the city is FLOCKED by Italians! I think I love Hamburg more, it's more diversive - the only city in the north I prefer is Helsinki! One of the greatest towns up there and an absolute MUST for everyone interested in architecture ;)

Tivoli has build a floorless coaster lately, I think it's worth to go on it.

shopping facilities are better in Hamburg.

Actually I had the impression that the shopping facilities in Copenhagen are better because they are more diverse. A bit more expensive than the counterparts in Hamburg though. I don't speak of upscale shopping, in which Hamburg could be superior to Copenhagen.

I´m going in the summer of 2007.

Btw. Does anyone know what you have to pay (for students) to be able to enter the tunnel between France and the UK?

London-Paris adult fares start at about £70/€100 return, the trip takes about 2h30. Don't know if there are any student discounts.

You may be able to get cheaper tickets from Lille-Ashford if you only want to go through the tunnel.

- Train rides in the UK and especially Ireland are difficult after the privation... but try to get up to Inverness!!

The ticketing system is the most difficult thing. Tickets are sold like airline tickets for long journeys. If you turn up in the morning you want to travel at a London station and say "1 return to manchester please" they might charge you £200 but if you book one month in advance on www.thetrainline.com and specify the train you are going to travel on you can do the same journey for £25-£30.

Of course if you have a railpass of some sort that isn't so much of a problem.

But since you only have 30 days, how long does it take from Brussels to London (if you take the ferry)?

You would have to get a train from Brussels to Oostend and then take the ferry to Harwich and take another train into London. Probably not much cheaper than the Channel Tunnel really.

One good, fast and cheap way of crossing the channel if you have a car is www.speedferries.com which lets you take a car with up to five passengers from £25 one-way, very cheap. The journey from Dover-Boulougne or vice versa only takes 50 minutes too

The ticketing system is the most difficult thing. Tickets are sold like airline tickets for long journeys. If you turn up in the morning you want to travel at a London station and say "1 return to manchester please" they might charge you £200 but if you book one month in advance on www.thetrainline.com and specify the train you are going to travel on you can do the same journey for £25-£30.

Of course if you have a railpass of some sort that isn't so much of a problem.
The worst experience I ever had when I wanted to take a train ride to Canterbury in the late 90s. Since the 80s I did it many times, but everything changed suddenly... I was staying at a friend's place near Paddington Station and thus went there first. After a long waiting they told me, these tickets are only sold at Victoria station! Okay, I took the metro to the other side of the center and queued up for 20 minutes only to find out that this was the wrong counter - this is south-west and west England, for Kent I have to get the ticket on the other side of the station... needless to say that I could travel only the next day :( And safety is getting worse because the companies try to keep everything cheap because of the competition (why? - they anyway have their own lines!?) and accidents are not seldom :( :(

^^Much cheaper!^^ :yes:
:wink2:

Not exactly what I had in mind.

^^Traveling inside European Union can be very expensive, mainly outside de Euro Zone.
:dunno:
I only give you advice.
:wink2:

I never had that experience.

The worst experience I ever had when I wanted to take a train ride to Canterbury in the late 90s. Since the 80s I did it many times, but everything changed suddenly... I was staying at a friend's place near Paddington Station and thus went there first. After a long waiting they told me, these tickets are only sold at Victoria station! Okay, I took the metro to the other side of the center and queued up for 20 minutes only to find out that this was the wrong counter - this is south-west and west England, for Kent I have to get the ticket on the other side of the station... needless to say that I could travel only the next day :( And safety is getting worse because the companies try to keep everything cheap because of the competition (why? - they anyway have their own lines!?) and accidents are not seldom :( :(

I've never had that experience regarding tickets, you should be able to buy any tickets from anywhere, the late 90s was the worst time for the British rail network, things have improved since then.

The safety issue was not just because of privatisation, there had been underinvestment in the network since the 1960s and by the late 90s many tracks were beyond their useful life. Over the past 4-5 years or so though there has been a large investment programme to modernise the network all over the country. For example the whole West Coast Main Line linking London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow has been rebuilt and the rolling stock is much newer in most places than a few years ago. Many stations have been rebuilt and modernised too such as Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds.

The rail network is anyway much safer than driving, walking, taking the bus or cycling. The main problems recently seem to have been drivers crossing the railway at level crossings in rural areas.

The network can be crowded at peak times and there are some delays, (about 10% of trains are over 5 mins late at the moment) but if you are travelling for leisure rather than commuting, the network is generally ok.

^^Traveling inside European Union can be very expensive, mainly outside de Euro Zone.
:dunno:
I only give you advice.
:wink2:

The most expensive countries in Europe are Norway and Switzerland, both outside the EU.

Generally apart from Switzerland Scandinavian countries are the most expensive, but England and Germany as well as Netherlands also got more expensive recently.

Actually I had the impression that the shopping facilities in Copenhagen are better because they are more diverse. A bit more expensive than the counterparts in Hamburg though. I don't speak of upscale shopping, in which Hamburg could be superior to Copenhagen. I agree :)

If they are Canadian they should be able to get the 25% sales tax refunded, thereby making the Danish prices among the cheapest in the world :)

Tivoli has build a floorless coaster lately, I think it's worth to go on it. It is :lol: ( just don't eat too much beforehand ;) )

Why not take the plane? You can get everywhere in Europe with Ryanair.
Book 4 weeks in advance and an one way ticket won't cost you more then 25 euro's.
Ryanair uses new planes btw, they are really good.
www.ryanair.com

The best advice I'd give for visiting London is to actually stay somewhere on the edge of the underground network rather than in the center(uxbridge for example). Hotels should be much cheaper and if your already buying an underground pass for a day anyway it doesnt cost much more to get it for all the zones plus the service carrys on until pretty late.

NiekNL: short distance flights should be forbidden for economical and especially ecological reasons!!!!!! It's a bloody shame that flying is so cheap nowadays. In Europe we have the best train connections nearly everywhere and with Eurodomino or Interrail young people have a nice package. The landscape is so different and changing fastly and you will miss a lot of very nice cities by just stupidly hopping from one big center to the other. I don't call that travelling, sorry. You don't get in touch with the people and the culture on the way, you don't have the "feeling" of the region, you just "beam" yourself into another place and when you say afterwards: hey I saw the whole of Europe: Paris, London, Rome, Barcelona...!!! Then you are lying to yourself :)

How are the rail connections in eastern Europe (Prague, Vienna, Budapest)?

NiekNL: short distance flights should be forbidden for economical and especially ecological reasons!!!!!! It's a bloody shame that flying is so cheap nowadays. In Europe we have the best train connections nearly everywhere and with Eurodomino or Interrail young people have a nice package. The landscape is so different and changing fastly and you will miss a lot of very nice cities by just stupidly hopping from one big center to the other. I don't call that travelling, sorry. You don't get in touch with the people and the culture on the way, you don't have the "feeling" of the region, you just "beam" yourself into another place and when you say afterwards: hey I saw the whole of Europe: Paris, London, Rome, Barcelona...!!! Then you are lying to yourself :)

Yea, I know you see less of Europe, but flying is much, much cheaper then going by train. So some disances could be done by plane. London to Barcelona and then by train further north for example. When always going by train can not be paid by an average backpacker. I would prefer the train to
:) but it's just to expensive. However I would do Switserland by train for sure ;) .

I confess that it is really a shame that flying is now sometimes half the price of the train :( For shorter distances it's not even much faster... in "my time" you could travel one month for 400 SFr. through whole Europe from Casablanca to Narvik. Now I paid 150.- only to go ONE way from Zurich to Würzburg! :cry: But I think for young people there are still some cheaper offers.

How are the rail connections in eastern Europe (Prague, Vienna, Budapest)?

There are Eurocity trains Hamburg-Prague-Vienna and Hamburg-Prague-Budapest (among other connections). Also Night trains Munich-Vienna-Budapest.

I also am planning to go to Europe but it will probably be summer of 07. But I really want to go to less travelled countries like in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Are these places expensive? (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc?)

I also am planning to go to Europe but it will probably be summer of 07. But I really want to go to less travelled countries like in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Are these places expensive? (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc?)

No, you'll spend a lot less money in Eastern Europe than you would in Western Europe.

This is a list of price levels in each EU country (for 2002 so they may have changed a bit) used by the EU for statistical purposes. As you can see some Eastern European countries are over 60% cheaper than the most expensive countries in Western Europe.

EU average = 100

Denmark 131.4
Sweden 118.4
Ireland 116.1
Luxembourg 113.5
United Kingdom 112.4
Finland 112.0
Germany 111.1
Netherlands 106.7
France 104.3
Austria 104.3
Belgium 102.3
Italy 95.6
Spain 86.1
Cyprus 88.2
Greece 78.5
Portugal 76.3
Slovenia 74.0
Malta 69.4
Estonia 55.6
Poland 54.8
Hungary 54.7
Czech Rep 53.7
Latvia 50.8
Lituania 47.9
Slovakia 44.0

You may find direct flights from North America difficult or expensive to some parts of Eastern Europe but you could just go to London, stay for a night then pick up a flight with Ryanair or Easyjet to Eastern Europe. You shouldn't have to pay more than about £30-40 including taxes, fees etc (C$60-80) for a return flight from London to Eastern Europe if you book a few months in advance